the one to set you free

Two Face and Saga were presumably off on their respective missions. Koontz still wanted to send out at least one other scout, most likely Curran, though she hadn't had the opportunity to set that up yet. Nor had she found the time to schedule her own visit to the pack living on the mountain directly southwest of the plateau. She would probably ask both Yildun and Ray—her most trusted pack mates present and accounted for right now—to hold down the fort while she was away for the day.

After performing a perfunctory patrol, Koontz wound her way into the trees in search of something to eat. En route, she caught the scent of one of her least familiar pack mates: Barristan. Evidently, he'd been under the weather a while, which explained why she nearly never saw him. His scent certainly corroborated this fact. Brow furrowing slightly, the Alpha female changed course to track him.

"Barristan, hello," she greeted him when she found him, looking dilipidated but somehow energetic. "How are you feeling?" she asked, hanging back a few extra feet in case he had anything contagious. Koontz couldn't afford to get ill, especially as the pack's sole leader and hunter.