Northstar Vale I returned to a stand of pines

Celara was surprised to hear from the empress now that she was part of the empire. Then again, she had recently had a conversation with another royal, so perhaps this pack was different. "They are." She responded, after making a slight gesture of submission. "Will you help hunt them?" Such a thing would not be unheard of where she had come from.

Without waiting for an answer, Celara began to creep toward one of the holes. Delicately and quietly, she began to scrape earth into it. To much talking might scare the groundhog into the hole before they could get at it.

As she looked back to see the she-wolf's response, she realized just how thin they were. It wasn't just that she wasn't pregnant anymore; Reiko looked like she hadn't eaten enough, like Celara had looked when she arrived. Was it the chaos at the meeting or just the pups taking a toll on her? Celara didn't know.