Redhawk Caldera glinderwood

Reyes's remarks were puzzling to Rue, in the fact that they were delivered as if he possessed some amount of familiarity with or influence over the Brecheliant woman. Were they friends? Did Reyes go stay with Brecheliant when he and Towhee were in their off-again phase? It made sense, Rue supposed, but she did worry that if Reyes was courting favor with Brecheliant, it could cause a chasm between the two packs should he and Towhee continue to fall out. 

Oh, how his plea to speak with Towhee broke Rue's heart! How he must miss his children!

Rue wasn't entirely certain whether he was asking her to help him, or whether he was merely speaking his thoughts aloud. Rue responded as if it were the former, her expression melting in to one of sincere sympathy. 

"I- can't- I'm sorry, Reyes.." He would certainly know why. Rue might not always agree with Towhee's choices personally, but at the end of the day she was Towhee's wolf through and through. She would not be pulled from her place beside Towhee into the middle of whatever this was between the two lovers. Or ex-lovers. Rue surmised from his tone that they were off-again.  

But her heart did break. 

Rue knew all too well the burn of the double standard in Redhawk Caldera. Fennec had not only been granted leeway in this particular instance. There was also the matter of Killdeer's conception. Rue was not born yesterday; she knew the conception had very likely occurred before Fennec's promotion, only to be neatly swept under the rug with Fennec's elevation to the Regent position-- a position with breeding rights. 

Rue had asked for breeding rights for herself this year, before her own promotion to Regent, and she'd been denied. What might have happened if she had ignored Towhee's edict, as Fennec had done, and become pregnant anyway? Rue probably wouldn't have been rewarded with a promotion, she knew that much. 

But Fennec was a Redhawk, and Rue and Reyes were not. Those were the breaks. 

The Brecheliant representative began to backpedal hard when Rue offered to make up for their trouble. She didn't seem to think any reparations were necessary, which indicated to Rue that much of what she and Reyes had told her must have sunk in; she no longer placed blame on the Caldera wolves for their actions. Thank the stars. Ruenna smiled in gratitude.

"It's friendship you'll have, then. When I come to visit--" Because she was certainly still coming visit. All of this could have been avoided if the allied wolves had only recognized each other by sight, and the only way to recognize someone by sight is to actually meet them. "--it will be as a friend, getting to know more friends. We'll speak no more of this unpleasantness." That would be reassuring, Rue hoped. And one more thing, "Who should I ask for, when I arrive?" Ruenna had given the Brecheliant woman her own name, but she had not received one in return. To whom was she speaking? Who ruled in Brecheliant, now that Wraen had passed?