Blacktail Deer Plateau The Elevation of Trust

Pied padded wearily through the sparse woods sprinkled atop the plateau, her eyelids feeling rather heavy. A volley of wretched cries had rousted her in the middle of the night and, upon frantically tracking them to their source, she had come across the ghost of a young wolf writhing around on the forest floor. Pied had been at first baffled by the sight and then the true horror of it had dawned on her. The apparition had been reliving the final, violent moments of its life. Pied had observed warily as the ghost had finished its death throes, twitched, then lay still... only to revive and repeat. She had watched the cycle three times before finally wrenching herself away and then wandering, shocked and sleepless, across the plateau. The cries had followed her, unaffected by the distance, ringing in her ears until just a few moments ago.

Her nerves felt so frayed that Pied jumped at the sound of a howl rising into the air. She froze, eyes opening a bit wider to reveal bloodshot vessels around her colorful irises. One of her soapstone ears flicked as she received and interpreted the message. It was Hawkeye calling. Despite her exhaustion, Pied began walking again, eager to find out what the dark she-wolf wanted. Hawkeye was her Alpha now, though more importantly, she was Pied's friend.

She mulled this over as she walked south to the tip of the plateau overlooking the panoramic view below, a place her cousin had frequented during her rule here. Pied gave it a brief glance, then fixed her eyes on Hawkeye's large chest and said, "I know you called me here because you want to speak with me. I just wanted to let you know that I have something I want to tell you too. But you first," in way of greeting, casting her Alpha a tired smile before reposing wearily on her spotted haunches.