Redsand Canyon Before she gets there

Ruenna's heart went out to Aquene, who had suffered at the will of her father. At least Ruenna's family had offered her support and solidarity when it came to dealing her own attacker. 

Aquene did not feel truly safe anywhere. Ruenna knew this feeling well. She could recall a memory of herself as a young recruit in Blacktail Deer Plateau, requesting lessons in self-defense from the alpha. He too had questioned Ruenna as to whether she felt safe in the pack's boundaries. But that wasn't really the issue, was it? If the only blockade or deterrent at a border was a scent-marker, then Ruenna would not have felt safe inside it. She would not have felt safe anywhere. 

"Mereo is better because you're here, Aquene. We are more than just an army; we are also a pack, which means that your issues are our issues." After a pause, Ruenna would continue a bit hesitantly, "It is important that you feel safe and secure. If to this end, you feel that you need a guard with you in order to rest easy, then I could condone a sleeping arrangement that might be.. ah, slightly unorthodox." 

Ruenna leveled her gaze at Aquene. "That you are safe is my primary concern." She emphasized the word safe, and that was the only allusion she would make to the possibility that anything physical could occur as a result of the "unorthodox" arrangement. Ruenna would trust Aquene to keep herself safe by every definition of the word, and in return, she hoped Aquene would spare her the details of exactly what might be taking place in Kallik's chamber.