Cedar Sweep Do you believe

Rye was absolutely not having it with the pleasantries: that much was made glaringly obvious by his word choice and demeanor, despite the fact that Lane had never been fantastic at reading people. The smile fell away from Lane's face. She and Rye hadn't talked much recently, but she could tell that she had missed something big with him. She had dropped the ball once more. It seemed that dropping balls would be her legacy as alpha.  

Rye launched into a story, and Lane tried her best to follow. She winced sympathetically when he gestured to the scar. It looked like a nasty one. 

Rye's narrative took a sharp turn, and he hit a lot of huge pieces all at once: his family, their friendship, moving, war, his own inevitable death... Lane's head was spinning. She could see exactly why Rye was all worked up. These concerns were heavy; Lane's heart was beating faster at the mere mention. 

Somewhere along the way, Ensio materialized. He corroborated Rye's claims about the nearby pack. Lane nodded at the boy approvingly before turning to address Rye. 

"Okay, let's just... take these things one at a time." She breathed in deeply, and hopefully Rye would do the same. They needed to think rationally here.

"There's a pack that's claimed a nearby grove. You were attacked by a pack there last year, but we're not sure it's the same people. We didn't know who those people were then, and we don't know who these people are now." Lane paused for confirmation. Frankly, if Rye was tromping around in their grove, Lane wasn't sure she blamed the strangers for attacking. Wasn't that just normal wolf behavior? Why on earth did Rye seem to think that war was inevitable? That was some massive jumping to conclusions. 

"Look, Rye, I'm not asking you to fight a war. Atautsikut has actually already been invited to a war-- the one between Rivenwood and Ursus-- and I plan to decline. That's because I will never ask any of our wolves to risk their lives. Never." Never again, more accurately, but anyways...

"Your family is the most important thing. I get it. My kids are the most important thing to me, too." She shrugged. If that made her a shitty alpha, she just didn't care. She was like Rye: her family came first. "Honestly Rye, you sound like you already have a foot out the door." He sounded like he was building a case to leave. Lane wouldn't dream of stopping him, if that was was truly what he wanted. But she did want to take a stab at fixing this for him, if he would let her. 

"Will you do something for me? Before you make any big decisions, will you give me a chance to talk to these wolves? To figure out who they are, what they want, and if there's a chance at living peacefully?" She fell quiet, her hopeful gaze set on Rye.