Redtail Rise israfel

Idk if I'll be able to keep up with this at all, I'll do my best to prioritize this one but I'm so far behind on her other threads and work is a nightmare atm. ;_; Please feel free to skip Wanderer to keep things moving if necessary, just drop me a line if you need to know what she would do!

Since returning from her brief stint in the wilderness, Wanderer had observed.

That was how she answered her quandary from several days earlier.

What should a Wanderer who no longer wandered be called?

Now she was the Watcher of Redtail Rise, and the things she observed were worrisome even for a seven month old juvenile wolf.

When Avicus first disappeared and the Rise began to buzz like a hive of hornets, she had been too young to comprehend the delicacy of the situation. That Wealda was conspicuously left unoccupied and her elder siblings were denied it once made the three month old believe there was hope for her mother's return, but beyond that, a mere child had failed to notice the hairline fractures webbing through the pack hierarchy then.

Lilia was a worthy Berserkr and Augur was the same steadfast Ulfhedinn he had always been. Her elder siblings who had been denied had left, presumably to make their own fortunes with others who appreciated and valued them more. That was the way of the wild. But something had changed recently that sent tendrils of doubt down into the watcher's heart.

She had witnessed it at the elk hunt, where the mixed signals between Masquerade and Lilia in particular had led to confusion for more than just herself. It was the place of the hunters to lead the hunt, but the Ulfr's commands had been muddled by contradictory commands from those who were not the hunters. From that moment on, Watcher was aware of the fractures within the hierarchy — no longer hairlines, but chasms that presented a very real danger to the whole pack.

From that moment on, she began to question where she stood.

Watcher was a child of Redtail Rise. No one single wolf had raised her. They were all pack, and they were all family in the eyes of the one who watched them. She had spent time with each wolf, when she was not being so reticent, and each wolf had helped to shape who she was now. She was fond of every member of Redtail Rise and blood meant nothing to her.

And yet, there was one wolf who stood out from all the others.

It was not maternal loyalty that brought Watcher to Avicus that day. She felt no more loyalty to Avicus as an individual than she felt to Lilia or Augur as individuals. She was loyal to Redtail Rise, but there was only one wolf to whom she would look as the pack cracked and shook before her very eyes. One wolf who had always included her even when she was distant following her mother's disappearance. One wolf who had poured everything into nurturing the pack's potential even after being denied fair recognition for doing so because it did not fit the definition of strength cherished by the Berserkr and Ulfhedinn.

When she arrived and took her spot among the Redtails, it was not to Avicus she looked for guidance, but to Masquerade.