Phoenix Maplewood LII

New Snow comes to them with a rabbit between her teeth. The run had invigorated her, and released much of the tension she had felt with pack tensions on the rise. That in of itself was not unfamiliar, though the season of it all was strange. Spring was not yet upon them. 

But this all made her wonder about that time of year all the same. Wolverine, gone. The daughters of Red Woman might come to find their own men and seek to breed, too. Oddly enough, New Snow did not doubt her own place, nor that of Mountain Boulder. Not when Red Woman set her teeth upon none when that was her own natural way. She had no doubt gone against instinct to reestablish her place.

It was Red Woman’s love and respect for Mountain Boulder that had tempered her that day. She only hoped that Red Woman could understand the why of it all, but then even she herself could not in its entirety. Parts of it went even against her own nature. She had seen sister, cousin, nephew run off in her lifetime. 

Pack was family; Mountain Boulder perhaps only had sought to remind Red Woman of this, albeit at the wrong time. A challenge was a challenge, and it must be answered one way or the other. But the scents of Wolverine had dwindled—she had caught wind of that when hunting. 

So, the Rise was Red Woman’s again. 

Her paws did not leave imprints in the earth as her light steps took her to her man and her daughter. She shook out her ruff as she settled alongside her own man, dropping the meat before their daughter with bright eyes. The question asked is one that cause her golden eyes to shift upon Mountain Boulder, licking her bloodied lips.

They had at length contemplated this. It was the wayward daughter she considered now.