Holding onto ties that vanished

Your posts are great! I love how lengthy and detailed they are. :)

Though they did not yet realize it, Chakra and Muninn had quite a lot in common. They were both the children of strong Alphas, both well-taught and groomed in the ways of pack life, both had it hammered into them that to live with others was to pull your own weight and do your own share of the work. Chakra was certainly no slacker herself; if anything, she'd had it the roughest, for she had been the smallest and daintiest in her mother's litter of five children. Growing up in a warring clan was not kind to a weak, runty child, but young Sigrún Chakra had not been beaten down and broken by this reality. Rather, she had been strengthened by it, like a sword repeatedly forged in fire grows ever harder and more resilient. She had become her mother's most useful weapon: groomed for leadership, skilled in battle, taught the arts of war and strategy, and captivatingly beautiful. That last part had made her a most effective bargaining chip, with which her mother had sought to secure the alliance of a rival clan through an arranged mateship. It was a mistake that had cost her mother the love of her daughter.

And now here she was, so many months later, an Alpha in her own right, with subjects of her own. She hoped she led them well, did things right, treated them fairly. She did as her heart led her to do; only time would tell if it was the right way.

Muninn responded to her with the appropriate respect and deference, averting his eyes and lowering his stance to acknowledge her higher status. She had seen his demure smile at her earlier compliment, and could not help noticing how handsome he was. A fine and splendid creature was he, tall and well-built, with a musculature that spoke of great strength and stamina. Varying hues of frosty silver danced and scintillated throughout his coat, raining down his sides in ever-paling shades to end in pristine, snowy white on his legs and underside. Alpha and warrior though she may have been, Chakra was still female and she could certainly still appreciate a good-looking male when she saw one.

She closed the distance between them and licked his muzzle in greeting, a friendly gesture that reinforced their relationship as packmates and friends. No matter how new they were, Chakra wanted all of her followers to know that they meant something to her, that they were important and equally as worthy of her own respect as she was of theirs. Her posture made her higher status known, but was not domineering or intimidating in any way. Her tail, held a little higher than neutral behind her, waved pleasantly. "That is a policy I can agree with," she answered in response to his comment about having been taught to work for his place in a pack, and how one could not take without giving back. "And one that will serve you well in this pack."

In response to his final query, she answered, "I am doing quite well, thank you. I hope that you can say the same, and that you are finding my forest a comfortable home so far?"