Horizon Ridge Turning Angel Wings to Dust

His reaction took her by surprise, when suddenly he cowered, stammering and begging her not to hurt him. Pied blinked again, the mottled fur at her nape bristling in instinctive acknowledgement of his submission. Meanwhile, she felt herself wanting to reassure him that she wouldn't hurt him, for gods' sake, and that she wasn't upset, either. She wondered what made him think so, then glanced down at her own chest as if to marvel at the power of body language. Did her little attempts to look intimidating actually work so well?

"It's okay, Kanti, I'm not upset. I was having trouble reading you but," Pied told him, "it's clearer now." Her tail flicked. She felt little jolts of empowerment even as she continued to look down at him. "My name's Pied. I'm relatively highly-ranked in Horizon Ridge and I can probably answer your questions about the pack. What would you like to know?" As she spoke, she felt like she'd struck the balance between authoritative and hospitable.