Horizon Ridge Turning Angel Wings to Dust

I'll tag @Akhlut to pop in here. :)

Edit on 02/06: I see this was moved to the Dead Threads, so I'm actually going to edit a narrative conclusion so this can be archived (I don't want any dead threads in my thread log, tyvm!).

He gave his reason: in the wake of his father's death, he'd wanted to move on from the place filled with his sire's memories. The mention of the words father and died made a lump suddenly form in Pied's throat. She drew in a shallow, steadying breath, then cleared her throat and refocused.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Kanti. I understand." She noticed the way he glanced upward and, though she didn't require submission out of any desire to punish him—it was the natural way of the wild wolf—she said aloud, "You can sit up and make yourself more comfortable." She expected him to maintain a decorum of respect but he didn't need to give himself a backache in the process.

"Well, I see no reason to turn you away and I think you'd make a good addition to the ridge. It's not up to me, though, so I'll call for Akhlut." As soon as the Alpha's name left her lips, she threw back her head and sent up a short howl for the leader, hoping her voice would grab his attention, wherever he was and whatever he was doing.

To Pied's dismay, the leader neither showed nor responded to her howl with one of his own. Without another leader to summon, she was at a total loss. Should she accept Kanti herself? Although she hated to turn him away, Pied simply felt too uncomfortable to take that kind of initiative. Instead, the compromised: she asked Kanti to return the next day and, in the meantime, she would do her best to locate Akhlut to be present for the meeting.

After apologizing to him for her Alpha's no-show, the two parted ways, with Pied loping back toward the ridge with the intent to hunt down the Alpha male. In the back of her mind, though, she wondered if Kanti would even bother returning. Horizon Ridge surely hadn't made a very godo impression on him whatsoever.