Swiftcurrent Creek a baby sleeps in all our bones [join]

Ira's question was a good one; why would Jinx seek strength in an enemy? It was a question she herself had asked time and again, and yet she had still come here when it became clear Akhlut would not yield his pack to a more experienced leader and more present wolf. It was the nature of all canids to assume order when there was a void, and she had been next in line to assume command, even when her overbearing ambition wasn't brought into question. It was the nature of the wolf to follow a stronger wolf, or lead as the strongest... It was reason enough to leave Horizon Ridge, but it did nothing to explain coming here specifically.

That answer was clasped privately to her heart, sealed in the heat between her legs, where none but Lecter could discover it. She chose a different, albeit related, response: "I have friends here too, princeling. A grand shaman, and hisss daughter. They are bound to me and I to them, such that this Alpha's relationship with me is trivial. She will accept us." That last was most definitely a lie, for Jinx had no such confidence in Lethe... But she had curried favour via flattery before, and what little she knew of the buttery Shearwater herbalist was enough to tell her she could do so again, even if it was misplaced.

She grinned deviously when Ira (Aethon, as he preferred) claimed he would charm her ass off. Jinx had yet to meet with the honeyed tongue of the strange young child, dear to Sos and Atka though she hid their names from him, but some sixth sense told her he was probably right. If naught else, Lethe would take the boy... Though she had ignored the Gods' decree in Shearwater, if what Lecter had revealed was true, Lethe would not be so quick to ignore them a second time. "I am counting on you then, young stag," she revealed with a toothy grin. If Jinx could not slip her way past Lethe's ire, then it would be up to the boy to appeal for them; there was no shame in the Mambo regarding this arrangement. If a child won her her life, it was to her advantage, and his own.

Lethe was quick to arrive, and quicker to assert herself. She was reminded of their role reversal a few weeks prior, when she had stood stiff and tense before Lethe... But Jinx was not as insolent, at least not when her life was on the line, and would not raise her head in stubborn defiance. She let her cheek touch the snow instead, laying sidelong so that her belly was visible, but she was not wholly supine; she was submitting absolutely, but not fearfully. Perhaps Lethe would push the display, in which case the opportunistic Kesuk would likely oblige, but she did not initially want to. Always she would push the envelope in some way, even small ways.

Lethe's words brought to mind a lie that the Kesuk had completely forgotten about. Her forgetfulness was a wrench in her plans, and she bit her lip to keep from seething at her own negligence. She would have to proceed carefully... "My pack's rightful Alpha was Akhlut Nereides," she said, her tone drawn tight into some semblance of woe as she selectively left out the wolf's relation to her family. "But weeks passed and he grew scarce. I came to act as Alpha in his absence. The pack I treated as fairly and justly as if it were my own conception... I did my duty to save it when its wolves grew restless with their kings' absence. He lost his grip on his wolves and I sought his seat, that I could govern them and lead them as a true leader should, not inaccessibly as he did. Yet he returned suddenly, when a member became grievously injured, and was offended with my assuming his role. He would not relinquish the pack officially to me, despite my position as his second, who led where he failed."

Not a word of it was truly a lie, but all words were selected with care, that Lethe not detect her true design had been to outright take his rank and deem him unworthy... Best she make it sound like it had been for the good of the pack. In truth, it had been that, as well. "He was not worth following and would not acknowledge me as true Alpha, despite assuming his role when he was off by himself, where his wolves could not find him. I was there while he was not, yet he denounced me... Raised a half-dead wolf to higher status than myself, out of spite. I would not follow a wolf such as that any longer." Ira had yet to hear this account, but she didn't care; it could not harm him to know why Akhlut was no longer worth her service.

"Lecter has told me Atka has recognized you," she added at length, though she did not go further into what she thought that meant. Instead, she lifted her head just a fraction, seeking some nonthreatening spot on Lethe's face to look upon. "My shaman is dear to me,and I would not dare question his judgment. If Atka has truly chosen you for this, then I must obey, as I must trust in my Gods." Her gaze sought Ira, though it was painful to look that way, and she said, "This child is Aethon, prince of Red Keep. Sos and Atka revealed him to me in a Dream and I found him shortly after on my pack's borders. I believe They have plans for him, and I suspect he will one day be a very powerful ally."

A powerful ally, and swayed by Jinx's favour and whispered promises... A powerful weapon, perhaps, or bargaining chip. It mattered not but that her young puppet was quickly becoming a favoured subject, who no doubt would play a great role in her own future, if not Swiftcurrent Creek's.