Qeya River I'm selfish, I'm obscene

Long overdue thread for @Thuringwethil.

She needed space from the maple wood, but the danger of straying too far was very real unless Spring discovered the whereabouts of Reek's claim, so the alpha female went only as far as the river before halting. She knew the unspoken death penalty for passing over it, having heard of it not only from her ex-partner but from Esaro himself, but unlike Reek, Saena didn't stake much of anything on word of mouth. Still, although part of her sought to challenge the notion that death was imminent if she touched the other bank, the pups heavy in her stomach stopped her from testing her luck.

She stooped to lap at the rushing water, still frigid from the ice of the looming glacier. The streams in the maple wood were warmer in comparison, and the chill bit at her tongue and throat in a way that failed to quench her thirst. Slightly disappointed, the woman lifted her gaze and tilted her red-rimmed ears to the mountain in the near distance, as if she might spot upon it a moving body, but it was too far for her scrutiny. It took only seconds for her to grow bored, and then the alpha female began tracing the edge of the river, safe on her side, in search of unsuspecting wintering fish.

Upon her return from Reek’s claim, Thuringwethil did not immediately go to Gyda. Other things were on her mind she needed to sort and once she and @Warbone separated at the borders, the young leader made her round the eastern side until she finds herself along the river where it meets the rocky terrain of the ridge. Her wolves knew to spend more time on this side, open and vulnerable to the valley and the Qeya River not too far. With the unknown between them and the pack to the south, she isn’t up for risking anything just yet.

Her nose drops for a drink, the cool water running her system until it disappears and merges with her own. The winter is mostly gone, moving into spring with warmer weather and the curiosity of what the lands will bring in the upcoming months are enough of a distraction from the current issue. The storm Wildfire had told her about hadn’t ever left her mind and she wondered if another would rip through their land and leave more destruction in the wake. Living on a mountain for the first time in her life would present new challenges and the weather would be one, but she’d made it through the winter without much damage to remind her of what has happened.

The scent of another catches her attention as she moves along the bank with a slight wind her in direction. It vaguely reminds of her Reek only in relation of the aroma he once held and eventually that memory would shed. For now, curious of the new Phoenix, she moves along the edges of the bank where the ground still feels dry beneath her feet until scent materializes into a smaller—rounder?—figure on the opposite side of the river.

Tag for visibility.

She wasn't much of a fisher. In fact, Saena spent almost no time fishing in any weather. Her specialty was land game: in particular, the large and hooved sort. She left the hunting of tricky animals like birds and fish to wolves with more patience. Given that, she ought to know better than to stalk along the shore for fish that could sense the thud of paws on the ground. They fled as her shadow passed over them and with no experience in the field, her eyes lacked the focused quality required for spotting them beneath the dark rushing surface.

She kept at it for a time but was eventually drawn to abandon her search due to fruitlessness as well as the sudden appearance of someone else along the river. While naturally cautious and much more so in her present state, and quite certain from whence the stranger heralded, Saena reigned supreme on this side of the river. From here it was a quick thing to call for back up. So the round, raccoon-eyed alpha female took several steps further along the bank before stopping, lifting her head, and calling out an imperial, "you are?"

I'm not certain how far long she is here so if her observation is incorrect, I'm more than happy to adjust. :)

The more the female comes into focus, the slower Thuringwethil's stride becomes. With no desire to draw attention to herself, though she doesn't shy away, she remains silent and studies her movement until she's noticed. Eyes lift as she comes to a stop, the woman's demeanor shifts and she narrows her gaze in scrutiny. Her own posture stiffens, tail flagging half mast but her head lifts to mimic the odd-patterned woman. When she allows herself to scan the rest of her and realizes this is not her typical build, she knows who is standing in front of her only in theory.

Drawing her gaze back up as she's addressed, distracted from her puzzle pieces, she stiffens and straightens her shoulders.

"Thuringwethil," she then introduces. If she hadn't put the pieces together—and she supposes she could still be wrong—she wouldn't have considered the woman across the water to be the leader of the Maplewood. Her rounded sides showing more than enough to hint what Reek had told her. A name is still unknown to her, for the male kept some details for himself, but she turns all that away to give the female a platform for her own opinion.

Thuringwethil was a word or a name that held no weight to Saena. Her interest in the Sleeping Dragon pack had been nonexistent prior to the attack on Esaro and their names were unknown to her. Nevertheless, from the way the opposite wolf stiffened as if the river belonged to her, Saena could tell who she was. What sparse things she knew about the Dragon pack from the attack on Esaro and the kill order for crossing the river led Saena to think little of them, and a show of seeming dominance on unclaimed territory did little to smooth the feeling.

She managed to keep from wrinkling her nose as she asked, "I assume you're the one who ordered unprovoked attacks on my wolves?" Well, only one of them, but the rule extended to all of Phoenix Maplewood. Henceforth if any of them crossed the river, even with the best of intentions, they were at grave risk of being severely injured if not killed. It was a rule Saena detested, having lived in the region for close to a year, and so her eyes were levelled on Thuringwethil, perhaps silently demanding an explanation for it while knowing full well it was Reek's foolish deal to blame for all of their tension.

While Esaro had not known about the agreement, the other female she met had assured her they all knew. The irritation behind the other female’s words would lead her to question a lot of things with Reek, making decisions with others without the consult of his partners. Something she’d been led to believe he’d do the same with his companion in the grotto and her future visit would present her with a lot of answers that questions couldn’t ask.

“It’s not unprovoked if they’re crossing the river,” she tells the other. And since then, to her awareness, it has been a successful boundary. Esaro had made a half hearted attempt before Thuringwethil turned him around and there had been no bloodshed the night she met the other female on the glacier. A crime had been committed weeks ago and justice had been delivered while her own wolves know death looms over their head should they crossed the watery line between them.

"Unprovoked," repeated Saena with a backward flip of her ears. Whatever deal Reek had made with Sleeping Dragon was certainly not sanctioned by her—for all of her days it would stand as an unprovoked attack. The differences in their points of view would stand testament to the fact that Thuringwethil came from somewhere very different. Very unlike these wilds, and very unwelcome to one of its first born natives.

"My wolves have neither threatened your wolves nor challenged your borders," the alpha female declared, "even when you claimed land near to my territory, which we have occupied for many months, you were permitted to settle unopposed and unthreatened." And Thuringwethil's pack had repaid that kindness with an unprovoked attack (Saena did not, in spite of the conversation, know for certain whether Thuringwethil was anyone of consequence but assumed the message would reach someone significant regardless). In earlier times it was the catalyst Saena needed to drive a pack out of the area. If not burdened with children it might have crossed her mind. It didn't, however, leaving her with only other options, and none of those included making deals with convoluted terms.

"How about," she said evenly, "you recognize that fact, we nix the little deal my dumbass ex put into place to limit all of us, and act like normal folks." After all, Saena had no qualms with anyone hunting the land around her forest. The prey that inhabited the maple wood was enough to feed her wolves, and her only worry was keeping the route that prey migrated on free. Sleeping Dragon did not threaten that route in any way.

"Our wolves travel and hunt freely as they please," she suggested, "and so long as mine do not harm yours and vice versa, and so long as pack borders are respected, we leave one another be. There is no need for unprovoked attacks here." That was how normal wolf packs worked and it was how Phoenix Maplewood worked. Indeed, Saena's goal in life was peace and quiet, and if she could achieve it she would.

The woman repeats the word as if she hadn’t heard it, or maybe as if she doesn’t understand, and her fur begins to bristle. Before it gets too out of hand, Thuringwethil adjusts her step and rolls one shoulder back to smooth the irritation. Even if their settling had come relatively easy, with little fuss from the southern pack, Reek had still struck an agreement they’ve abided from day one. Since the change in terms, their interaction had been limited to the dividing river and it would be difficult to deny Thuringwethil hadn’t enjoyed it.

Calling off the agreement might not impact much, but breaking it off might be testing a theory when things have been kept safe so far. The division between them had prevented any further bloodshed, their security on the eastern side a little tighter on their watch, and now she’s presented with the option of changing that? The young leader takes a moment to answer, but with too much in the air, she can’t give up the one constant she can depend on. 

“No.”

No, said Thuringwethil, and Saena's lips pulled back into an irate grimace. She didn't need to know much more about the young leader than this one word. From it alone, the alpha female inferred that the woman was arrogant beyond belief, and Saena would know because she wasn't lacking in arrogance herself. To claim land in Saena's own backyard and then impose restrictions like she owned the place! If not for her pregnancy, she would've had her pack on Thuringwethil's turf within the day to erase the mistake they'd made in allowing Thuringwethil's ilk to settle there. But she couldn't do that in her current state. Not without a good reason.

"Fine," she snorted, "if you cannot respect the freedom of these lands, you receive none in return. Your wolves may never cross this river. Not here, not further to the west, not anywhere. We will find them if they try." Saena could not control the entire north, of course, but she would threaten it and would keep vigil over anywhere the river touched and even beyond it if she had to for any sign of a Dragon wolf, in the same manner she had hunted Redhawks in the north so long ago. "And if I see or smell a single fur from one of your wolves on my side of the water, we'll hunt you down and end you all."

Black and white. That was how she supposed the wolf across the river operated, and that was how Saena would learn to operate if needed. Whoever Thuringwethil thought she was, whatever influence she thought she had, wasn't flying with the Phoenix leader. Not this Phoenix leader, the one who had founded them.

Thuringwethil stays quiet for a moment while Saena reels back from her decline, eyes squinting to watch the change in her facial features but the anger radiates from her words but otherwise she shows nothing but indifference to the way the woman speaks to her and threatens her wolves. The new "arrangement" holds little value to her and with an irritated roll of her eyes a few seconds after the silence is when she decides to speak.

"There have been no transgressions with the previous change in agreement, my wolves have not once crossed the river, and no necessity to change it now just because you can't get your way," she says, her words a smooth purr to counteract the irrational stance of the pregnant female. Thuringwethil is quiet for only a few more seconds before she offers, if only to keep the peace: "I will compromise for the time being and remove the kill order for crossing the river as long as your wolves do not hunt near us, as it was before."

It is all Thuringwethil has to offer instead of sharing the neutral territories again. Perhaps, one day, they can share but for the time being their space needs to remain separate.

"Get my way?" Saena repeated, incredulous. That was true. It wasn't something she could deny when presented the fact point-blank, but she also felt entitled to getting her way. Not because she had done anything in particular to earn it, but because Thuringwethil didn't deserve to tell senior wolves, both in age and in longevity in the region and the role of leader (though she didn't know that), what they could and couldn't do.

"This is my neighbourhood," she reminded sharply, "that you have disturbed with your claim and violate with your lack of respect for those who came before you here, when it is we who permit you to remain." She snorted. "My decree is final. You have necessitated this. If any of your wolves cross this river and we catch them, it's war." There were many loopholes, and the Phoenix wolves couldn't be everywhere at once, but Saena would be on high alert for them. With Thuringwethil here and her scent mingling in the breeze to be registered by the Phoenix alpha as surely as Saena's was available to Thuringwethil, a Dragon wolf would not be terribly difficult to pick out.

With a sharp glare, the alpha female turned and departed, leaving the river as a solid border between them. If the Dragons wanted everything, as Saena personally believed they did, they could have it, but only what was north. Their passage south was cut off for good.

The female doesn’t take the offer Thuringwethil gives her, though it doesn’t surprise her. Already speaking with anger in her voice, nothing that makes sense for either of them, she doesn’t press. Without responding to the threat, either, the pregnant leader turns and Thuringwethil watches her disappear. Her weakness has already been shown with rash decisions based on not getting what she wants and swollen with children that puts a thought through her mind: elimination.

Tightening her jaws, she shifts back once the female has disappeared from view, and makes her way back to the mountain to present the information to her queen.