Hideaway Strath roll deep

Let’s get you out of Comhlach, shall we? ♥ Tagging for reference.

Leaving the children under @Arturo’s supervision, Lotte distanced herself significantly from the King Sequoia and tipped her muzzle skyward. Her satiny alto sundered the early afternoon silence with an imperious summoning howl for @August. It was time, Banríon decided, to learn more about the subordinate female and saddle her with a task that would earn her place in the Family as an official member. Honestly, Lotte’s opinion of the older female wasn’t a very good one — the soturi respected strength and integrity, and she found little of the latter and none of the former in the cowed creature. Perhaps their meeting today would change Lotte’s mind — it would be the best thing for all parties if this ended up being the case.

Oooh yay c:

August had been napping when the call reached her ears. She yawned and raised herself up so that she was standing, and then stretched. Once she was done, the maiden began to head toward Lotte. She had no idea what this might be about, but hopefully it was something good. August would be terrified if she'd done something wrong - though she didn't feel as though that was the case. She had recently been studying the plants in the area and learning what she could about medicine. 

Upon arrival, August ducked her head, the submission still present despite the time she had spent here. This time, however, it was more out of respect than out of fear, as she did not really fear the Banrion herself. No, she feared Declan. She held a good deal of respect for Lotte because she was the 'alpha female' of the pack. 

"...What can I do for you, Banrion?" She asked, eyes trailing to the ground. Oh boy, hopefully she had not done wrong.

“Stay and talk awhile,” Lotte suggested, stretching out on her stomach in a rare moment of nonchalance. She had nothing to fear from the mousey woman, and if her talk with Olive had taught her anything, it was that masks were just as important in Teaghlaigh’s borders as they were out of them. For a wolf like August, it seemed the world was full of threats — and having come from a culture where the women were just as stubborn and dominant as the men, if not more, Lotte just couldn’t empathize. She wanted to make an effort to get to know August. Typically blunt, “How are you finding your new home?” she questioned, making her velvety voice gentle and low. “You are not so afraid here, are you?”

"O...Okay," She agreed, padding slightly closer before sitting down with her tail curled elegantly around her paws. The question was one she thought about for a moment, comparing the two. Obviously, here was much better. She felt safer. Women were treated so much better here, and if she had never followed Declan and Conan she never would have found them, so she was grateful to them, even if Declan still frightened her.

"Much better than my old one," she managed a genuine smile before continuing. "Before coming here... I didn't realise how.... how awful my old home really was..." She shook her head, glancing at Lotte again before voicing her earlier thought. "I feel safer here."

Maybe Dagfinn’s absence had softened Lotte. Maybe it was simply August’s gentle, nonthreatening nature. Whatever the reason, she found herself gradually warming toward the female as she had toward Olive just before the invasion of Blackfeather Woods and the Family’s ensuing exodus. Lotte watched the older wolf with hawk’s eyes, but concealed their intensity carefully behind a deliberate preening of her black-stockinged forelegs. She didn’t want to pry or overstep her boundaries by asking August about her past, but she was curious. “Ceannasach and I will do our best to create a safe home here,” Banríon solemnly intoned, feeling the weight of responsibility heavy on her shoulders. She’d adjust. It’d settle.

“What was your old home like?”

The question asked was one expected by August, so her answer was somewhat prepared. "It wasn't nice, to say the least. My childhood wasn't... nice. But I didn't really know that.... " Before coming to the Teekon, she had thought everyone lived like that. "Males ruled.... females were on the bottom, and.... were abused. A lot. I was, my mother was, my sisters were. It was just how we lived..... We were punished if we did something wrong and if we... spoke without first being asked. Stuff like that...." They weren't allowed to learn trades either, but that was a very small detail amongst a lot of childhood pain and fear.

When she had found Declan originally, she had cowered before him instantly, and he had not hurt her. He wasn't necessarily nice to her, but he showed her to Teaghlaigh and she met Conan too, who was nicer. Perhaps a little too much for her, but he was alright. She could deal with them - they were much better than her old pack.

Lotte absorbed the information she was given in silence, her black-masked visage pulled into a frown of distaste at what August had been put through. “You will not suffer that here,” she swore, launching almost immediately into mother bear mode. “Has Declan been unkind to you?” she asked. “I will score him with my own fangs if he has hurt you in any way. You must know it, August — females are the stronger sex. You are my isosisko in this pack, a bigger sister. Do you truly not know it?” She expected the older wolf to know what she knew, deep within her bones, and she couldn’t believe that August had been taught anything differently.

The soturi knew that her male comrades could never have done what she did. She knew that. She had, in her line of work, used the silk of her allure and the steel of her cunning to weasel information and weakness from her targets — and in the end, every time, she’d waltzed away with what she wanted while the males stiffened in shock (or in death, if that was her objective). Could a male do that? No. Females were too wily to be taken in by the promise of a sweet young body and pretty words.

“Teaghlaigh asks that you perform a task to move out of the Comhlach rank,” Lotte said without preamble. “My task for you is that you will try — even if it is difficult, and even if it scares you — to speak first. To let yourself be heard. August, you outrank at least two of the pack’s males. You outrank my twin, who is not a pack member here. You need not talk to them if you do not wish to, but if you need something done, and the nearest pack member is a male, swear to me you will try to assert yourself.”

August gave a genuine smile at the leader's words. "Thank you very much... No, Declan is fine... He's just... He hasn't hurt me. He gave me shelter when I needed it, before coming here." She finally managed, despite the few hesitations between. It was complicated when it came to Declan. She held a certain fear of him, but at the same time he had been willing to almost look after her on his way to Teaghlaigh. She would not have found this pack if it were not for him.  So, for that, she was grateful.

The Banrion's next words did confuse her slightly, but she kept her smile regardless. "It was not what I was taught, no... but.... I can still learn new things..." Big sister, huh? She liked that. It made her feel... welcome. Like she truly belonged here. 

Swear to me you will try. It was scary to her. Just the very thought made her feel very small, but Lotte was asking her to try. And she liked Lotte. After much hesitation, the girl gave a promising nod. "I swear I will try...." This was her family now. She could rest among them without feeling like she was in danger all the time. August had not even realized that she ranked above two men, and this already gave her hope. Maybe she could fit in like everyone else.

“Good,” Lotte responded simply at Belle’s reassurance that Declan’s behavior, although a bit overbearing for Banríon’s taste, was wholly innocuous. Boldly she leaned forward, and if August would allow it, the bridge of Lotte’s broad nuzzle would nudge encouragingly against one pale cheek. “I wish for you to learn much here,” she said, her tail thumping heartily upon the earth. “I wish for you to learn true freedom and the strength that lies in your bones.” A dazzling smile lit up the songbird’s black-masked face. “Thank you,” she said in her warm, rich alto. “I know it is not easy for you to swear to that, but I will not let harm come to you here.” It was perhaps naïveté on Lotte’s part that caused her to make such impossible promises, but that’s simply how it was. She would not allow any harm to come to August if she could prevent it — she would do her best.