With all the drama happening with Swiftcurrent Creek and Paarthurnax and the puppies, the lack of members they had and basically everything, he had not been able to find a suitable meeting spot yet, he did not have the time. Once his ranks filled up again and there were more reliable wolves around, he planned on having someone to find a good meeting spot, but for now, this hollow would have to do. The last time had Shadow had a meeting with his pack, it had been here too. It was a good spot, but without shelter and it was vulnerable, smack in the middle of the plains, if it had been in a forest the Imperator might have made it the permanent meeting spot. A small layer of snow covered the ground and the trees that surrounded the hollow had been stripped of its leaves. But with the setting sun casting its rays on it, this place was beautiful, and the blessing of Jupiter wreathed around him. Even with his mate leaving him and all that shit that the gods rained on him, Shadow was still happy with his life, the guilt of not being a better lover for his wife was still there, but he was getting up and he was trying his best to move on. It was succeeding so far, and he hoped Paar was doing the same.
Gazing out at the horizon and thinking of his children, he exhaled softly, tilted his head into the air and howled. The musical harmony rising into the air, summoning the wolves that still remained loyal to him, making this meeting mandatory. Once the Roman was sure everyone heard his call, he closed his jaws and sat down on the snow instead of the boulder. This time, he would be their packmate, not only their leader, but a friend and someone they could trust. Perhaps, the gods would give them a new beginning, grant them a golden era. An era of peace and prosperity, a time where they could thrive and grow.
The blast of colors soon arrived, and Shadow was reminded of the first night he spent here in Noctisardor Bypass, the time when he was inspired to name the pack Noctisardor. The mix of two latin words, Noctis meaning night and ardor meaning fire. It described the scene perfectly, with the sky at the edge of the night and the bright flames of colors streaking across the dark colors. Sometimes, the Roman would find himself wondering what would've happened if he never left the Creek, stayed there with Paarthurnax. Would they still have kids? Would he have been the Beta, or even the Alpha? Or kept his rank there as Gamma? Would Paar and himself still be mates? Would he meet Crëyr and Flash? Would they still be friends?
It was tiring to think of what could have happened, so Shadow tossed those thoughts away, concentrating on the present and what the future held. The Imperator made himself comfortable, leaning against the boulder, and waited to see who would come.
She rose to her paws and shook the sugary coat of icy snow out of her fur, as well as the buzzing sleep caused by no movement for some time, folded over her legs as she had lain. Stretching the kinks out of her muscles, she began a quick lope down the side of the hill she rested upon and down in the general direction of the call that had summoned her pack. Her nose and ears twitched as she decisively made turns and made her way successfully to a small clearing of bare dead trees and boulders, right in the open plains. Perhaps it was just the openness of the area but the empty plain felt dangerous, harsh on her senses and paranoia.
She nodded and lowered her head to Shadow, who had called them here, in respect of his position and parked her behind a few paces from him, tail lightly brushing the snow.
"Greetings. It is a glad time to see you well, Shadow."
The silver-graphite wolfess made her way towards his voice before she reached the meeting ground, which was the same place as last time. That pack meeting, where Vector had gotten out of captive, Flash had gotten out of probatio and when Paarthurnax had been promoted to Alphess.
Crëyr padded lightly across Noctisardor territory, wondering what was to be announced in the pack meeting. Briefly she wondered about the possible beta promotion Shadow had mentioned around a month ago, although she knew that she couldn't immediately settle on that as something that would happen in the pack meeting. Or, even likelier, he was gathering them together for a re-orientation of some sort.
It wasn't long before she reached the meeting grounds. Her cerulean eyes scanned the area, seeing no one but the recruit she'd questioned a couple days ago, Rozari, and Shadow himself. Seeing his figure up on the boulder, his sterling pelt gleaming silver, she wondered what of the thoughts she had about him— they were too weird to try unravel and piece together at the moment. She gave him a ghost of a smile, lowered herself into subordination and uttered a brief greeting to the brown-pelted female before moving over to seat herself comfortably.
An unknown wolf and Creyr had arrived before him. He tensed at the unknown wolf, but decided she was there because she was a new member of Noctisardor Bypass he hadn't meet yet or was recruited when he was gone. Indeed, as he pad closer, he smelled the Noctisardor Bypass scent on her, though not as strong as Creyr.
He padded closer, but veered towards Creyr when he neared the three. He nudged her shoulder in a friendly way, and moved to sit at a point where he could see SHadow with ease, without snapping his head back, but still at a close distance. Nodding his head to Shadow, he settled down.
As he looked around, he noticed Creyr was staring at Shadow, a look he had never seen on her face. He wondered if tensions were running high between and silver alpha and the grayscale female. Prehaps something had happened when he was gone? He might had to ask te two later to see if he could help. But not wanting to be so nosy, he pushed it out of his thoughts and waited for the other members of Noctisardor Bypass to appear.
Silver Bone's dark ears perked as the now familiar voice of the Alpha rang out across the Bypass in a summoning. She began at a steady run towards the meeting place. There were Crëyr and Shadow, as well as two wolves she didn't know, a rusty brown lady and a fiery pelted man. She settled herself near the very edge of the circle (or whatever shape they sit in). She was surprised to see the Alpha sitting on the ground. Maybe it was a way they did things here. Back at Raven's Peak, Raven Eyes and whoever else was ranked highly at that time would sit high upon the mountain throne and look down upon their loyal subjects. Bone thought it was strange the Alpha would address them like this. She gave him a small bow of her head before lifting it and waiting to see what he had to say.
After removing the thorn pricked branch from her disheveled pelt, she proceeded to groom herself. Hopefully, the Nice Smell Tree Who Held Flowers would grow too, just like her, and once again, they could be reunited.
Just as she had removed the last bramble from the black saddle on her back, a call sounded. One that had a Pull she internally could not ignore. Listening to the voice as she sprang to her fours, she smiled knowing it was her Father who made the Call. No one else held such authority the way he held it. Able to Pull any and all who belonged to the Bypass just with the sound of his voice.
The internal compass led her to a flat clearing, one that was not as fancy as the other time once meet in it, but the angel didn't mind. Looks didn't mean anything to her.
She held a lower frame to the other wolves of the Bypass, but strode gracefully to the Grey Man, lightly touching the tips of his massive paws with her heart patterned nose, then circled the side to his left, and sat next to him.
Still too shy to speak to others.
Would she work up the nerve to tell Shadow? She was unsure of how he would react, so decided to wait a little longer, at least hear what he had to say before she but in with her stupid problems.
The yearling was going for a hunt when a howl rose into the air, the voice was familiar, it was the voice of the leader who had accepted him in first place. Curiosity rippled through his entire being and he wondered why the Alpha was summoning them, there was only one way to know. So, the viking set off towards the howl, his steady trot bringing him to his destination quickly. Hjalmar glanced around, vibrant forest green eyes scanning his surroundings.
The greyscale female and the girl he'd met earlier were there, along with Shadow the Alpha and the golden green eyed hunter. Stormfrost dipped his head respectfully towards the silver form in front of the boulder and settled down, quietly waiting for the meeting to start and wondering what would happen.
He watched as they arrived, greeting each of them with a nod and a brief smile depending on how well he knew them. Rozari was the first to arrive and spoke a few words of greeting with him, then came Crëyr and Flash and the others. Leila arrived and moved towards him, touching his paws with her nose and then sat next to him. A light frown touched his features for a second before it vanished and he nudged his adoptive daughter towards his packmates. ”Go on, this is the place for leaders.” Shadow whispered softly, hoping she would heed his words. He didn't feel comfortable with her sitting next to him in an official pack meeting, the ways of the Romans sticking firmly to him as always. You wouldn't see a daughter standing next to their father Emperor like she was of the same rank when the Emperor was making an announcement did you? Wasn't it currently the same thing?
The last to arrive was Hjalmar, the newest recruit, the one who was both warrior and healer. The Scandinavian seemed to be settling in well to pack life which was good, Shadow didn't want to lose another healer. Especially one who possessed both fighting skills and the skills of a medic. He observed quietly, noticing that their numbers were fewer than before and felt a pang of worry which he shook away. The gods were with him and he was sure their numbers would grow, perhaps not immediately but slowly and surely. Sure that no one else was coming, the silver leader rose to his paws and bounded onto the boulder where he sat, tail curled neatly over his paws and gazed downwards at his packmates.
”Many of you are newcomers and you have not been formerly accepted into the pack yet, so we offer you a belated welcome. Serve the pack well and you will carry the honor and glory of being one of us”, he paused, silver eyes drifting over every one of them, reminding them why he accepted them in first place and their promise to earn their place in the Bypass. Then Shadow leaped downwards and moved over to Leila, touching her crown with his nose in a fatherly manner, ”Leila here is my adopted daughter, she was a member of the Bypass and has returned. She is one of you now.”
The Roman turned now and made his way back to the boulder, ”Two wolves have taken my place when I left to solve some problems with Swiftcurrent Creek, another pack. They have led well in my absence and I have decided to promote them to the rank of Centurion. Second in command.” A light smile graced his features as the words rolled smoothly off his tongue. ”Crëyr and Flash, you have proven to be loyal wolves and have led well despite the sudden circumstances. I hereby promote you to the rank of Centurion and hope you will continue to serve this pack loyally and defend it with your life.” Shadow smiled at them, a twinkle evident in his usually cold gray eyes.
Shadow continued and moved towards the girl he had met sometime earlier and proclaimed her as his adoptive daughter, Stormfrost gave her an encouraging smile and a nod of approval before turning his attention back to the Alpha. The Roman leader spoke of two wolves who took his place when he left to solve some problems with Swiftcurrent Creek which was probably another pack. He said they led well when he was gone and therefore decided to promote them to Beta.
Turns out they were the two wolves the Scandinavian met, the silver gray girl and the fiery golden youth. A light smile graced the pale furred male's features, forest green eyes drifting from the platinum leader to the sun touched male to the silvery white female and he knew they deserved it. They seemed to be the most active members of the pack around anyways.
the first to arrive after her was her tawny pelted friend, flash, who gave her a friendly nudge before seating himself somewhere nearby. she gave him an amiable hello before turning back towards shadow, her tail curled around her paws. one by one, the others began to file in as the moon rose behind the boulder.
she recognized most of them, yes, as she'd been there when they'd joined, though she barely knew them. she'd only met most of them for what, five minutes? she gave nods of acknowledgement to hjalmar and leila as they passed, though, as she actually had held proper conversations with the two.
the grayscale girl was slightly confused when leila chose to sit directly next to shadow. she vaguely knew of shadow's father-daughter relationship with leila, as she'd heard the young girl mention something of that sort the last time they'd spoken, but, well. at last shadow gave a small frown and nudged leila towards the other direction, where her foster father's subordinates were seated at.
shadow then began to speak, offering the newcomers words of welcome. nodding in agreement to his words, a smile then dawned upon the blue-eyed wolfess' features. she hoped her new packmates would work up to their names in the bypass. following that came a swift leap downwards from the boulder shadow was seated upon, and he made his way towards leila to announce that he was indeed her father figure.
crëyr smiled at the two of them, she decided quite liked it, really. it seemed to be a different side of shadow she saw less. he had leila, and his four other pups back at paarthurnax's. almost, but still.
then he bounded back onto the boulder before making an announcement that crëyr did not see coming— shadow seemed to have forgotten about it since he'd returned, but not quite. he spoke of how herself and flash had lead in his stead when he'd made his way towards swiftcurrent creek and paar, and how he would be promoting the two of them to centurion. beta. the graphite-grey wolfess took a slight step forward as her cerulean eyes widened in a combination of gratitude and wonder—
she dipped her head at her leader, her eyes shining with happiness as she did so. crëyr looked to see if flash was by her side, before saying, "thank you, shadow, for your trust and this wonderful opportunity. i will continue to loyally serve this pack the very best i can, and will always be by your side."
Flash canted his head at how softly Shadow had treated the young girl. What was her special title with Shadow? In his thoughts, Flash almost missed the first part of Shadow's announcement. It was just about welcome all the new people into their packs, nothing too serious. Shadow then leaped down and claimed that the young female, whose name was Leila was his adopted daughter. As Shadow nudged the young girl, Flash could almost see the old Shadow who was filled with laughter and joy. Almost. Just so close.
”Two wolves have taken my place when I left to solve some problems with Swiftcurrent Creek, another pack. They have led well in my absence and I have decided to promote them to the rank of Centurion. Second in command.Crëyr and Flash, you have proven to be loyal wolves and have led well despite the sudden circumstances. I hereby promote you to the rank of Centurion and hope you will continue to serve this pack loyally and defend it with your life.”
A light gasps escaped Flash's mouth. Him, Beta? He thought he had lost all of Shadow's trust when he had left and Came back and the alpha had regarded him in a cold manner. But Shadow had trusted him again, at least enough to make him beta. The tawny male hung his head in shame for a moment. He was not worhty, what had he done while Shadow was gone? Snap at every stramnger wolf and let stress overtake him. No, Flash would be Strong. He would prove to Shadow he hadn't made the wrong choice.
Creyr spoke, snapping Flash out of his reign of Shame and Guilt. As she finished, Flash raised his Head. "Thank you, Shadow for still trusting in me after what I have done.| He started, refering to his incident. "I promise I will serve his pack with all my efforts and make sure it will live through this winter." he finished, dipping his head in respect to the silver alpha.
The Roman smiled as his two best friends gazed at him. Truthfully he had been thinking about promoting them for a while but it slipped from his mind and he was glad they finally got the reward they deserved for serving the pack so well. Loyal and courageous, they were valuable wolves to the Bypass and truthfully Shadow did not know what he would do without the two of them. He doubted he would've made it through Paarthurnax's departure if not for his adoptive little brother and the welsh female. The doubts that clouded his head about her in the beginning had vanished entirely, he trusted the two of them completely. Which was rare.
"Frater," he started warmly, using the latin term for brother "You had to do what you did, for you would have kept doubting yourself if you hadn't went. I am glad you followed your heart, remember to always follow your heart." Shadow grinned and turned at Crëyr, silver eyes gleaming. "You have always been by my side and the pack has prospered with you here, I ask nothing but for you to keep doing what you're doing." With that Shadow dipped his head, "Congratulations, Centurions of Noctisardor Bypass. Legion of Rome. Senatus Populusque Romanus."
Shadow touched both of them on the cheek as he moved forward and gazed at all his packmates, it was time for them to rest and so with a cant of his head and a few farewells, he dismissed them. He, himself turned and leaped out of the hollow, heading towards the northern part of the territory.
a smile dawned onto shadow's lips and he spoke, congratulating them both. more warm words were spoken, given to them like gifts, and she returned thanks, nods, smiles and "yes"es to everything he said.
farewells were bid and they were soon dismissed, and crëyr left the area with a bounce and her new position in her stride.