Blackfeather Woods do or die

After his visit to the new pack, Cicero decided to report back to Burke right away. He had enjoyed his mission, and it allowed him to focus on good things for a little while. Malice had given him much information, and Cicero was certain that the information would come in handy some other time. It made Cicero feel accomplished as a spy to have garnered such information from her, and he had barely had to give anything in return. All he had given her was his name, the location of his pack and the names of his leaders — not exactly privacy-sensitive information, and not exactly information that anyone else could not have given her. He felt achieved knowing what he had gotten in return, right down to her darkest, deepest secret.

Upon his return Cicero called for @Burke after crossing the borders back into Blackfeather Woods, and he awaited his Alpha to share with him the information of his unintended spying mission on the newest pack in the area, and its Alpha. It was not yet a natural thought for Cicero to call @Nemesis too, now that she was Beta, so he did not call for her. Only after waiting for a little bit did Cicero realise that perhaps he should inform her too now that she was Beta, but he decided against calling her then, as it would only make her appear an afterthought.

Burke instantly responded to Cicero's howl. After their last conversation Burke was pretty sure that Cicero had something important to say. He just had a feeling about it. The male trotted further until he reached Cicero. The alpha greeted him. "Cicero. You called," he spoke. Cicero was a spy and a damn good one at that. But maybe he was going to say something about declining his brotherhood invitation. Burke would never know with this male.

The male sat down, ready to listen. Burke still had this Moonlitt hills pack on his mind and Burke was still uncertain if they were a future enemy or not. The alpha had an idea to maybe send Cicero in their direction, that might be a good idea. Little did he know that Cicero already came to report back.

Perhaps he was not ready to tell Burke what had happened in his time away, but he was ready to talk about the information he had gathered recently. "Burke," he said as his Alpha came into view and he briefly touched his nose to Burke's chin.

Deciding to get right down to business, Cicero shared his news of Moonlit Hills: "Cicero explored the gorge. A pack called Moonlit Hills settled there. Cicero met their Alpha, Malice, who wishes to speak of peace with Burke and Nemesis." He awaited Burke's response, figuring he could fill in more details later if needed.

Burke was not surprised that Cicero had taken initiative. He was pleased to hear that Cicero had made it his own mission. Burke listened to him nodding. "How curious seeing that she had been rather vile to Nemesis itself," he spoke. Burke looked at Cicero. "Peace huh? It seemed we already scared her. Good. I might go talk to her. But to her alone. I will not leave my pack without any leadership. Nemesis will have to stay behind and watch over the brotherhood. Plus two females who are seeing ill towards each other will probably not want to talk to each other," he pointed out.

Burke looked at Cicero. "Good of you to go there. Did she say anything else?," he wondered. Maybe she had already found a meeting place. Or maybe she talked about something else what was also important. She would never know.

It came as a surprise to Cicero that Malice had had a run in with Nemesis, particularly because she had not but flinched when Nemesis' name had been mentioned by him. Burke said that he would go to visit her pack, but Cicero shook his head in notion that it was not necessarily. Once Burke finished speaking he said: "Malice intends to come here soon to speak to Burke, so he need not go to her." It would be safer this way, and if she did not show up, he could always go to her instead. Cicero did not think Malice had anything funny up her sleeve, for she seemed genuine when they spoke, but one never knew.

"Malice seemed very nice, told Cicero many things about herself. Malice seems..." He licked his teeth in thought while trying to pinpoint the right words. "... Naïve, in a way, but she does not think she is such. Cicero would suggest being friendly to her, for it is hard to imagine her a frosty creature unless taunted severely." Nemesis could be a frosty creature herself, Cicero knew, though he knew less about Nemesis than he wished he did. Malice seemed nice enough, and though Cicero held no personal attachments to her, he thought it wisest to keep her a friend. He added: "After all, if it were ever needed, it is much easier to kill a softened friend than an angry enemy." It was much easier to stab a friend in the back, with their own dagger if need be, than an enemy; should the need to erase her ever arise. Cicero hoped not, for he had enjoyed her company and the game they had played, in a way, but he knew it was a possibility should things further escalate between her and Nemesis. He would try his hardest not to let that happen.

Burke frowned deeply when he listened to his trusted spy. This was curious indeed seeing that Nemesis spoke very differently about Malice. The alpha kept the frown on his face. Maybe Nemesis had shown the wrong judgement and she had reacted badly towards it. Females. Burke listened further, it seemed that Malice was as he expected her to be, newly alpha with no experience. She probably didn't know how to handle herself. The male nodded slowly to Cicero, not about being nice but more because he was thinking of handling this. This girl was coming to them, to their borders. She was quite brave then, or just plain foolish instead of meeting in a natural territory. Burke was not going to say that to her face though, but he was going to think it anyways.

"I will hear her out," he spoke then to Cicero. Curious when she would arrive at their borders. Burke would make sure to listen to howls so he would be there when she would howl. "I like your advise," he spoke about Cicero's last words. Burke had to nod once more. Yes, this was all pulled from its perspective. Not that he doubted Nemesis, he was certain that this alpha female had been pissing of Nemesis but she had been pissing of the wrong pack, which she might have realized now. "Thank you for heading out there."

It made Cicero curious to think whether Burke really intended to speak with Malice, or if he intended to finish her off were she to come to their borders. Cicero had warned her not to stray too close, and he hoped she would head the call. He did not think that Burke would kill or harm her; Burke was perhaps their leader, but not as tough a cookie as many thought. In Cicero's book, he was rather a kind and just wolf who looked after his own, no more and especially no less than that.

He nodded, glad to have been of use to his Alpha. "Is there anything else Cicero could check for Burke?" he asked. He did not often ask what needed doing — Cicero's strength was this, exactly; doing something without needing to be asked. Filling in gaps he didn't even know needed filling, like with Moonlit Hills. And he would continue to do so, even unasked. But perhaps there was something specific that his Alpha needed help with, too, that he could do.

Cicero had been absolutely right about Burke, but the alpha male disliked to have many wolves know about that. The large male kind of liked that his appearance scared some off, and it kept the right ones close. The large male thought for a moment, thinking if he had something for Cicero. "There was a pack, at the plateau. But they moved. Could you find out for me to where they moved?," he asked. This could be a very strategic question seeing that they had also settled in the flatlands before, but they moved. Burke had other motives though. Because he knew Bullet/Osprey lived in that pack and ever since they moved.... he did not know where she was located. This was all very secret, but she had been a good friend to him and Burke was interested in seeing her again.

Burke came up with another request, and Cicero nodded at the request. "Yes." The single word was to accept the mission, although he was unsure how to go about it. "Does Burke know names of wolves from the pack?" In case there would be no scents, it would be convenient to know what sort of wolves had once inhabited the Blacktail Deer Plateau. He did not remember knowing any of them by name, so any additional information would be useful for his mission. He would get started very soon so that he could hopefully report back in timely fashion, but he knew it'd be difficult if their scents were long gone.

Burke was pleased to see that Cicero accepted his mission. The alpha thought about his question though. He then shook his head. "Nope. I don't know any of them personally, I just like to know where they moved to and hopefully also the reason why, but that might be something harder to figure out," he explained. Burke wasn't sure why he had kept Osprey/Bullet for himself, he was not ready to share her yet. She was his secret, the one he could go to if he was in trouble or feeling bad. He didn't want anyone to ruin that. Though if Cicero would run into her and she would mention that she knew him would Cicero be offended that Burke hadn't told him the full truth? Burke was going to take that risk. He was going to be selfish this one time.

"Very well. Cicero will do his best," promised the Scout when Burke said that he knew none of the wolves by name. Cicero'd hoped for the name of a leader or some such at least, but he would have to do with this. He wasn't sure he'd be able to find out anything, but he owed it to Burke to try.

"Cicero will depart soon," he informed Burke and, with a dip of his muzzle, Cicero vanished back into the shadows, ready to prepare for his next mission after spending a little bit of time back here at home. Luckily, it was a less perilous and far-away mission this time; he hoped.

"I know you will," he nodded with a pleased smile. The alpha watched Cicero. The boy would always do his best, he knew that. He hoped that this time he wouldn't come home with so many wounds. "Good Luck Cicero. You are a good pack member. A good Dark Brother," Burke spoke to him, which was a compliment of the highest order. Burke had to make this Dark Brotherhood membership official. Especially seeing how much Cicero was using his spying skills for more knowledge. Burke was going to prepare, so once Cicero returned they could have a ceremony. He left after Cicero did, pleased with the meeting.

-end-