Qeya River Chinchilla

For @Thuringwethil

Esaro's blunder had been a failure of Reek's leadership. He wasn't one to usually admit he was wrong, but in this instance, it was unavoidable. Reek waited a few days before traveling north, half expecting to recive a messenger of thier own. However, it seemed they intended on Esaro's battered body to carry their message. It had certainly been recieved, so Reek made it his duty to fix what his subordinate had broken.

The boundary between the two pack's hunting territory may not have been honored by Reek's subordinate, but he was sure to respect the distance between them. He stopped on the Phoenix side of the river and howled for leader of Sleeping Dragon to join him.

The call does not surprise Thuringwethil when she hears it and can only imagine it to be Reek. She barely remembers his regular speaking voice and the howl isn't one she can pinpoint but by process of elimination, the Phoenix leader being the owner makes the most sense. It's faint, distant, and a smile forms on her features. He doesn't want to cross the river to come to her territory, out of respect or fear she can't be sure, but either one of the motives is enough for her. She sends her own howl, quiet at first for her own wolves on where she is going and to be prepared, and a second, louder, for Reek by the river.

Thuringwethil does not rush, making her way down the decline of the mountain, and following the rocky terrain until it meets the river that bends further west into a lake she can't see. Reek stands out against the remaining melting snow of the season. Her posture remains dominant as she crosses the distance, treating it as if he were at her doorstep instead of a neutral territory. He is here with purpose and she won't treat it differently. The young leader remains silent once she comes to a point in the bank where the river narrows so their voices are not drowned out by the rushing rapids. Without speaking first, she gives the floor to Reek to state his business.

He knew the distance between them was vast, but Reek held no doubts that his howl reached it's target. Howls carried far, so he plopped down to his rump and waited for a response. Whatever reaction he was to get from their leader was still unknown, and Reek wondered if the damage cause by Esaro could ever be repaired. With his own pups on the way, Reek had no room on his agenda for war. Whatever beef they had, it needed to be settled now. After a short while, a howl came from the leader of the northernmost pack, Thuringwethil herself. Now, all there was to do was wait for her to show.

Several minutes ticked away and there was still no sign of the leader of the Sleeping Dragon, that is, until Reek noticed a black speck against the white-washed ground in the distance. She approaced with proud posture, like an alpha upon their own borders. The tension between them hung stiff in the air.

From the safety of his own side of the river, Reek broke the silence. "Let's talk," he said, trying to retain a sense of calm despite the nervous storm brewing in his gut. "What exactly happened here?" He had heard Esaro's story and most of the details, but Reek wanted to hear it from Thuringwethil herself.

"Your wolf was found hunting above the river," the young leader explains, voice smooth despite how stern she forces her words. There isn't much left to elaborate on, Reek could fill in the gaps. She'd spotted the tawny wolf, chasing a rabbit across the valley well above the river. 

Thuringwethil's head turns to her left, as if she could still see the spot she'd barreled the Phoenix over. The snow had mostly melted by now and the blood likely dried up with it. She might have overreacted on her assault but she'd never admit to it. She turns back to Reek, letting a quiet moment linger between them, wondering if he expects more from her. 

"Tell me why you've called, Phoenix." It might as well have been Reek himself to break the agreement.

The story according to Thuringwethil was breif, but was exactly the same he had heard from Esaro. Reek expected no deviation, but he couldn't help but wince with her own confirmation. Knowing that it was his own pack-member to go and break the deal he had made ruined his credibility, Reek didn't exactly know how he would go about fixing the mistakes that were made. But, with his offspring on the way, the beef needed to be squashed here and now.

"I received your message," Reek said simply. "I would have done the same thing." If one of her wolves had broken the treaty, Reek would have shown no mercy. He held nothing agaist Thuringwethil for her actions, and with a heavy heart, it was Reek who knew he was in the wrong.

"Esaro will be dealt with accordingly," he continued after a beat. "I won't let this sort of thing happen again."

Thuringwethil waits and listens, searching for the useful thing Reek came here to tell her. He didn't need to show his face to tell her it wouldn't happen again; they don't change the terms Thuringwethil has set. However, she offers him a nod of understanding but little else. Esaro, the wolf had been, had at least done his job. She considers commenting on the male's future punishment but it is not her wolf and what she thinks won't matter to his decisions. Esaro had already been punished for hunting above the river but the suggestion remains silent.

"Good," she tells him but adds nothing. Slowly, she blinks, filled with expectation: mostly to leave and return home so she can do the same. However a stiff apprehension settles in the back of her neck that it's not quite over.

Good. So, that was it? If everything had been fixed by simply admitting fault, then this meeting had gone far better than Reek had initially expected. But still, he couldn't help but feel things weren't completely settled on Thuring's side; that she was keeping something from him in some way. If she still felt hostility towards the wolves of the Maplewood, Reek could understand. They had, so far, done nothing but offer words to fix their transgressions. But, if words would be enough to sooth tensions, Reek would happily oblige.

"We, uh— We cool?" he asked. He felt increasingly uncomfortable, but he avoided shifting or fidging on the spot, no matter how hard he wished to. Most of all, he wished to leave.

Reek lingers, the tension turning a little awkward, but Thuringwethil expectantly lifts a brow. He seems unsure of his words when he finally speaks and a long inhale filled her chest in idle frustration. Slowly, she releases her breath before she nods her head a little to confirm that they are, according to him, cool. She knows it doesn't feel right but the weight of expectation she has pulls her back to explain.

"As long as you don't cross the river. And neither will mine."

Reek patching things up aren't going to be enough to lift he order but the Phoenix has the same power. If one of her wolves cross the river, near the Phoenix, they have every right to rip their souls from their body. Damage committed by the Phoenix isn't in any of Reek's favors when it had been his leading that failed Esaro that day.

As far as Reek knew, the terms of their deal remained unchanged. He nodded with understanding. In no way did Reek feel that the wolves of Sleeping Dragon were friends or allies— No, they were something else entirely. Honestly, he wasn't sure what to call them. But, call them what he may, Reek knew the two packs of the Taiga needed to coexist in a state of semi-peace; he could not afford a war, especially with pups of his own on the way. He simply could not let them be born into strife.

"Right then," Reek said as he rose to his feet. "I hope we won't have to speak again soon." The less contact with their northern neighbors the better, Reek concluded. With a final nod of farewell, Reek turned tail and headed south.

His course, however, would divert as soon as he found himself out of eyeshot. Instead of returning to the maplewood, Reek turned right and follwed the Qeya River to it's mouth in order to survey and catalogue all of the territories that remained free for the wolves of the Maplewood to roam before returning to deliver the message on where to tread to the rest of his pack.