Phoenix Maplewood Pillars of colonial homes

Rain pattered the leaves of the maples, a sort of drumbeat that Saena walked in time to. Her legs moved with a structured tempo as her task consumed her focus. Her narrow head was thrust between her shoulders, ears poised forward, and hackles slightly lifted as the scent of a deer mouse flooded her senses. Even with her belly slung low and her body heavy and aching, the petite female was a hunter at heart and the draw of fresh prey was intense. Living off the caches was both inconvenient and gross. Everything tasted the same and it drained the pack of resources that they needed. Chasing down her own prey was preferable.

Her shoulders rippled under her coat as she prowled through the woods, body sliding smoothly into a crouch when she picked up the sound of rustling litter. She nudged a paw forward slowly, adjusted her weight, and then bounded several steps forward with jaws gaping. She was still unable to compensate for the added weight of pregnancy, however, and undershot her target. She managed to scuff the mouse with a paw and managed a few further bounds in pursuit, but in the end, she watched with wilted ears as its grey body darted away into the depths of the wood.

Desna trotted forward to the woods she was so familiar with. It had been awhile until she had been home. It felt good to be in a place that was familiar. The young huntress was carrying a rabbit between her yowls. She was very much aware that she would strengthen her bond with Saena. She had been away for a long time, in this time she had become an adult, and learned much about pack dynamics seeing it from an outsiders perspective. Saena was a strong leader in her eyes and even though she would like to be in Reek's pack she made a promise.

Mensa brought this caught rabbit as a gift for the alpha female to show that she was back and still loyal to her. Technically she was. Desna was unsure what she would do if a fight would break out between the two individuals or worse between the two packs, but she decided not to think about such doom scenarios. It didn't take her too long to track down the female. Instantly her hazel eyes caught the bulging belly and the swollen teats, knowing that Reek's babies were in there made her feel somewhat like a proud sister. Desna had missed Saena's failed hunt so her rabbit might come as more of a blessing than she realized.

Desna let out a muffled chuff to let the female know she was approaching. She placed the dead rabbit at her feet and then greeted the female with the appropriate lick under her chin. "Hi Saena. As you can see I'm back from my travels. Hopefully my presence will convince you that even after being away I returned to my home, the maplewoods. I also caught this rabbit for you so show I can help taking care of you and help the pack," she spoke. Even though of all that happened, she couldn't blame Saena for kicking out Reek. The alpha female had been somewhat of a role model with her hunting lessons. Desna was glad to see her. Her tail wagging a bit.

The mouse's tail flicked once as it disappeared into the leaf litter and then it was gone. Saena's ears pressed further down, then lifted again as the sound of larger feet tramping the forest floor distracted her. She began a slight defensive sidestep, ready to leave if it was an animal she didn't wish an encounter with, but when it was Desna who stepped out of the shadowy wood, Saena's form relaxed.

She was still guarded though, primarily because she had long since believed that Desna was not returning. The young woman had left so far back that Saena was unsure how long Scarlett's cub had really been gone. The girl was a filled out adult now, and that was truly alarming.

Saena's eyes dropped to the rabbit Desna nudged forward and she accepted the lick to her chin with a quiet whine of gratitude. The girl's words were reassuring, but Saena wasn't overly interested in whether Desna could help or not, since she already had an upper tier in place for that. What she was interested in was why the girl had been away so long.

"You were gone a very long time," she mumbled, leaving it open-ended for Desna to explain how a trip that should've taken a month had taken longer than Saena's pregnancy had.

Desna nodded when the female stated a fact. The girl had taken her time mainly because there had been so many things she was able to see when traveling all alone. The girl sat down across from her alpha. "Yes, I went to visit my father's pack over the mountains. I wanted to tell him about mother and her death. Father didn't seem too phased, my brother did. Anyhow, they asked me to stay but I declined. I have no loyalty for them. Finding that pack took me longer that it should have. After that I went to locate Silvertip Mountain because I have a friend that lives there. Once again, I took longer than I expected but seeing that it was winter there were quite a lot of white tipped mountains," she admitted and then looked at Saena.

"I wanted to use this experience to maybe become a scout, alas, my sense of where packs are located could be better. Then again, I have never really been outside of the phoenix maplewoods before," she spoke, hoping that she had stated a good enough reasoning for the female before her.

Desna's reasons for taking so long made sense. Saena had been lost many times in her life, especially when she was younger and the world was wide and unknown. For that, Saena didn't fault Desna her time away and had nothing further to say on that subject. It would not change the fact that Desna was back at square one as far as the pack and hierarchy went, but that wasn't something Saena felt it was necessary to say.

"If you wish to become a scout," Saena said warmly, "then you are welcome to do so in my stead. I suspect I will be delivering soon, and I won't be able to travel after that." Not for some time, perhaps never again. Saena's most dire wish was to remain safely within her forest and be left alone, and she was content for now to not go far from it. She tired of the conflict and strife that seemed to follow whenever she did.

"Spring may also be interested in scouting," she mentioned, but left it at that. She didn't really know the Gamma's aspirations, but Spring's recent offer to scout for Reek in the taiga following her report of his howl suggested that there was an interest in the trade.

Desna's tail started patting against the ground when Saena spoke about her becoming a scout. She had not realized that she was following Saena's footsteps in hunting and scouting. Desna didn't mind seeing that the woman was a great wolf to learn from. "I will work as hard as I did on my hunting trade," she promised to the alpha female and she could back up that promise since she had been working hard on her hunter trade before.

"I will ask her if she wants to explore some neighboring territories with me. That way we are close," she spoke with a nod to Saena, seeing that she was bound to deliver soon. "Would you want me to bring you food once you have delivered? I could provide that for you. Frankly I would be more than happy to!," she admitted. She would be most proud to be the one that Saena could rely on for food.

Desna's fire is, as always, welcome to see. Saena recognizes a lot of herself in the youth. It does nothing to erase the effects of Desna's longer-than-expected departure from the pack, but winning back the respect of the pack and its leader isn't a hopeless effort, either. Saena has always favoured Desna of Scarlett's children, and where Nanook and Sesi would not be welcomed back into the forest, Desna has that opportunity due to her hard work and diligence. Had she been anyone else, Saena wouldn't likely have welcomed her back, either.

"I'd appreciate that," the alpha female says with a weary smile. She suspects the entire pack will help provide for her in the coming months, but that doesn't mean she doesn't appreciate the specific offer. Had Desna not been gone so long, Saena would've also offered to allow the girl to be among the first to meet them... alas, that isn't the case and Saena keeps quiet on that front.

She shifts the conversation instead by asking, "how far is Silvertip Mountain?" She is unaware that the peak a mere hop-and-skip from Blacktail Deer Plateau is the one in question, and imagines it's part of the large range bisecting the wilds.

Desna nodded shortly when the female spoke that she appreciated it. Then Desna felt like this would be her new task, caring for the female and hoping that things would turn out for the better. Maybe she could even help out. She was not sure if Saena was going to allow her to do that, but Desna could always hope. The conversation made a new turn, for which she was kind of grateful.

"It is far. A few days travel. Over the mountain range," she spoke to Saena. "It was amazing. My friend, to my surprise even showed me around in their territory! He is the Beta you see. At first I was hesitant but... then I went in. But I would never let him into Phoenix. Never!," she spoke quickly, not wanting the alpha female to think that she would return the favor if the male would show up on their own border.

Several days. Not too bad, but certainly further than Saena expected. Several days put it outside the main mountain range, and her memory of what lay beyond was too fuzzy for her to remember the peak opposite the plateau she was born on. She shook the thought away, focusing instead on Desna's story, and her brows rose when the yearling spoke of entering the pack's territory.

"You're lucky they're so welcoming," said Saena, who knew she could never open her borders up to visitors. "My birth pack sometimes did that," she shared, remembering Finley with a grimace, "but it never turned out well." That was somewhat of a lie, but from her perspective, Finley's stay at the plateau had only worsened problems at the time. She barely remembered what the woman looked like, though, so for Saena it was old news now.

"Your friend is older than you, then?" she assumed, solely based on his position. She couldn't help but wonder if it was a wolf she'd ever met, and if he was an agemate of hers. That Mason could be a yearling went over her head, for although Saena founded her pack as a yearling, her views had changed much since then.

Desna instantly started to nod with some level of intensity. She did not dare to enter at first, she needed the encouragement first. The young female had been learned that she would never enter another territory, alas she had permission now from Mason. "I'm glad it turned out okay with me," she admitted.

The young female tipped her head a bit. "Um.. Just a bit older I think. He is over a year I think, but not that older than me!," she spoke, assuring her for some reason. She kind of fancied Mason so if he would be older she would have found that very weird, maybe that was why she wanted to justify it. "I... like him," she admitted and looked at Saena. "But... my dad left my mom.. and now... Reek left you.. So maybe I shouldn't like him," she let out hesitantly to Saena, silently asking for her opinion about it.

The Alpha female's brows shoot up when Desna reveals Mason's true age. The boy is only a yearling and already Beta of a pack. Ignoring the similarities in her own story, if only because Saena has changed her tune as she's grown (for no reason but the age-old "kids these days" feeling of growing older), she says, "he must be important," and probably very busy, she thinks, but lets the thought drift away when she realizes it's coated in a thin layer of jealousy.

After all, if Desna likes this boy, it's only a matter of time before she leaves the Phoenix pack, and that would be three out of three of Scarlett's children ditching out of the life they've been dealt, for better or worse. She pushes the thought away, and focuses instead on Desna's burgeoning uncertainty about men. Momentarily she considers feeding Desna's uncertainty, but in the end, she sighs and shifts her shoulders and turns her head to peer into the maple wood.

"Your father was not a good husband," she says, still staring off into the distance, as if unwilling to meet Desna's gaze and reveal how deeply Reek's decision has affected her. "And Reek is just a shitbag. He wanted someone else more than the family he already had. That's how we began, you know, but I didn't think he'd do it again, least of to with me. Some wolves are just born vile, and I guess he's one of them." Among those she counted her father (both biological and adoptive, actually) and Fox. "Not everyone's like them, though," she says, "but it's something you can only learn for yourself, like your mother did and like I am."

Desna listened intently. She appreciated the honestly in Saena's tone. The young female offered her a thin smile in thank you. Even though she could not see that Mason would do such a thing... most of the males around her had been like that, and they had been mean. It was tough to hear such bad things about Reek, yet they had all been true. He did wanted more, she didn't know about the little fact how their relationship started but that proved enough for her, and the fact that she disliked to spy for him. Maybe he had been using her too. Instantly tears sprung in her eyes, because that thought hurt a lot. She had been played she was certain now.

"I don't want to learn it like that. I sound like it hurts," she admitted and looked at Saena. She cleared her throat. "I... I think I will go now. I will help you Saena, and, thank you for telling me the truth. I think it would be better for me not to like boys, besides you need me more," she ended in a whisper. Saena had at least been there for her and her mother. The least she could do was stay around and help.

"It does," the Alpha female agrees. It hurt like a bitch. Her eyes would tell that tale for many months, perhaps even years. Saena's eyes have ever been the windows into her soul, and they betray all the hurt and upset she's ever felt in her life. Much of her behaviour, harsh as it can be at times and rash as it may make her, boil down to being hurt by one thing or another. Even she no longer realizes how deeply affected she is by it all.

"Love can be a wonderful thing," she counters, "but it can also be a deadly thing. You needn't swear off it to be safe from it, and perhaps some day a boy will sweep you off your paws without your even knowing it," here she pauses, and acknowledges in a brief moment of clarity that the advice she is about to offer is advice she has never once followed, "but take your time with it, whatever you must do. Don't get swept up in it like so many of us do, or it might leave you burned."

Desna nodded slowly and then have a tentative smile at Saena. "Thank you Saena," she spoke with genuine gratitude in her voice. She stepped forward and licked her cheek. She would heed her advise, and seeing that they lived quite far from the mountain she would not be too tempted to travel all that way. The girl had a lot to think about.

With all these advises and possibilities of her future. Maybe she was going to deny all the men in her life. Saena seemed fine without a man, if she had a pack then why would she need a mate? There. Maybe she would think of it that way, though, the idea of being in love did sound great. It was a vicious cycle the girl was wrapping her head around. So young and undeceive. With that the girl moved away in the undergrowth of the forest.

- Desna exit -

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