Bearclaw Valley and he sings to me real low

AW but maybe a @Treason ?

diaspora's claim had been established, firmly -- which made thorn confident in leaving arrow lake behind as he traveled east, his tireless legs carrying him to the lowlands. there was much for him to explore, and being only familiar with the lake, thorn was curious to see what else the valley held.

he was surprised to find packs nearby -- their scents were well-established, and the cur avoided their borders readily. presently, thorn stood on the very rock that marked entrance to bearclaw, though he knew little of its significance to the wolves that once lived within. curiously, thorn peered into the heavily walled fortess, wondering why with its naturally protective barriers that it was not inhabited.

She was determined, that part was always clear.  The pale devil had swept across the valley on the tail of a coyote that had danced beyond their borders for a short time.  It would not do.  She would not let the creature think it was okay to slip past their borders and possibly endanger her future children, even if they might be months away.  The goddamn thing must have been moving at a hell of a pace -- perhaps it had realized it was being followed by a creature that was keen to kill it, but it was slowly becoming obvious that Treason wasn't going to have a chance to chew it into a billion tiny bits.  It was unfortunate, but such was life -- she'd just have to pay closer attention to the borders over the next few days.

By now Treason had wandered quite a ways.  She was about to turn around and head home when something new grabbed her attention, the trail of a wolf that had scents of another familiar scent along with him.  Stigmata, had found another pack, eh?  She wondered if he had finally gotten over his hatred of the sisters or he was still preaching how bad they were.  At the very least she could figure out where that guy went so she could see if it exploded from afar.  Poaching useful people from him might be entertaining, though.

And so, Treason wound her way towards the man, curious but no longer hunting with the same intensity as before.  Perhaps this was Bearclaw?  It sounded like the right location, at least... It wasn't a place she was familiar with.  The black silhouette that eventually came into view almost certainly was the wolf she was tracking.  She whuffed to him, eyeballing his perch and the entry to the land beyond.  Was there something interesting in there that she wasn't scenting?

the black curve of thorn's triangular ear pulled back instinctively at the sound of a chuff; he turned around, and standing not so far on the snowpack below was a tall guardian of a wolf helmed in black. he measured her in seconds; she looked powerful and capable - and while young like him, bore the aura of a cunning predator.

she would fit finely with stigmata's band, and thorn neatly leapt from snow-dusted stone to stone, until he had mantled downward and landed with a quiet thud in the snow alongside her. drawing to his full height to shake off the snow he had upended, he realized that treason's height challenged his own.

extending his muzzle carefully, the wild beast inspected whatever part of her pelt she would allow, all the while tensed should she spring upon him for finding his inspection too bold.

He hopped down to join her, and Treason was probably as cautious of him as he was of her.  They were all unknowns and it put a damper on her own desire to poach members as needed.  It was unfortunate -- she wanted more to play her game, but only if she got to keep them.  Yet, she was curious.  In turn, both cautiously kept out of tooth range of the other though allowed for that bit of information to be exchanged.

And somewhere in the scents was one tracked probably second or third hand, it took a moment for her to pick it out but when she did, Treason recoiled a step, her expression flicking from momentary confusion to something that was probably subdued distrust.  Assuming she was remembering it correctly and had smelled it right in the first place, it belonged to a wolf who she'd expected to never smell again -- he'd been gone almost a year now, but she had not forgotten the chaos caused.  Redshank -- or Titmouse, whatever the hell that dude's name was, -- really should've been dead by now, if only she'd been allowed to cripple him when she'd had the chance.  But no, he was alive and with Stigmata and whoever else?  It gave her more reason not to trust any of them.

But distrust didn't mean that she would turn on him.  Yet, at least.  She needed to know what she was dealing with and so stepped back again, moving in a half circle or so,  So who are you?  She was just as gruff and cool as ever.  And why would anyone trust Redshank?  Was that really him?  It was faint and she couldn't be entirely sure.

the black wraith did not miss the stiffening of muscles; briefly across her helmed face, there flitted something akin to distrust. thorn knew that emotion well, and thumbed around its meaning with a frown troubling his expression.

her gruff query broke his musings, and his viper-yellow eyes lifted up to study her features once more, avoiding the strike of her sharp cyan eyes. "thorn eyjolfur." his tone lacked any sort of coldness, though the troubled countenance persisted. "of diaspora. you look as if you could be a relative.. so, who are you..?" his gaze flitted over the black mask that sundered her impressive features -- if she was of his blood, she was a compelling representative of it. "and what was that look for?"

Diaspora, that was not particularly telling of location, of how far Stigmata might have wandered -- it was not a familiar name to her.  Nor was his surname.  She shook her head, Not my bloodline.  Treason, of Lost Creek Hollow.  She still pretty much kept her history to herself, even though it was now much less important.  If she was going to be followed, it would have been done by now, she would have seen someone she recognized and instead none had arrived.  There was no reason to be obscure, but she did out of habit.

Still, he'd noticed her unease, not that she'd tried particularly hard to bury it, I think there's someone in your pack who really should be dead for his idiocy.  He lives due to pity.  From the distaste when she said that, it was obviously not her choice to let him go.  She regretted not being able to do more, that she hadn't acted more promptly and not let pity be a choice.  But now, the one who had chosen pity wasn't in control.  Redshank was not getting a second chance if he strayed towards Lost Creek again.  I thought he was long gone.

she did not share his bloodline; oddly, thorn felt relieved. he was a man through and through, for his immediate thought was not oh that's a shame but, oh, niice. despite his inward dialogue, the man's countenance remained unaffected. he nodded in stoic understanding, having little idea where or what lost creek hollow was.

it came as a surprise to the eyjolfur that he bore the scent of a wolf on his pelt that treason recognized; his gaze canted to her for reassurance, but he read plainly in her transparent expression that she was neither exaggerating, nor misleading him. "who? and what did he do?" he queried, feeling a stiffening sensation round his back -- if there was an enemy lurking in diaspora, thorn believed stigmata ought to know.

At least she'd eventually worked out Redshank and Screech or whoever were different people.  Redshank.  He charged across well-marked and guarded borders, wanting to kill our alpha, who is probably twice his damn size.  He didn't even get close, and it was all over some spite in his own head.  He's just that stupid, and now he's your problem.  And she was sure that if it really was him still alive, he probably had wormed his way into a pack out of pity as well.  He certainly hadn't seemed to be good at hunting (given his scrawny figure), seemed to give up instead of fight, so what would he actually be good for?  A servant like Joss?  Either way, they could have fun and keep him.  It should be obvious if he comes by again, I will not play nice.  A quick upward flick of her brows.  It wasn't worth her time to go hunt him down -- dealing with him hiding in another pack was just way too much political effort for her.

Either way, since he wasn't there to actually chew on, she shifted the subject to something else.  Is your pack new? It isn't one I recall.  She'd shifted slightly back towards the more inquisitive way she'd started this encounter.  Treason still had questions she wanted answered, but she wasn't going to show her hand.  She was just some average pack wolf, right?  Not a leader asking after another man who she didn't trust...

thorn recognized the name, and did not hide it -- but the she-wolf's summation of the dark male surprised even the eyjolfur. he had spent no time with redshank beyond what was usual of a fairly close pack, and truly, could not reconcile treason's image with the man he had seen foraging along diaspora.

he shrugged and pushed his surprise aside -- perhaps she had met him young -- perhaps she was wrong -- perhapse, even, he was wrong. either way, he would certainly share what he had learned with stigmata. "that's unfortunate." he offered quietly, knowing she might not care for his response. he would make it up to her by humoring her question with full transparency.

"yes, diaspora.  lead by stigmata. for now, we are at arrow lake."

Treason wasn't particularly impressed by his response, but oh well.  As she said, that guy was their problem now.  What he said next was a little unexpected, and she tipped her head slightly, Huh.  I don't think I've been by there, anyway.  I assume it's nice enough.  We used to live on the Sunspire, but I mostly wandered to the west.  She was actually kind of just burying the fact that she was amazed that somehow Stigmata had managed to actually recruit people.  He had definitely not put on a very convincing face either of the times she'd run across him.  She could imagine whatever bizarre collection of wolves it is falling apart, though, especially if he wasn't wise enough to see Redshank for what he was.

Still, if it collapsed, maybe she could plant a seed to lure him to the Creek with minimal effort on her part.

thorn did not miss she was not particularly impressed with his answer. it was to be expected, for it was not necessarily a grandiose response, and so, her lackluster enthusiasm came as little surprise.

"what made you move?" he rumbled, curious if there was some predator or danger he ought to know about. thus far, arrow lake had been relatively placid in terms of activity -- but the last thing he wished for stigmata's band to encounter was some other equally lethal apex predator.

He asked a fair enough question.  Low prey from there being pack next to us in Northstar Vale for a time.  Once the Vale wolves left, it was replaced with an infestation of bears.  Which had been pretty annoying, and a good deal more dangerous.  To a certain point, Treason was lazy so if they'd been able to stay, she would have preferred it.  She shrugged, We decided it was better to move before winter.  She would have preferred to have moved a little farther away from Easthollow, but whatever.  Not her call at the time.  At least there was more grazing land for prey on flat land so them being in close proximity to another pack wasn't as big of a deal -- and they didn't have to worry about avalanches.

bears. a wave of concern crossed over the dark beast's features to learn of his ursine neighbors. thus far, he had not detected any bears by the lake.. but that did not mean diaspora's claim was free of peril.

he supposed they were in hibernation now -- but come spring, they would wake and be ravenous; some with suckling cubs.. and he knew no beast in the world was as violent nor as lethal as a bear sow.

another thing that he would tell @Stigmata immediately, once his meeting with treason was concluded. "perhaps they are sleeping. but that is troubling all the same. any other bad news to share with your new neighbors?"

For some reason Treason looked a bit glad that he actually was willing to hear the warning and seemed to be respecting it for what it was.  But given what happened with the eventual Plateau wolves, she was wary of the same thing happening.  Perhaps at least some of the Diaspora wolves weren't idiots, even if she thought that Stigmata might not be the wisest choice of leader.

Thorn's question did dredge up a smirk and a fraction of a laugh from Treason's otherwise stoic facade, I suppose it is a bit gloom and doom.  But no.  There were other issues, but they were caused by other wolves, ones who haven't returned.  Perhaps they will stay that way.  There were the trespassers from Tindome, there were the Mount Shadow wolves, but as far as she knew all of them had disappeared into the ether.  Maybe Redshank could go crawl back under whatever rock he'd been hiding under as well.  Honestly she was kind of sad that she might be missing that skeletal wimp (for she couldn't imagine him any other way) pissing himself in terror when he found out she still was around and remembered him.

a quick, almost imperceptabl smirk crossed treason's features -- followed by what could be called the shortest blip of a laugh in existence. thorn was under the impression such a break in her stoic demeanor was a rare treat -- it certainly did not linger across her darkened helm.

he took the rest of her news in stride, happy at the least there were no further disturbances to report. he supposed he ought to tell stigmata all of this post haste and not dally -- the longer he kept out, the more likely the facts would get muddled. he had not always had the strongest recall.

dusting his fur with a quiet shake, thorn dipped his muzzle. "well... this was informative. treason, thank you." he briefly sought to hold her gaze -- just to communicate his genuinity -- and then he would make his leave.

Unlike the Plateau wolves, he actually seemed to give a damn.  Bizarre.  Okay, not really bizarre, but after dealing with them, acting logical seemed like a breath of fresh air.  She bowed her head politely, both as acknowledgement and her own dismissal.  When Thorn turned away, so did she.  Maybe if Treason had luck, that coyote would have doubled back so she could kill it.  Or not.  That would be too lucky for her, so she'd probably just have a boring walk.

She had plenty to think about anyway -- like why what seemed like a perfectly reasonable wolf would choose to ally themselves with that particular blowhard.  Whatever.  She did not have high hopes at all for them, at least not long term -- or maybe just for Stigmata, figuring he'd rub the wrong minion the wrong way.  Time to head home.