Blacktail Deer Plateau i might fly priscilla out just for banter

the markings of a border were clearly sensed just north of kaistleoki. andraste hadn't told bhediya about any other nearby packs so she worked on the assumption that they were newer than even courtfall. if that was the case, their well-established scent trails forewarned the scout of a potential force of mercenaries.

anxiety aside, bhediya approached. it might have been wise to turn back before anyone noticed she was there, but curiousity easily bested common sense. she looked around to see if anyone was standing guard before tilting her head back to call for an audience.

Nieve's winding trail through the woods was aimless, but by happenstance, brought her directly to Bhediya. At first Nieve mistook the woman at Rusalka's borders for just her own shadow cast among the trees and nearly made to pass her by, but a second glance revealed a pair of tall, stationary ears. From there the Eta noted the strange way the shadow's fur curled at the lobes and realized it wasn't a shadow at all, but another wolf with the most unusual pelt she'd ever seen. Her entire coat was curled like the waves of the sea just before they broke on the cliffs.

Curiosity and territoriality battled in Nieve as she made her approach, opting in the end for a relatively authoritative stance with a slow, friendly wag to her tail. Although Rusalka was a hard lot of wolves who weren't inclined toward making friends, Nieve had been blessed with compassion and kindness as well, making her an ideal ambassador for the pack. She wanted to ask about the visitor's fur, how she got it to lay that way, but now wasn't the time or place.

Hello, she said softly, searching Bhediya's green eyes momentarily for some hint as to her purpose. Can I help you?

the familiar curiousity of the stranger's gaze brought a prideful grin to bhediya's face. she matched her wag but took on an otherwise neutral position, neither submissive nor combative. i was leaving kaistleoki, the scout explained, when i happened to find your border.

bhediya waited a moment for a potential reaction before continuing. i'm from uaine gorsedd, a new pack in the valley. i've been going around to visit our neighbors. the two settlements had some distance between them but they were still close enough to warrant a basic knowledge of one another.

Nieve didn't know where Kaistleoki was—that pack having relocated away at roughly the same time Rusalka arrived—but for Bhediya to simply stumble upon them, it must be close by. The girl made a mental note to go scouting later and try to locate them, more to sate her curiosity and concern than out of real interest. In response she only nodded as if to say "go on".

Even for Nieve, who was kinder than most of her ilk, the concept of visiting other packs to say hi was an alien one. Bhediya held herself in a way that might've offended some wolves on the borders of their pack—proper submission was a given when you stood so close to another pack's territory, was it not—but Nieve was either too confident in their claim or too mild-mannered to care. She wasn't being outright aggressive or posturing, which worked for her.

Why? she asked, wincing just a little at her own brusque delivery. I mean, what's the point of that?

well.. ok. it wasn't the response that bhediya had anticipated so she was left momentarily flustered. was scouting not a part of pack duties? it hadn't occurred to her that some groups could be so reclusive. 

after wiping the confusion from her face, the scout continued, it's just for transparency. we don't want to accidentally push any boundaries that you might have set. bhediya couldn't imagine them being un-interested in knowing the details.

She didn't mean to be so forward, but Nieve came from a group of exceptionally reclusive and unfriendly wolves, so concepts like Bhediya's scouting trip simply didn't make sense to her. Rusalka had no allies as far as Nieve was aware, and no interest in the goings on outside their realm. This, too, would spark in the young she-wolf a desire to get out and explore the world around her in the future.

What Bhediya said made sense, but brought another question to Nieve's tongue. What if you were pushing boundaries? Would you go somewhere else? As it stood, this Uway Gorgeth wasn't imposing on Rusalka in any way, but she asked out of curiosity. Was it an act of good will and faith, or was it just an empty formality?

well, yeah, most promises made during initial meetings were empty formalities. they were made too quickly and with such a lack of thought that their insignificance was just...understood. this was the first time anyone had questioned bhediya's motives, though it came as a pleasant surprise.

i'm only one of the leaders, she continued, so i can't say for sure. a decision like the one being posed would have to be taken up with the entire council, bhediya thought. your pack is more established than ours, so i would hope to respect your boundaries. within reason, of course. 

it was a matter of mutual respect. no one liked conflict, especially not during a season as trying as this. keeping interpack relationships cordial was vital to each of their survival.

So, in short, the whole exchange was kind of pointless. She guessed it was good to know about the existence of their neighbours, but if an offending pack wouldn't move in spite of infringing, then why waste time on such pleasantries? Nieve understood that some things in life were simply necessary and simply done to be courteous, but false courtesy wasn't something she agreed with on principle. You either meant it and were willing to accommodate or you didn't and weren't, and sometimes it was better to keep your head down than to poke a bear without a backup plan.

But, seeing as she wasn't a combative wolf nor an unkind one, Nieve chose not to push it with further questions. If it made Bhediya and her pack feel better to reach out like this, that was all that mattered. This is Rusalka, she shared. We keep to ourselves. I don't know where your pack settled but it probably isn't an issue for us. I think our territory suits our needs just fine, but our Alpha is the only one who can say for sure. That's what she thought, anyway, but unlike Bhediya, Nieve was neither a leader nor in the know on such things.

What'd you say your name was? she asked politely, tilting her head just a little. I'm Nieve.

bhediya could respect a pack that valued their solitude. being seperated from the world seemed nice in theory, but she didn't think it was a lifestyle she'd be able to maintain. still, if it worked for rusalka?, then there was no judgement to be had.

bhediya, she replied, but bhe is easier to say. repeating the same moniker was beginning to grow tiring. she thought that another name change might be in order.

finding the general tension to have disolved, bhediya continued, what's your alpha's name? she asked. it was a simple question, but with the strange culture that rusalka seemed to house, she wondered if it might come with offense. to soften it, she said, uaine gorsedd is run by ibis. there's a council, but she's the alpha, of sorts.

Bhe, then. Nieve could understand. The majority of the wolves living within Rusalka had unusual names, either difficult to pronounce or difficult to imagine in the mind, so Bhediya wasn't anything strange to her. She was still puzzling over the practice of reaching out to other packs when Bhe asked about their Alpha's name.

Aningan is ours, she shared without hesitation; it was no great secret. It might've been if only he'd ever actually done anything with his title, but even Nieve was beginning to recognize that he was there more as a formality than as an actual leader. He's hard to get hold of though, but it's just him. How does a council work if there's still an Alpha?

the role of the council was complicated. having known ibis personally, bhediya found it an easy concept to digest, but she doubted that it would be as easy for an outsider. this wasn't the time to admit their leader's inexperience so the scout know that she'd have to find a way around it.

she took a moment to think before speaking. we all have different trades, different backgrounds, bhe began, so we make decisions together for added diversity. ibis is there to finalize everything. that's how she assumed things would work, anyway. they hadn't really had a chance to work out the whole "council" thing yet.

Everything Bhediya shared about the council made sense except the concept of needing someone to finalize decisions. Nieve was a horribly curious creature who was drawn to knowledge, so anything the older woman was willing to share about her practices and customs was interesting to her. Especially when they differed so much from Rusalka's ... which, she was beginning to realize, was not so much a pack as a collection of individual wolves.

Being an inquisitive mind came with the curse of questioning everything, so Nieve wasn't able to quell it when another came to her lips. Doesn't that mean you're not really making the decisions together? She hoped Bhediya didn't take offence to all the (pointed) questions; Nieve didn't mean it that way and would be horrified to know how rudely forward she was being. Like, what if you decide something and she vetoes it?

nieve was forward, yes, but not rude. bhediya wrote the questions off as simple curiousity. thus far, they'd all been quite thought-provoking, forcing her to answer on the spot. 

unfortunately, that wouldn't happen this time. there just wasn't a clear answer to give. i hadn't thought about that, the scout admitted with a laugh. it's not... it's not a traditional setup, no. 

it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but bhe was beginning to realize that they still had a lot to figure out. if able, you're welcome to come by. the next time we see each other, you might have more questions and i might have more answers.

after awaiting a response, bhediya turned to take her leave, anxious to make it back home.

The answer wasn't very concrete, but Nieve wouldn't fault Bhediya for that. Whatever strange system her pack used was her business, not Nieve's. It wasn't like Rusalka was a conventional pack, either. She stashed that thought away for another day; something to ask her mothers about, perhaps. Politics didn't interest her much, but it was getting harder and harder to overlook the ways that Rusalka no longer felt like it used to.

She wasn't expecting an offer to visit Oogway Gorgedeath or whatever, so she smiled widely. Yeah, that'd be cool. When she would have a chance to do that was yet to be seen, but surely a day would come when Nieve's feet would carry her there. Not on Rusalka business, of course. She didn't think what she'd learned here would be put into practice anytime soon by the pack, but she herself was curious enough to seek answers. I'll let Aningan know you came by. Thanks for visiting, even if she still thought it was a bit weird.