Blacktail Deer Plateau By the grace of God

@Blue Willow

From her position draped over a fallen log, Saēna watched one of the plateau's trademark deer wandering undisturbed several hundred yards away. She wasn't in the mood to seek out help in taking it down so she remained motionless and willed it to stay. If she was going to be a successful Naturalist—her newest goal since the simorgh in her newest dream told her to pursue it—then she would need to get used to watching things. Watching dinner was a good start.

She shifted slightly on the log, freezing when the deer's head whipped around. Maybe it saw her or maybe it didn't. Saēna let out a slow breath of relief when it returned to its grazing. Her ears panned outward and she settled herself more firmly on the log, for once not thinking of anything but what was right in front of her.

Katy Perry — By the Grace of God

Blue traveled more and more these days, around the plateau like a wraith. She was slowly coming out of her funk, especially after she realized that she moping about could do nothing. Well not really realized she supposed, but remembered. She had forgotten that lesson for a brief moment. Today she was on the trail of some deer, she merely wanted to see where they rested, so that when the time came they could have a successful hunt, and fill their caches.

As she rounded a forest corner, she almost walked past Saena, not realizing that she was laying on the trunk. She stopped and favored the pale girl with a smile. Oh Saena I'm sorry I didn't see you there. I'm very glad you came home. She did not bring up their past arguments, figuring the past was in the past. Saena had been very young, and she had been hurt and Blue couldn't really blame her.

Saena's ears perked up when the deer suddenly looked over its shoulder and then bounded away. She numbly watched its tail, distinctly inky at the tip, disappear into the trees, before her head turned to find the source of the commotion. It turned out to just be Blue Willow passing by. Momentarily, the two females seemed to not notice one another—Blue hadn't seen her and Saena, despite staring directly at the Beta, seemed to be looking through her—but it was remedied when the Healer suddenly spoke to her.

Snapping out of her trance-like state, the teen lifted herself on the log somewhat so she was half-crouching, half-sitting. "Thanks," she said softly, then added, "I never meant to be gone long, I just needed space. I only didn't say anything 'cause, well... Junior said dad was pretty angry when she told him she was leaving. I didn't want to make him angrier." That all seemed so long ago, now, and all Saena could think about anymore was making Peregrine and his mate miserable.

Luckily, she didn't bring it up. Instead, she shuffled her feet on the bark in front of her and said, "Look, I'm... sorry I freaked out at you a while ago." Ty's still a creep, she thought bitterly, remembering how the girl had attacked her own sister and then claimed to hate them both. She didn't dare speak of it until she spoke to Dante, though. "Everything felt really unfair, then. Now I know better."

Blue smiled as she drew closer and she sat down near the log. She curled her tail around her paws and studied the teen in front of her. He was pretty angry, but he had no right to be when he did the same thing later. Granted yes you are younger than he, but he also left with hardly any word. As much as I hate to say that. I miss him. She grew quiet and looked around the area. Perry had done the same thing figuratively speaking, but he had at least told them he was leaving even if it was in a poor way.

Blue sighed I am sure it did feel unfair, and perhaps it was in a sense. I should have handled it better as well. It is okay Saena. So tell me what adventures did you find on your time away? She wagged her tail gently across the loamy ground as she waited quietly.

She folded back her ears when Blue Willow mentioned missing Peregrine. It was clear from the look on her face she felt quite different than the Healer regarding her foster father. She looked like she might say something about it, but Saena wisely kept whatever it was to herself. Instead, she said, "he deserves to be alone." It wasn't any better than what she'd initially been thinking, she realized, but it was already out, so she fell into an uneasy silence.

Whether or not Blue Willow berated her for voicing her harsh opinion, Saena latched onto the topic of what she'd done while she was away. "I just wandered," she said, "and got really hungry. I found a cool field of wildflowers, though, and a really neat canyon." She'd like to go back there someday, she thought, maybe with Junior in tow. She suspected her cousin-sister would like that place.

Blue didn't say anything when Saena lashed out at her adoptive father. She was far too tired to exchange words with the girl. Besides that she felt that Saena could feel how she wanted, one should never apologize for their feelings. It just wasn't fair to do so, you couldn't help what you felt.

Blue listened and smiled as the girl talked about her adventures. I would get hungry too when I would wander when I was younger. Caverns are always so beautiful. You should some of the ones I saw with water falling down the sides of them, and I've seen many wildflowers with beautiful Colors. I am glad you got to see them. She moved her tail back and forth with a happy sigh. It was nice to see those things, it was a shame that she had been often hungry. But it was nice none the less to see those things. Blue felt if you didn't you were missing out a bit.

She nodded when Blue Willow agreed that the things she'd seen were beautiful. She would have gone further and claimed they were singular; no canyon matched that one and no field of wildflowers was so expansive. She couldn't claim these things, however, for deep down she knew they probably weren't true. Saena wasn't the worldliest wolf, but she seemed to have some knowledge beyond her years, whether or not she acted like it. She knew there were grander things, but she never planned to see them.

"What else happened while I was gone?" she asked, swiftly switching gears. Questions specifically about her father's wife burned on her tongue, but she managed to keep them down for now. Part of her hoped that Blue Willow would supply the answers herself, and another part of her was afraid Blue Willow would agree with Perry's actions if she said too much about it.

Rather than questioning Saena, Blue would have agreed. Those places probably were singular, there was nothing the same in nature, every single thing that existed had it's own space, it's own flaws and tribulations. A flower may not have same shaped petals even if it was the same species.

Blue frowned Well your uncle Atticus got hurt and stayed in a waking coma, he finally woke up. Pura left too or well he sticks to himself often. Fox came and uprooted us all causing some upheaval. I stepped down as Alpha for her to take the strings. She was promoted to beta immediately upon coming and i stepped aside. Dante was given the beta position a few days before Peregrine and Fox left us.

She was quiet as Blue Willow explained events. It must have been a long time since she'd seen the Healer, because a lot of what Blue Willow explained, Saena had been there for. She remembered hearing about Atticus' fall and that he was comatose, though she hadn't gone to see him herself. Her dusky uncle had played only a minor, almost insignificant role in Saena's life, as almost all of them had—she wasn't truly Peregrine's daughter, after all, and the Alpha cubs had been favoured by all growing up. She remembered Fox arriving and had even heard how Blue Willow relinquished her Alpha position to the fiery female, not that she'd ever deserved it.

She hadn't been around when Dante was made Beta, at least that she remembered. She nodded as though all of it was news to her, though; Blue Willow had been through a lot. It wasn't surprising that the Beta female forgot Saena was only gone for a short while. "I hope things calm down soon, then," she said, though she somehow doubted it would. There were still things to figure out—like their pending sisterhood with Redhawk Caldera, something Saena vehemently opposed and would stop at nothing to prevent.

It wasn't so much that Blue had not seen Saena, as the healer was a little burnt out. She had been catering to any and all who needed her, and eventually the faces began to blur and the conversations grew stagnant. She couldn't know if she was repeating anything, but she supposed she should apologize to her anyway, anyone she would talk to in the next few days would get the same apology mostly. She tilted her head and sighed I'm sorry if I have repeated anything you may have heard. I have found that I have lost track of everything.

Blue nodded her head and looked around I don't know if it will, I hope so. But we were thrown for a loop most definitely. Blue wasn't even sure if she wanted to have the sister pack, but she did not wish to give up her friendship with Perry either, so it was a bit of a lose lose situation. She also knew that Fox even if she said she was okay, was probably not entirely okay with the thought of a sister pack. What trades are you going to pursue? Or have you pursued Saena? Blue was mostly curious.

"Nah, it's fine," she said with a classical teenage shrug. There was no sense splitting hairs over losing track of things, and Saena didn't mind hearing about it again. It aligned things in her head in a more chronological sense, and certainly was helpful if ever she thought to pursue the Chronicler trade... which admittedly crossed her mind every now and again.

As if Blue Willow could read minds, the Beta brought up trades. Saena blinked at her, poised to ask whether she was capable of seeing what others thought, but she thought better of that. "I'm an Outrider," she said with a small note of pride, "but it's sorta like... a hobby. I dunno what I wanna do." Licking her lips, the girl leaned a little closer and said, "but, I have these weird dreams sometimes and in them, I'm a great Naturalist. I've been practicing a little, but it's pretty hard." Pushing herself back to her previous, non-invasive stance, she concluded with, "I think Chronicling might be cool too. The history stuff, y'know?"

Blue smiled though it was a little wobbly probably. But she didn't say anything more herself. Being a chronicler herself she was all for that trade. Though she made her trade with stories rather than history, even though she collected that on occasion too.

Blue listened, where most would scoff at the dreams or say something rather rude about it, she said nothing. She was a firm believer in some things just were unexplainable and if Saena said she had dreams, she very well might. It wasn't her place to look for answers or to dissuade the girl from believing in such things. Just like Ty, she was certain that though they may not be real to her, the girls friends were real to Ty and that was all that mattered. I think you would do well as a naturalist and a Chronicler, my father used to tell me that Dreams were the pictures into the soul.

She beamed at Blue Willow when the leader complimented her chosen trades. She was well aware, having come from a family where physical pursuits were slightly favoured, that Naturalism wasn't a common nor valued job, but if the Saena in her dreams was correct, it was an important one. It could mean life or death if a wolf's weather predictions were accurate.

"I dunno 'bout that," said Saena, genuinely unsure what to think of dreams as windows, and then she said, "but in my dreams, there's a goddess. It has my name." She bit her lip lightly, then said, "do you think my mom named me Saena after a goddess?" The simorgh had said so... but they were only dreams, so who knew whether they were reliable or not. Saena wasn't even sure she put much faith in the goddess of her dreams. They were infrequent enough—maybe once a week or once a fortnight—that it was easy to think they were coincidental.

Blue did not condemn any trade, for all of them took a great deal of work and determination. So if Saena wanted to be a naturalist, then Blue would make sure she would at least support her so she could. It was all in the way you supported them, that made children healthy, adjusted and happy at least she felt was the way to go. Blue thought you should focus more on the accomplishments than the problems. Yes the problems of course needed to be pointed out an fixed, but more emphasis and joy should be given for even the smallest of accomplishments.

Blue frowned in thought, I don't know where you got your name honestly but perhaps that is how and why you got it. I'm afraid that would be a question for Kisu wherever he maybe. She hated to point out the absent father, it was probably not the best of ideas, but it was the only way Saena would get her answers.

She tried not to look disappointed, though Saena truly wished Blue Willow had known what her mother was thinking back then. The healer suggested that she save that question for Kisu. Her ears twitched and her expression seemed to stiffen, but she didn't say anything about her biological father. That wolf was not only not part of her family by her own decision, but his very name was meaningless as well. The man who was supposed to be her true father had been the first to walk out, if one didn't count her dead mother.

"Oh well," she sighed softly, "I'll find out sometime. Hey, I need to go chat with Dante about something," she went on, having just remembered that she was supposed to tell the Alpha that Ty had run off, "so... cool if I catch you later?" It should have felt weird talking to the Beta of the pack so casually, but the things Saena said often came with little thought. Truthfully, she didn't often realize she was being as casual as she was.

Assuming Blue Willow had nothing more to say, the juvenile would spin on her feet and lope off in search of the Alpha, though nerves (and a strong desire to tell Blue first, which she swallowed) fluttered in her belly the entire way.