Redhawk Caldera Friendly fire

This is set while Peregrine is gone. :)

Elwood didn't know the details of what had transpired between Fox and Peregrine, but he did know that the Alpha male was taking a hiatus of sorts. Finley was gone, too, though this time he knew where she was headed -- ironically enough, her destination was the Sunspire. The mountain pack had been a topic of conversation recently, after Elwood had met with one of its members regarding Peregrine's daughter. He wondered if Finley would run into the messenger, Summer, while she was there; he was unaware, of course, that he was the very wolf that they were searching for.

"They" included Finley and a wolf named Magpie. He didn't know who she was or why she required an escort; everything had transpired quickly, so the Beta was left to piece things together with the information that he was given. All he knew was that Fox had taken her in against Peregrine's wishes. It didn't really matter, though -- what was important to Elwood was that he took care of Fox and the rest of the pack during Peregrine's absence.

With a stoic expression, he padded along the northern borders, the sun at his back as he prowled. He came across Peregrine's trail and paused, gazing across the wilds in the direction that his leader had gone. Knowing that his responsibility was with the caldera, he did not follow, but instead continued with his patrol, his yellow eyes roving the landscape.

Jumping on lonely thread

FitzDutiful wasn't quite sure what had transpired in his pack. He'd heard rumours of an argument between his alphas, his beta female wasn't there and suddenly Peregrine had also left their lands. He was briefly worried and wasn't sure if it was his role as pack counsellor to seek out the injured parties and attempt to mediate between them.

As he wandered, pondering this dilemma, he came across his beta male gazing out in the direction that Peregrine had gone. Realising that with two of the four leaders gone, the burden upon Elwood could be more than normal, Fitz paused next to his beta and followed the trail of his eyes to also gaze out to the distance.

"I hope he's back sooner than later." Fitz said companionably, picking up a train of thought he assumed Elwood was on. "How are you holding up?" His counselling side kicked in.

Thanks for joining! :D

Elwood wasn't alone for long; he soon spotted FitzDutiful approaching and paused, his tail stirring gently behind him. He waited for the counselor to close the gap between them, glad to have company. His first instinct was to worry about Peregrine and Fox and Finley, but he knew that would not accomplish anything. Hopefully talking with FitzDutiful would help to ease his mind.

He smiled wryly as Fitz immediately mentioned Peregrine's absence, and glanced out across the horizon once more. "I hope so too," he murmured, again fighting the urge to follow the Alpha's tracks. This wasn't his battle to fight, however, and it would do no good to get between Peregrine and Fox.

As for how he was holding up, he gave a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm fine. Just feeling a little overwhelmed, with Peregrine and Finley both gone. I haven't talked to Fox, but I wanted to make sure I stepped it up in the meantime," he said. Presumably, he had received the news from Somnia, who had unluckily found herself as the messenger between the pair of Alphas.

FitzDutiful nodded in understanding that Elwood was feeling overwhelmed. It had all been so sudden. One moment everything was fine and the next? Well, the next was right where they were now. "Do you know what caused it?" the Delta asked. He hadn't a clue but any information he could gather would be handy if Fox or Peregrine approached him. It was a strange life a confidant held, ferreting out the secrets for understanding as opposed to the malice of spies.

There was no reason that Somnia would have said anything to Fitz. In some ways she was as much a confidant as he was. She was trained to deliver news from one to another with the trust that she would then forget it after the task was done. Fitz found he clung to all the knowledge he had for he never knew when that might be the key to helping something through their problems. Like now.

"Not exactly," Elwood replied, thinking back over the small amount of information he had gleaned. Peregrine, Fox, Magpie, Finley -- the names rolled around in his mind, but the connections were unclear. He didn't know Magpie's history with Fox, or that she had previously been a member of the caldera. Nor did he know why her reappearance would cause tension between the Alpha pair.

Looking to FitzDutiful, he fleshed out his answer a bit. "All I know is that Fox and Peregrine disagreed over something, and Peregrine took off to clear his head. And Finley is escorting someone named Magpie to the Sunspire," he said, giving his head a gentle shake.

Fitz unconsciously echoes Elwood with a shake of his own head too. "I hope they work it out. I was thinking of going to talk to them, to see if I could help. But something like this seems like it's better they come to me. They might be able to work it out between themselves and if so - it'll help their relationship."

With a sigh, FitzDutiful turned from the view. Putting his back towards it, he looked in land instead. Remembering over how it had felt when they had first come here. FitzDutiful wondered exactly how Elwood was dealing with it all. He'd said that he was feeling overwhelmed already. "Is there anything I can do to help ease your burdens?" he asked, wondering if anyone could do anything to relieve this awful situation the Caldera leaders were in.

The counselor spoke, admitting that he had considered seeking out Peregrine and Fox to try to help them, but had decided against it. Elwood agreed with FitzDutiful's train of thought; if they wanted to receive an outside perspective, they would choose to do so. It was so tempting to want to intervene, but the argument obviously stemmed from something that they needed to work out on their own.

He cast a thankful smile towards FitzDutiful. Was there anything he could do to help? Nothing jumped to Elwood's mind immediately; truthfully, it wasn't like there was a big crisis occurring while the Alphas were indisposed. He was probably making a mountain out of a mole hill, but it was likely that he felt so much concern because he cared about his friends' relationship.

"Would you like to accompany me on a patrol?" he asked; at the moment, that was the most pressing thing on Elwood's mind, and he certainly wouldn't mind if FitzDutiful stuck around for a bit. "I just want to secure the borders on this side of the territory, make sure there's nothing out of place." Besides, if he remembered correctly, FitzDutiful was training to be a warden -- and there was no better experience than practice.

"That sounds lovely!" FitzDutiful replied to the question of patrolling the borders. The warden-to-be was always open to learning from those who already possessed the skill. After all, there was only so much you could learn from attempting to do the job yourself without any guidance.

Whereas FitzDutiful had found counselling to be a rather native skill, his warden had been a skill that he had literally fought for. He had practised spars, joined Fox on patrols, intercepted lynx's and would-be intruders and he was close to proving that he could do this job without someone needing to look over his shoulder.

Wondering how to get Elwood's mind off the problem at hand, Fitz figured he'd revert to one of his counselling strategies - talk about something else. "What kind of things do you look for as "out of place"?" he asked. He had never considered that as something he should pay attention too. Smells, and current sightings of intruders were obvious, but could there be another aspect he hadn't known about?

Elwood was glad to hear that FitzDutiful would join him, so he gestured for them to resume walking. They moved parallel to the caldera, keeping it in their peripheral vision as they strolled along the invisible border. The scent line was fairly strong, but whenever Elwood detected that it had weakened, he stopped to mark it himself.

They meandered in silence for a few moments, then the aspiring warden asked a good question. "Well, hopefully there won't be anything for us to see or smell. But I want to make sure there's no signs of any scuffles, or any unwelcome pawprints or scents," he said; he knew that Peregrine was fully capable of taking care of himself, but with the amount of trespassers they had seen lately -- canine and otherwise -- he wouldn't have been surprised by an ambush.

With Fitz moving away I'm tying up his Caldera posts so this'll be my last post. Come visit!

Elwood explained exactly what they would looking out for and Fitz nodded as he gathered that knowledge into his mind, storing it in the special warden place for future reference. It made sense - although scent was the primary indicator a pawprint or disturbance in an unusual place could be an indication that another wolf had been by and point out an area that may need watching.

He also picked up on what Elwood was doing with the borders. As the continued, FitzDutiful realised exactly what constituted a strong and a weak part of their borders. Little did he know how soon this information would be personally relevant for his own pack's safety. For now, he helped strengthen the Caldera's borders with his own marks when he identified areas of concern. He didn't notice any thing out of the ordinary though - thank goodness. It was always a worrying prospect to know that your borders weren't secure. Tonight, his pack would rest easy he hoped.

Sounds good! I'm sure El will visit! :)

Elwood was happy to have FitzDutiful along for the patrol, both because it eased his mind and provided another set of eyes, ears, and nostrils. The counselor helped him to realize that things would likely work out between Peregrine and Fox, and soon; every relationship was bound to hit bumps in the road, and there wouldn't be a monumental fall out from this situation.

Luckily, they did not come across anything out of the ordinary. After an hour or so of prowling, the two males retreated into the safety of the caldera's confines. Elwood's sleep that night would be uneasy, but the next morning he would continue to serve the pack in Peregrine's absence.