Lorcan looked to Morganna with growing excitement and anticipation. However, she barely managed a nod in confirmation before their reunion was interrupted, by @Sven no less. Feeling an affectionate bump at his shoulder, Lorcan immediately pushed back his ears submissively and stiffened. Tucking his chin in against his chest, Lorcan quickly held his tongue. Now completely silent, he made a glance back towards Morganna, catching her own look which informed him that they could continue their conversation later. The agouti male blinked once in agreement.
Turning to his new leader now, Lorcan made a point to brush his muzzle against the soft fur of his neck to reaffirm the new position Sven now held within the pack, and reclaim his scent following his affectionate greeting with Morganna. A moment later Leotie arrived, and after returning her nod to him, Lorcan moved away, stepping backwards so that he could keep a watchful eye over both Sven and Leotie as they stood at eachothers side.
The agouti male’s eyes narrowed as the smaller female introduced herself, suspicious of her need to share her rank now that she was pressed up against her friend. Ravenna might think him paranoid, but Lorcan didn’t feel comfortable becoming complacent to pair’s closeness just yet. Catching Morganna’s eye roll he shot her his own look, pale brows raised suspiciously. He pressed his lips together at the dark woman’s comment and darted his golden gaze across to Sven to observe what he would do.
Adeltra arrived next, soon followed by Ravenna. Lorcan gave the dark girl a friendly sway of his tail as she snaked her way into the small gathering of wolves and then tucked it between his legs in respect for the Ravenna. The male’s attention only briefly returned to @Morganna as she mentioned stopping on the rise or meadow for the night. Peering past the other wolves, Lorcan sought to catch her peach gaze as Ravenna spoke, offering her a final nod in understanding before he slipped away from the crowd quietly.
- Lorcan exit -
If she caught sight of Lorcan's look it wouldn't be evident on her face as Ravenna moved in and she allowed herself to relax, tail waving at her back as she greeted her sister by burying her nose in the silver wolf's shoulder. "There was 'ardly a Quakin' Vale when I got there, jus' Niles, one subordinate an' 'is mate, an' she wasn' in much o' a state ter be recruitin' or runnin' borders or checkin' caches. 'e could hardly pull 'imself from 'er side, an' I can't blame 'im." With Castel gone, there had only been two, and it was probably easier to be swept up by the moving wolves than be left behind with their ghosts. "Maybe one day S'halie will come back fer it, but fer now, we'll leave it ter th' Copse, too far away from anywhere that matters anyway." The latter was added with a grin for her sister, the children of Elettra shouldn't have a mountain separating them, although perhaps with her own children on the way, it would be better if they had.
Sven was quickly joined by the usual crowd, Leotie and Adeltra right on each others heels. Just as they arrived, Lorcan suddenly fell silent, even though the two had clearly been in the middle of a conversation. It did not go unnoticed that he then backed away and left them entirely, a particularly suspicious choice. What the heck was he so shy about? It felt clear that he'd been doing or saying something that he did not want the others to be privy to, and that didn't sit well with the young Archer.
Then Morganna had to go and poke and prod at Leotie, shit-stirring as always. Could she ever live a moment without drama? Sven looked equally bored with her antics as his ears flicked with mild annoyance. Next she tried to target him, announcing her reason for dropping in and clearly expecting a rise out of him for it.
"Yeah, great, long as you keep your paws off our land and resources."
His words were casual, knowing that he didn't have to puff himself up for delivery. Morganna would do what she wanted regardless, but this way she couldn't cry that it came without warning when the Ridge put its paw down if her pack tried to drain the area without regard for the original Archer tribe. Hopefully, she was smarter than that, but Sven couldn't be sure anymore.
Ravenna was there now too, defending Leotie which put a smirk on the boy's face. Morganna wasn't the favorite here anymore, and he was thankful that his co-lead was of similar mind as he.
The rest of what she had to say was more interesting than he expected. Niles' pack? That @Sahalie might come for? How those two had gotten connected together was far beyond him, much less how the spineless boy had managed to catch himself a mate and lead. What it really meant, though, was that the Tainn was gone again, and Sven wasn't so sad about that as he would have expected himself to be. After all... she'd already been out of his life for a long time now. It was unfortunate, but he was used to it at this point.
She'd arrived after Sven and Lorcan but it was early enough to learn the name of the woman that had come to the border. She took notice of the look that passed between Morganna and Lorcan and then his quick exit. She found that rather odd that he wouldn't want to stay as it seemed he and Morganna knew each other. She introduced herself to the woman and only a second later Adeltra and Ravenna arrived on the scene just as she was introducing herself which received her an insult. Though it was frustrating she thought it best to just keep her mouth shut though it did give her something to think about.
She was a little surprised when Ravenna spoke in her behalf but she offered the woman a small smile of appreciation. As she turned back she could see the annoyance on the pale archers features as Morganna droned on. Leotie decided that if the woman could insult her without knowing her then she wasn't worth taking the time to get to know. She gave a small nod in agreement with Sven's words hoping that would be enough and Morganna would leave not getting what she wanted.The news of Sahalie was sad as it seemed she'd left the lore once again. Leotie looked to Sven wondering how he would take the news since she remembered that he and the Tainn had been friends. The about woman wasn't entirely sure how she felt about this news now that things were the way they were.
Addy’s brows raised as she caught the tail end of the snark remark seemingly aimed toward Leotie. She was confused as to what she was referring to as the agouti woman seemed like a pretty reasonable second to her, but no one else seemed to be getting shaken up by it so she kept quiet. She was given a smirk in reply by the dark woman, which elicited a small wag of her tail but not much more. At least it was some form of acknowledgment, she didn’t expect her to come over and suddenly want to have a little powwow, especially not since there seemed to be some important business going on.
Rav entered hot on her tail and it seemed that she was mistaken on there not being much of a reaction to Morganna’s hot words. She grinned at her cousin’s equally snarky words, scooting to the side to make room for her with a playful nip being given to her cheek in greeting. Perhaps when she was older such gestures wouldn’t be allowed, but for now she was but a pup and it was the only way she really knew how to show her affection and respect.
Honeyed amber gaze looked between the women in curiosity as a pack by the name of Quaking Vale was thrown out, a side glance given to Lorcan as he scooted his way from their little gathering. She found it strange that he didn’t stick around but didn’t give much more thought to it. Morganna spoke and she mentioned a Niles, this one she knew from Ravenna’s teachings. So Quaking Vale was the pack that Niles led? Or, rather is seemed had led now that they were moving. Another name was thrown out, Sahalie, and it meant nothing to her. A glance around showed it seemed to register in everyone else’s eyes and she made a mental note to ask about it later.
Sven replied with a surprising amount of venom and she looked at him curiously. There seemed to be a lot of woman that the pale man had a problem with. What had Morganna done? She turned back forward, listening quietly to the conversations and soaking in whatever information she could.
The other woman which Morganna spoke about, saying that she may or may not return to the lands which she had claimed for herself when she created the back, Ravenna did not know at all although she stored the information for safe keeping. "Either way, I'm glad your not so far off anymore. Greer on the mountain is one thing, but you days away on the other side was a bit much." She said with a huff. Even though Sven and Morganna were not exactly close that did not mean she did not love her sister. Family could not always agree about everything always.
Sven's words were dismissed, she hadn't called for him after all and it didn't seem he had the numbers behind him to enforce any threats. She had stopped where she had out of respect for Ravenna and nobody else. She had the feeling Sven knew it too, but at least his companion seemed to be mulling over her words. There was more to being a second than being the only other woman on hand. If she wanted to hold onto it she would need to own it. Not that that was any of Morganna's concern, but in her pack you were a leader or a subordinate. Nothing else really mattered.
When Ravenna questioned after Castel, her shoulders lifted in a half-hearted shrug, "Nothin' could be done fer her." Deep down she had know as much before she even made it back to the Vale, but she had seen stranger things had happen. "He took it pretty hard, but we're doin' what we can ter make it easier on 'im." @Skoll had been surprisingly indespensible in his support of their brother, gruff as it may have been it was one less weight for Morganna to worry about, and for that she could only be gateful. "Renier an' Skoll're wit' me too but, Skoll's been far better, couple'o yearlin's from Torbine too, Sorya's kids. Didn' expect ter find 'em here but what're we ter do, hey?" There wasn't much more catching up to be done, and it was best she didn't linger too long in case Celandine jumped to conclusions about what was holding her up and bought the whole travelling band to their doorstep. "I better be gettin' back but I wanted yer ter know where ter find us if yer need help wit' anythin', or yer know, if yer feel inclined ter visit."
She wouldn't bother with farewells now that they would be so close, but once all had said their parts she would take her leave.
Morganna did not respond, likely because he had not given her what she wanted. Everything else she went on about mostly went in one ear and out the other, as it had the cadence of gossip and really, Sven didn't give a damn what had happened to Niles nor who Morganna was sweeping away with her. Ravenna could skip around whenever she'd like visiting family, but her age-mate would rather choke on a bone than request anything from the woman coated in rust. The only thing useful he gathered was where to find his father, and even that would be a rare trip. As much as Sven still loved his father, he expected the same from him as he would the other family members that had ever left him alone without a word; to put in their own effort.
When it all seemed to be done, he gave himself a shake and nipped at Ravenna's ear before knocking his shoulder against Leotie's and heading away, silently requesting that she join him.
Morganna went on talking about wolves that Leotie didn't know but she felt that she should care some. Perhaps later she would ask Sven about it or Ravenna, that moment though was not the time or the place. She remained quiet and listened to the rest of it finding that Morganna was finally excusing herself from their borders.
The Agouti woman would be glad to see her go, she decided that she didn't think she liked the woman much. The piece of advice was about the only useful thing that has been said and something she would remember. Her blue gaze left the dark wolan as she felt Sven's shoulder against hers. He didn't have to speak, she knew what it meant so as he turned away she did as well. A brush of her muzzle under Ravenna's chin was given as a 'see you later’ before she followed the pale figure of Sven.
Addy’s auds flickered back when Morganna mentioned that there had been nothing they could do for Niles’ mate, which only led to the conclusion that she had died. How horrible. She felt empathy rising in her chest for the man she had never met, though it obviously wasn’t out of understanding on that level. She knew what it felt like to lose someone, it was what she felt everyday that she woke up without her mother’s piebald frame beside hers. It was a hard feeling.
Morganna went to leave and Addy’s auds shifted forward. Sven was quick to exit, nipping Ravenna on the ear and bidding Leotie to follow. The agouti woman obeyed, also offering a goodbye to her silver dusted cousin. Adeltra watched Morganna begin to disappear from view and something nagged at her. She had some questions that she wanted answered and she felt that only she could answer them. She looked to Ravenna, moving over to her and offering her a nuzzle. I’m gonna do some more rounds. See ya later, she offered, then headed off. In all actuality, she was going to tail the Archer until she could think of what it was exactly that she wanted to ask.
Addy Exit