Ears perking atop his pale head, Serach lifted himself off the ground as he listened to the stranger's call, requesting an audience. It was a strong, confident voice - very different from the meek requests of lone wolves passing through. It was also not a voice that Serach was familiar with, although that didn't mean much. He was perhaps one of the least traveled wolves in the pack, having only ventured as far north as Hearthwood River once and certainly never west beyond the mountains. Perhaps Aponi would know the caller, he thought as he set off to greet their visitor, sparing just a moment to lift his own muzzle to the sky and call back to indicate that the stranger had been heard.

His self-imposed isolation from the ongoings of the rest of the Lore meant that he was essentially oblivious to the goingons in the north. Packs had formed, thrived, fought, and died before Serach had even heard of their existence. So he was curious, but also a little wary about who was calling with such purpose in their voice because anything beyond his beloved Spectral Woods was a complete unknown to him. Silently, he hoped that Aponi was also making her way to the borders and could use her knowledge to help him.

The man who waited was not particularly large - close in size to Serach himself actually - but conveyed a very solid presence anyway. Not a loner either, or at least if he was, he didn't have the hungry look that loners often had when they came to the Bend's borders. Serach's head and tail naturally lifted as he approached the stranger, hopefully indicating who he was before he came to a stop in front of him. "'Lo," he greeted the man, his tone neutral but not unpleasant. "I'm Serach Donata, one of Oak Tree Bend's leaders. You wanted to talk?" Might as well get straight to the point.

Normally Aponi would have heard Serach's answering howl and left it to her husband to handle whoever was at their borders. But, their numbers were down and with the winter upon them now the woman was on edge. Ice was still missing with no hints of his whereabouts whatsoever and her mate was the only male left with them, they needed more members but for now they were doing all right. So when the stranger called and her husband answered the woman changed her course and headed towards the sound, expression cool on her face as she expected it to be nothing but a loner seeking refuge. They had had enough of these loners coming, staying for a couple of weeks and then disappearing into the mist like they hadn't existed at all. Aponi was getting fed up.

She made no secret in her approach and strode confidently into the scene, her nose and ears had already proceeded what little information she needed to know. This was no loner. He smelled of others, not an exceptional amount but other wolves all the same. What was more, she heard the small snippet of conversation before her steely blue eyes fell on the dark man talking to Serach. Her body stiffened when he mentioned Drestig and Jessie, the bastard and his miserable bitch of a mate. She had long given up on trying to make his life a living hell as she had intended to do after his rejection of her but Aponi was not one to let go of a grudge.

Still, at his next sentence, spoken as she walked up beside her mate she managed a tight smile. So this Askan had left the Fields and had struck out on his own, good. Aponi hoped the pack he had left behind crumbled into ruin. After all, Drestig and Jessie leaving had been what had started the small fracture in the Bend, a tiny hairline crack that had been invisible but there all the same. Followed by Spieden and her own mother and most of everybody else who had once lived here. The Donata fought back the urge to spit on the ground at the thoughts of them all but she knew logically that the stranger in front of her had nothing to do with their own ancient history. Instead she nodded curtly, "The grounds within half a days travel of here are ours to hunt on exclusively. If you can respect this then we will extend the same courtesy to you and I see no reason there should be any problems between our packs." The last thing she needed was some kind of territory war in the dead of winter.

The man dipped his head in greeting, a simple gesture that eased at least some of the tension that posed itself whenever two strange wolves met one another. Serach's brow furrowed in thought as the man said his name, struggling to place it in his mind for a few moments before pulling it from the depths of his memory. He had been a scout for the Fields once, Serach seemed to recall, but that was the extent of what he could remember.

Furrowed brows quickly turned to raised eyebrows in surprise at the explanation that Askan had left the Fields. His initial impulse was to ask after Drestig and Jessie - his anger towards them had eased significantly over the past year and a half - but remained quiet as he was joined by his mate. He could feel her stiffen up at the mention of Wild Rye Fields, but when she spoke, she made no mention of it. Nodding his head in agrement, Serach looked back towards Askan. "My mate, Aponi," he introduced her first. "Thank you for making the trip down to tell us - we've had plenty of neighbors over the years. Most don't last long, if I'm being honest, so I wish you and your packmates the best of luck. So long as you respect our hunting grounds, we'll do the same for you, but I see no reason we can't part ways today on good terms." At least Serach hoped that was the case.

Aponi had always been blunt to say the least. Cold and sometimes bitchy if you were being honest, and saying it out of earshot if you valued your life. Which was probably why Serach did not seem phased even in the slightest that he had to introduce his mate while she launched right into business. Their relationship balanced each other out, he reminded her to be softer and warmer and she cut anyone who double crossed them. He agreed and reiterated, albeit slightly nicer what she had said and thankfully this Askan seemed willing to have his pack comply.

The female alpha was ready to nod and call it a successful meeting and turn away when a snort slipped from her muzzle. So this Askan wasn’t that fond of his old leaders either then, or at least the way they led. Aponi made no attempt to his the smirk on her muzzle, ”So I take it Drestig’s leadership abilities haven’t improved much. I never had any faith that Jessie would instill confidence in her pack but to each their own.” The last sentence was accompanied by a sarcastic shrug. If this Askan did not like how she spoke of them she could care less, they were after all standing but feet away from her lands.

The last question was left for her mate, the pack had been stable but small since then and it irritated the silver woman. Serach was much more diplomatic about it.

@Askan was a little gruff and rough around the edges, but he readily agreed to Aponi and Serach's terms and that was good enough for the Bend leader. The absolute last thing he needed was to have a sour relationship with one of his neighbors. Not that he would ever admit it to a potential rival, but the Bend did not truly have the numbers to enforce the terms they had proposed - they were going to have to rely on their bark today being bad enough to keep them at bay. Perhaps Askan's inexperience would play in the Bend's favor with that.

His left-ear twitched as Aponi snorted in response to Askan's veiled insult at the Wild Rye Fields leaders. His own lips pursed into a frown, but he remained quiet while his mate offered her own assessment of Drestig and Jessie and their leadership skills. He didn't disagree, but he couldn't help but reflect on his last meeting with Jessie, when she had come down to the Bend to check in and discovered that everything had fallen apart. She had been sympathetic then, and after having gone through the whole ordeal of the failing to hold the pack together under his leadership, he had let go some of the grudging feelings he had held towards the pair.

The same could not be said for the more recent of their trials. His frown deepened and he shifted his weight between his two front legs while he figured out how to respond. Askan's pause had been telling - at least the man was respectful enough to not throw it in their faces. "We've settled," he finally said, turning his head to momentarily cast an eye over the territory behind him, as though surveying it, before turning back to Askan. "We're still here, and have our own family and our own packmates to worry about now. As for those who left...they can be somebody else's problem now." He finished with a wry smile. He had no idea where most of those wolves had ended up, but he did not envy whatever leader had taken them in.

"Do you have a mate, or perhaps any scouts we should be aware of or on the lookout for in the future?" Askan hadn't said, but Serach doubted that the new leader would always be his own envoy.

At first the woman thought that Askan was agreeing with her comments about Drestig and Jessie, but to her dismay that was glazed over. Here she was thinking that he might hate them as much as she did and now she had ended up disappointed. None of this showed in her cool blue eyes which looked rather bored by this whole idea. Her maw was held politely neutral but her eyes gave away that she was over this whole meeting. They had met, exchanged pleasantries and now there was not much more to say.

Thankfully, Serach had always had more tact than his mate and asked a follow up question about expecting scouts and other things. Aponi seriously doubted that  they would need further correspondence than this but it was good to keep their options open.  However, Askan’s answer caused a single brow to raise and a bemused smile to play across her muzzle. She had never heard of two males mating and leading together so it was strange, but frankly it was none of her business and Aponi didn’t care that much. Still, she would probably talk to Serach about it later.

Nodding briefly Aponi responded simply, ”We’ll keep our eye out for them.” Then she glanced sideways towards her mate, did he have anything left to say?