With the pack making use of the communal den, Sagacity was given more free time with which to complete her duties for the pack. She enjoyed having others she trusted, namely Naira, Asta and Mapplethorpe, close by so that she could go hunting or patrol the borders with an easy mind knowing that Mercy was safe. For the first time in quite a long time she went out in the morning- a time of day which had always been used staying with Mercy as that was when the boy was most active. But with two other little pups his own age, he no longer needed his mother to entertain him. It was good, she decided, for him to socialize with children his own age.

She dug up a hare she'd buried earlier in the week and consumed it hungrily, crunching through the bones and leaving no trace behind. She still needed to take in a high count of calories in order to see to Mercy's needs and with his teeth developing he'd rely less on her milk and more on regurgitated meals like the one she'd just eaten. This meal would give her a small boost of energy with which to skirt around the borders and then leave some meal for her growing boy. He was a quick grower and she assumed by his growth pattern that he would likely be large, like his father.

She descended down along the craggy mountainside until she reached the borders and moved along at an eager walk, the sunlight warm on her silver and black dappled back. She drew in a breath of fresh mountain air and relaxed her shoulders. Life was good.

Had she been living as a part of a pack which welcomed strangers to the borders all the time, she probably would've shirked the role of a guardian as much as possible. As it were, very few wolves came up Mount Dire and fewer than that came to the borders of Nomad's Pass, which was certainly a small amount of visitors. Perhaps the wind turned them away, or perhaps it was the rumours of a mountain pack which would send strangers cartwheeling down the mountainside if they weren't liked. She liked to think that it was the latter, and that most wolve chose to avoid Nomad's Pass by virtue of the fact that it was a dangerous place to live, and they weren't a pack without enemies.

Nevertheless, it was with even greater surprise that she caught Faol's scent close to the borders. Her ears perked; had he followed her scent here? She'd been doing a bit of hunting outside the pack's borders, maybe he'd found her trail and had followed it up the mountainside. Whatever the reason, she was quite surprised to find him so close to a pack's range, even if it was one she belonged to and she liked to think that they were on pretty good terms. With a bounce to her step, Sagacity quickened her pace along the borders until she finally spotted his dark pelt against the scenery.

She chuffed a short bark as soon as she saw him and continued to pick her way along the mountainside toward him. Part of her, the part which knew she hadn't told him the truth the last time she'd seen him, felt somewhat guilty. But that part of her was silenced completely as a smile lit up her features. She nodded her head to him and slowed to a stop once they were within speaking distance. "I had a feeling I'd see you again soon," She said, her tone jovial, and her tail waved gently by her ankles. Had it been anyone else she would've acted completely differently- but as it was, this was her friend, and she felt no need to be defensive.

Any hesitation she might've felt melted way when he smiled and greeted her. The memory of the ice in his eyes and coldness in his voice had not left her, but it faded with the warmth of his current mood and set her completely at ease. She''d not forgotten what he'd said to her, in fact, she'd thought about it fairly often after their last meeting. How could she explain the comfort and security she felt, living in a pack? How could she be so sure that she wasn't simply a pawn? And how could she know and trust that her safety was important to the other wolves in the pack, and that she''d never be asked to kill another wolf simply for the sake of the pack? After many nights thinking about what had happened to Faol, she simply decided that while it had been tragic, it was not a commonplace occurrence, and that it wasn't something she need fear.

Plus she was fairly sure that if it ever came to it, she'd leave the pack before doing anything so merciless and cruel. And that was that.

His words seemed so genuine that she was prompted to step forward and touch her nose to his cheek, a brief gesture to show her gratitude and a reciprocation of the sentiment. "I'm glad to see you too," She said. It was surprising to see him here and perhaps he sensed it too, for his next comment brought about a somewhat sheepish smile. Oh, how little he knew, how much could she say? Or, really, how much could she hold back? With something akin to bashfulness, she spoke. "I live here." She admitted, a small gesture toward the mountain's peak. "With a pack." She said, and, knowing that she couldn't hide it from him, she tacked on the final and perhaps most important (at least to her) bit:: "And my son." His statement had seemed more like a question anyhow, some sort of observation that meant he assumed that their meeting wasn't quite as chance as it had been before.

"They're good," She said, feeling the urge to reason as to why she lived with a pack, even if he thought they were treacherous. "We have little to do with any other packs...It's quiet, natural...It's free, living here," She said. For some reason, she needed for him to understand why she'd chosen this place to live- and that she wanted to convince him it was safe as well. There were words she wanted to say, pleas she wanted to make- but he knew she had to hold them back until she sensed that he was comfortable with her living in a pack.

She should have known as much.

For any stranger, admitting to being a mother wouldn't have been a big deal. But she knew that Faol likely though he knew her better than he did. She was wily, wry, sarcastic and free- detached from the life of civility most pack wolves strove for. This was who she was at heart, and who she'd presented to him. Thus, when she admitted both that she was with a pack and had a son she felt a pang of guilt. His surprise was not a shock to her- she knew full well that this wasn't anything he would've expected. Part of a pack, sure, but a mother? That was something completely different, as she knew fully well that she'd never projected the image of a wolf with a mate to him or anyone else. Just the same way that she knew he had no mate, either.

Part of her wanted to tell him the truth- that the child was from Rhysis, or at least that he was hers, born of an unknown father. Perhaps she could tell him the part truth- that she'd been abused by a male and impregnated. She knew that Rhysis was the father, simply by virtue of her son's date of birth and development. But she could've also passed him off as the illegitimate son from a horrible crime. Part of her wanted to tell him this- but not when she'd told the pack differently, and when she took a moment to consider it, she found a small glimpse of light in telling Faol not the truth, but the lie she'd told the rest of the pack.

It could completely save his opinion of her. She'd no longer be a woman who'd loved someone, or a woman who'd been foolish enough to mate with a man who was not her husband. She could be the saint she tried to make herself be.

"I found his mother dying. Not long after the last time I saw you." She said. "She gave birth alone in the wild, but did not survive. I took him in as my own," She said, pain singing in her words. It cut her to think about such a thing happening just as much as it cut her to know she was telling a lie about her own son.

What struck her most about the situation was how it effected Faol. He seemed hurt by this disclosure, and she felt that she knew why. And the only way to get around it would be to be honest with him about at least one thing. "Because I want you to join the pack." She said. And she said so much more than that, with her eyes, but couldn't bring herself to speak the words. Part of her was still in love with Rhysis- but that was a part that could never be free.

When he moved away from her, a movement sudden but not graceless, she felt the drive to move closer to him but avoided doing so. Instead, her amber eyes implored him, questioning gaze searching each of his eyes for an explanation. He'd remained silent while she'd spoken of Mercy and only a moment later, after mentioning her pack, he'd moved away. For the slightest moment she'd thought he'd keep on going and leave without a word, but he stopped and regarded her with a gaze that made her feel scalding hot. She felt as though she'd done something wrong, a pup who crumbled under the gaze of an adult after it'd been caught wandering too far or being too rough with another pup. He made her nervous with such a bold gaze, and she wilted slightly like a flower under too much sunlight.

His voice was rough and had the effect of sandpaper being rubbed against skin, both in tone and in the blunt words he used. She felt as though she'd been sliced open, exposed, and now had to explain herself, thereby making herself even more vulnerable by offering some sort of confession- a confession she was very reluctant to make. But the truth was there, and she felt that there was no way to repair their friendship unless it was spoken. It was painfully obvious, in that moment, that she owed him a lot.

She couldn't bring herself to look at him when she decided to speak, so great was her nervousness. She didn't want to see his reaction because she was so fearful it would be negative, and wasn't sure she could handle it. It seemed as though the feelings she harboured were one-sided. She assumed that if he'd had any feelings for her, he would have understood already why she'd told him about her life in a pack, with a son, already. She'd felt obligated to explain that he wasn't her biological son because she'd wanted to make sure he wouldn't be jealous, if he felt anything for her. But she saw no trace of jealousy in his eyes, only confusion. Thus, it became even harder for Sagacity to speak.

"We're forbidden from speaking of the pack to strangers, unless we've come to know and trust them, and deem them worthy of safeguarding our secrecy. We avoid conflict by being ghosts." She said. There, she'd admitted one thing- that she trusted him and thought he was safe and reliable, not the sort to stir up problems. She hoped he might be relieved to know that they avoided conflict by being so secretive- given his past experience in a pack, she believed that if he was to join any pack, this would be the one. But she knew even if she'd been in a different pack, she would have still wanted him there. Now came the difficult part.

"I want you here." She said, words still simple and vague as she struggled to force the real words out. Her ears turned back- she was more frustrated with herself now than anything, and still refused to make eye contact with him. "I like." She said, and the words ground to an abrupt halt. Her teeth were gritted as she forced herself to speak again. "I like having you around." She said, finally, struggling with the emotion which finally began to seep into her voice. She hung her head slightly. "I suck at this." She said quietly, and her features finally softened, as did her voice. "But I want you here. I don't want to see you just every now and again, by chance." A fleeting look was sent his way, revealing the fear she felt, having said more than she'd ever wanted to say. The words were forced simply because she was not an emotional wolf, and struggled now that she felt a flood of feelings trying to rush past her lips.