Vigils Keep Pack Thread - Printable Version

As she rushed to him, her head lowering to sniff at his chest to assess his wounds, he took so much of him to keep his tail from waving and a smile from his features. She worried for him, like a pack mate and leader should buy not more then this. Still, he was happy to have gained her attention. Though he didn't have time to bask in it. She needed an explanation and now.

"Ran into a red fern wolf from the south while in Kingsfall looking to hunt." Okay so one, he didn't know the name of the pack in that forest in the south and two, let's face it, Judas wasn't on any hunt. "Didn't seem too keen on sharing lands for hunting. I figured if they were moving north after any herds making way to the Lowlands it would be equally fair if Vigil wolves happened to ever follow a trail south." He huffed, shoulders shrugging. Apparently not. "She threated if any of us go south it would be a bad idea. If we go west, it's the same with the Surge wolves. She said their allies. Got a feeling their trying to box us in..." Perhaps now while in summer and fall still yet to arrive it wouldn't be so bad. There was plenty of food to go around in Kingsfall and the Lowlands. However come winter that might be a different story.

She listened attentively, not missing a single detail nor implication. Ellery had followed to investigate as well, and more sensitive parents might have shooed her away, but Nineva did nothing to stop her daughter from observing and learning. A Shallows wolf all the way in Kingsfall was certainly out of place, but the only contact that had been made between the Keep and the spring-based pack was Elias' ill-fated run in with his bro-cousin; they were not obligated to avoid the grounds. Still, she understood Judas' concerns, as she'd had the same. She wanted Elias to have been back before leaving Ellery to contact the other packs, who the Surge had close ties with according to Aytigin, but it seemed she might no longer have a choice.

It was certainly clear that leaving it all up in the air was having more of an impact on her subordinates than she had foreseen.

"The blood, Judas," she prompted when he trailed off, wandering a bit further away from the main concern.

she smiles like a georgia summer

Art by Marina!

There was a lot about what Judas was saying that made zero sense to her, something she’d rectify later, but for the moment she made do with what she could understand. And, she found she didn’t like it. Her mother had taught her at least the basics of packs. What leaders were, what everyone did, and what allies were. Then that Driftwood Surge was not their ally. Her mother questioned about the blood and her ears cocked forward.

she laughs like the sound of thunder

She questioned about the blood then and he paused, his head falling down as though to try and look over his own chest though failed at the hard angle. "If we don't belong south, they don't belong north. We fought - I won." As the seconds ticked by and he finished he realized that his words might make this situation go poorly. It wasn't his choice to decide where the other pack belonged or not. Though it only seemed right in his mind. Already they were avoiding going west to appease the Surge wolves. He didn't like the idea of the Surge nor the Shallows hunting anywhere they pleased when the Keep wolves were confined to a certain area. She would agree, right?

Nineva frowned, the expression pulling deeply at the corners of her mouth as her gaze did not waver from his sooty face. Yes, the Keep should be allowed the redwoods if hunting territories were to be so jealously guarded by their neighbors, but that was not to be decided nor communicated by a chance run-in and consequent scuffle between subordinates. Just as she had come to fear the moment she'd smelled the blood on him, Nineva now knew that waiting for Elias was not an option.

"Who attacked first?" she asked, voice stern but not yet angry. She had a sinking feeling however, by the way he was acting, that she already knew the answer.

The frown was evident on her features, making him believe that she was angry with him for his actions. A smarter wolf might have just backed off from the Shallows wolf, brushed off her words and headed home with just her words as information, not her blood. Judas was not one of them. Not only having a hard time holding his tongue but apparently having a hard time holding back his whole face, teeth included.

His large pointed ears fell flat on his skull and his head dipped down, eyes squinting at he prepared for his Queen's wrath. "I did."