Evann has been raised to hold loyalty above all else, to always stand by your pack and its leaders - and that no matter what they said and how they treated you - and though she eventually left her home, those lessons were still ingrained in her, and she had no wish to commit such treason ever again. But there was a difference, between loyalty and blind faith; You can have fealty and still question, can't you? For all her gratitude to Mapplethorpe and Hollowheart Keep, she wouldn't march blindly at every command. She had left her birth pack to find a place where she would be appreciated, considered worth something... She wanted The Keep to be that place, still thought it could be; But if they would start a war over so little...






Now she was getting ahead of herself, there was no war; Not yet! And if she could help it in any way, there wouldn't be! Naia seemed to agree, her eyes aglow with the same spark of hope that lit Evann's as she spoke of the other Keep wolves she knew. The brown lass saw each one before her as they were mentioned; Quick - the young healer who had joined the pack not long after herself, Karpos - the young guardian in training. It made the sable lady happy to be reminded of the potential within her pack; Yes, yes we are good wolves! She blushed slightly when the River wolf added her to the list, but accepted the compliment with a shy smile, the tip of her tail wagging lightly.






Naia continued to propose a plan; Evann's ears prickling. The thought of confronting, at least some of, her pack mates about the conflict send a small shiver down her spine, but she straightened up quickly; the idea was sound, taking the general temperature of the pack to know how far the anger and hatred had spread. She nodded in response when the light agouti woman paused and met her eyes, not wanting to interrupt before she had finished describing her plan. And as the small dame continued, Evann kept tossing the concept around in her head; Yes, it's a good way to start the... healing if you will. Perhaps talk to Naira or Mapplethorpe... Mention it casually... The better part of her attention was still on Naia though, and she nodded along a few more times to show her compliance.






When the paler lass paused again, after suggesting a rendezvous point and time, Evann spoke up again, smiling palely at the other; "You are r... right, though I d-don't know m... m... many of your p-pack mates, I believe they ca... cannot be s... so bad, with you amongst th-them." She grinned a little wider, waving an ear at Naia before continuing: "And your p... plan is g-good, I will t... try and do the same when I re... re... return home." A nod then, underlining her decision; "The s... s-solstice sounds like a good time to m... meet again, hope... hopefully everything will have ca... calmed by then." Maybe, when spring came and the herds returned, everyone would acknowledge the absurdity of the whole situation.






As Naia turned her eyes to the sky, Evann felt her own restlessness stir; it was getting very old to sit still. She stood, shaking her fur to fluff it up and nodded again, finalizing the pact; "Yes I... I know the place, we will m-meet there." Then the older dame mentioned home, and the Keep wolf automatically gazed in direction of her own pack, but she wasn't quite ready to turn home yet, so when Naia suggested they walked together, she nodded, offering a thankful smile in recognition of the risk the River wolf was taking; "I would l... l-like that, f-for a bit..." And despite all her troubled thoughts, Evann felt joyful in that moment, teaming up with the petite wolfess, happy to have a purpose; We can do this!







Word count: 664




”Speech” Thoughts

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