Lena was, needless to say, a little bit tired—this was her first “mission” for Oak Tree Bend, and she was playing the sensitive role of diplomat and messenger. No pressure, right?

She and Lila had scouted the lake from above first, so they knew what they were dealing with, before setting off for the Cove's borders. The journey had been, thankfully, uneventful. There had been no accidents scaling the mountainside, no twisted ankles or broken bones. If Lila had been hurt somehow, there was no doubt in Lena mind that Aponi would break twice as many of hers for payback. Looks like she'd be able to relax at home without the threat of being shredded into little wolf flakes.

“Lila, you smell that?” Casting her gaze to her travelling companion, Lena gave a warm smile. “Wolves; looks like we're finally at our destination!” Her mood instantly lifted, fatigue leaving her legs as if it was dust that just needed blowing off. Trotting on, even picking up the pace, the Bend yearling chattered on to her younger friend. “You know, I've never actually done this checkin' in on the neighbours thing before—can't be too hard though, if y'ask me. Just a bit of a chat, yeah?”

Lowering her nose to the ground, she snuffled around, attempting to find a distinct scent marker, letting out a low woof as she found her quarry. All that remained was the task of calling said leaders and exchanging tongue wags for a bit. One, two, how do you do, three, four, back to the forest floor. Easy.

Lifting her head, she parted her lips and let out a little calling cry, summing up her intentions in a very short and sweet message: Oak Tree Bend representatives, here to talk with Fallen Tree Cove's leaders.

I have loved the stars too fondly

She was happy to have her leadership back. Every breath felt like a breath of fresh air and every step held purpose again. A purpose for her to keep pushing, fighting, and swimming above the darkness that had receded far away from her shores. The flood had abated and now she was repairing, mending, and altogether happy. As she bent her head to lap at the waters of the lake a call rang into the air and she lifted her head, droplets falling from the hairs of her jaw. Oak Tree Bend, huh? She wondered what their allies could want. The voices didn’t sound familiar, but that didn’t matter much she supposed. Turning she made her way up the shore then jogged to the borders.

It took a heavy couple of minutes for her to arrive, but as she did she took in the pair. Her tail was raised and chin up, but a friendly smile came to her eyes and crinkled the mismatched pair at their corners. A young duo stood before her; a pretty tawny yearling with grey-green eyes and, even more of a surprise, a pup no older than Lunette and Ismena with a black as night pelt and blue-grey eyes. Something had to have happened for them to have no others to reserve than this pair and a bit of concern blossomed in her chest.

“Hello, my name is Namid Vuesain. I am the lead female here, my mate should be along shortly. What brings you two here?” she asked, her gaze warm as she looked upon them with a curious expression.

To be fearful of the night

Lena gave a short chuckle at her friend's words, and offered her a beaming smile in response. Surprisingly, Lila's reassurance truly did settle her excited nerves—rather than feel fidgety, she was filled with a desire to impress the Bend wolves and show them all what she was capable of doing. She wanted to be a reliable sort for her uncle.

“Hopefully we'll have struck lucky and won't have to wait too long,” the tawny girl mused, nudging Lila's shoulder gently. We got this. “I'm gonna need y'to make sure I don't miss out any important details!” A playful wink was offered, but Lena meant it—she knew little about the wolves who had left, only knowing names (and even then, some had drifted from her memory entirely) and a handful of titles they held. There was Spieden, the ex-lead female (one Lena had a slight personal bias against), and Sahalie, a yearling from the previous leader before Serach. Other than that, she drew blanks. She knew that Lila, despite her youth, would be able to fill in the gaps.

The lead female was the first to arrive, introducing herself as Namid Vuesain. Lena found herself staring at those mismatched eyes, her curiosity piqued; she'd never seen anyone with a feature as striking as that! But she realised her folly and cleared her throat, dipped her head and tucked her tail—she was a stranger at their borders after all, and it would be frowned up to make eye contact with the leaders of another pack for too long.

She glanced up when the silver female asked her question, inquiring as to what brought the two wolves to her borders, eyes darting to the side at the sound of another approaching. Ah. This had to be the lead male. Lena remained silent, allowing him to introduce himself, before pressing her shoulder against Lila in a sign of moral support (not that she believed the young Aquila needed any extra courage!) before conjuring a warm smile of her own.

“Afternoon to y'both, 'nd thank you for meetin' with us. My name's Lena Donata, 'nd this is Lila Aquila. We come barin' news from Oak Tree Bend. We've … suffered from a loss of members this past month, and our leaders have sent us to reach out to our allies 'nd neighbours in order to reaffirm our pack's bonds.” As much as she wanted to brand the wolves who left as abandoners, she couldn't bring herself to dirty their names in the open. “We've also come to discuss the huntin' grounds—Spectral Woods.”

For once, it seemed Lena's chatterbox tongue was coming in handy, but she couldn't keep blabbering on and on and say everything now, could she? Turning her attention to Lila with a smile, the older Bend wolf gave a nod of encouragement; you can tell them about the hunt invitation. Lena wanted the young Aquila to be able to do this in the future with unwavering confidence and pride, and know that she was valued in this mission—Lila was needed and respected and believed in.

I have loved the stars too fondly

Vespertio was quick to arrive, true to her word. A nip was given to her ear and she gave his shoulder a playful bump, mismatched gaze narrowing jokingly before turning back to the youths before them. She committed their names to memory; Lena Donata and Lila Aquila. She also noted the curious accent Lena bore, wondering to herself where she could be from to have it. Namid herself couldn’t consider herself to have an accent, but the way she spoke told of the fact that it wasn’t exactly a common tongue. Her brows drew together in concern as she mentioned their loss of members, hoping that they weren’t too close to the possibility of disbandment. They themselves had been there before and understood the worry. But, it was a smart move to reaffirm alliances.

At the mention of the hunting grounds she found herself curious once again, even further proved when she handed the explanation over to the pup. Mismatched gaze turned down to the youth, listening to her words. She already had a good way of explaining things, getting her words across clearly and simply. It was impressive, really, and her smile broadened. “Thank you both for the news, I am sorry for the loss you have taken. But you still have allies on the mountain, correct my dear?” she said, turning her head to set her attention on her husband.

To be fearful of the night

The older Bend wolf was immensely proud of Lila's ability to conduct herself respectfully—if only Lena herself had been so well behaved at that age. She had preferred the excitement of mischief making, took great glee in being the one who flicked mud at her family and pack mates, or spent hours perfecting pranks so that she could wiggle around the whole evening in absolute delight at the end result.

She could only briefly wonder to herself, though; when was the last time Lila was allowed to be a child? Was Lena filling the role of playmate, despite being older? It seemed that the young Aquila hadn't had an easy start, and she had no litter mates—had she lost all her friends with the disappearance of half the pack? What a cruel deck of cards for a girl so young to hold.

Lena couldn't dwell on that depressing train of thought for long though, because the Vuesain wolves had begun to give their response and, yikes, part of her cringed inwardly. There was something unsettling about these two that made the skin on the back of her neck tingle. Were they always this … openly affectionate? This was pack business! Couldn't they show a little bit of restraint or professionalism? Goodness gracious, what if they just started going at it and slobbering all over each other right in front of Lila?! Did the girl even know about the birds and the bees? Lena wasn't cut out for giving that kind of life lesson. All she could do was muster up a smile as they talked and nod her head.

The awkwardness came crashing down when Vespertio mentioned Spieden and Triell. As inviting as it sounded to get right into resting, Lena felt like there was the urgent news of explaining just what had transpired down in Spectral Woods. “They, uhm. Triell and Spieden are no longer part of Oak Tree Bend. Spieden received a challenge for her rank and lost. She seemed scared for her life, from what I've been told. She bolted the moment she could with her children, and some of the pack took after her and left us. Triell wasn't leadin' when I joined—my uncle Serach is the lead male currently. But Triell—he left with his own children, his mate an' another member of the pack after Spieden took off.” Lena frowned, still feeling that muddled, pointless sense of guilt. The rank challenge would have happened any way—she couldn't blame herself. “More than half the Bend is gone.”