Round Stone Crest There is none but me who can intercede

OOC: For @Cessair - This is the rank "challenge" where Raela will be asking Cessair to allow her to take Minka's place as leader on the day following her death, but others are welcome to observe. 

9/23/2015

Weather:
50° F, 10° C
Sunny
8:35 AM

The chips had fallen; and she felt fated to this exchange. Since the earlier talk with Gent Raela had been nothing but nerves; tense and agitated as she tried bolstering herself for any possible retaliation on the smaller woman's part. She kept telling herself it was unlikely; kept swearing that she knew Cessair, that her friend and pack mate would not want this responsibility to fall on her shoulders. Not much had been heard from the new leader; either in the night or so far this morning. In fact, since parting with Gent Raela had made a point of avoiding the den, where she knew the woman would be rising from. 

She would be polite, and kind, and she would try her darndest not to let something like this get between them; two of the longest standing members, and further rip the pack asunder. Her swarthy friend had been right; there was no time to dally. There had been no time to dally when Tokino had fallen into his endless sleep either. It was a point spoken from her own mouth, yet now she shivered before it. No, she would have to steel her nerves now, for all of them. If one female in this gang had to be strong for all of them it ought to be her. It ought to be. They could not fall apart; she couldn't allow the leadership to come into question for long. If no one stepped up to assert themselves as Alpha; something she had a hard time believing the pale woman could do, there was no telling what would become of their stability. 

With these thoughts in mind she paced; moving along the borders for the umpteenth time; hastily marking and scenting the place as if these actions alone could solidify her place and quell her anxiety. This wasn't a position she ever wanted to be in. It had simply happened to her. Stopping her frantic motions all at once, the woman lifted her head and took a long, drawn-out breath. As she sighed, the vapor from her lungs spiraled upward in a cloud before vanishing into the atmosphere. Closing her sunshine eyes, Raela tried to wrangle all these poisonous thoughts as best she could. She had to. She had to.

There is a duty I'm sworn to do... If Minka were here she'd have it no other way. Gent will have it no other way. Another long sigh passed her lips as she stood there, her ears folded. In a moment of brashness once all had gone quiet, her muzzle swung back; teeth parting as a howl that sounded much surer that she really was reverberated off of the trees. All too soon the note ended, leaving her standing alone on the hillside again. As soon as Cessair returned her call it would be on. She would move; meeting her in the middle from wherever she had come. There was no turning back now. Everyone would know what she was doing; now that her call had rung out. Now or never. 

(This post was last modified: Oct 05, 2015, 08:00 AM by Raela.)

            

Gent is here to spectate, don't mind him. c:

He had all but avoided Raela since that morning chat, all but avoided everyone, opting instead to satellite the perimeter and busy his body in an attempt to numb his mind. In a short amount of time it was divined that his queen-to-be was pursuing the same mindless work, and at each turn of the wind he altered his course so as to jar their paths away from one another. It would come today, when she was ready, the true finality of Minka's passing. No longer would he be able to pretend that she was merely in some prolonged sleep, cradled under warm earth as though it were a choice blanket. Once Raela ascended the throne, this new future would be sealed and he would be forced to look only ahead.

It was what he wanted anyways, to move forward, to push it back, swallow the confusing emotions that he may never untangle anyways. It was a waste to dwell in these feelings, and his pack needed him to be strong now more than ever. Yet despite all his strength, he could not shake them. They clung stubbornly within his skin, buried deep with barbs to keep them lodged. It wasn't just agitating, miring; it was utterly foreign, confounding, uncomfortable down to his very bones and it was enough to thoroughly distract him from his true work.

Raela's surprisingly strong voice sifted through the trees, floating down into his ears and freezing him in both thought and motion. This was it, the last of his excuses. His rock was making her stand, moving to cement them both in this new Minka-less world. Forcing his head to clear, he pressed back into the heart of his domain, swiftly seeking out the timbered woman. Within a short expanse of time he had fallen into step behind her, ready to move as she did. When at last the three were gathered together, he would stay on the sidelines, silent and watchful of what unfolded before him. His mind churned to create a contingency plan in the event that Raela failed to take the throne, but he suppressed these desperate thoughts and instead put the entirety of his faith upon his best friend's shoulders.

(This post was last modified: Oct 13, 2015, 05:00 AM by Gent.)