Sex: Female♦♦♦♦♦
Naia’s tail flicked nervously as Maksim closed his eyes, mulling over her report before he spoke aloud. When his eyelids fluttered open, his green eyes were uncharacteristically soft; concerned, Naia thought. He began to speak, leading with information Naia already knew—they were sided with Minka. Thank the gods. If they weren’t, it certainly would have strained her new relationship with the Black Thorn Downs Second, Inali. Inali was just as loyal to Minka as Naia was to Maksim, and so it was just as well that the two pack leaders were on friendly terms. Naia was quite uncomfortable with the idea of having to choose between her love for Inali and her loyalty to Maksim, but with the current alliance Naia couldn’t conceived a situation where that might ever happen. Ash Hervok however had not been so lucky.
The scout’s expression darkened as Maksim detailed the Caverns leader’s betrayal. Her reaction was not only to Ash’s violation of loyalty; it also pained her to hear of a wolf who’d had to make the very painful choice that Naia hoped she was never faced with. Love or Loyalty? It was as if someone was asking her to choose which half of her heart she wanted to keep. She pitied the poor man who had been faced with such a choice. And then, just as Maksim spoke of the pup Ash abandoned, Naia’s pity dried up. No. Leaving a pup? While escaping a flood, nonetheless! That was hardly conceivable to Naia, and she understood Maksim’s grudge right away. She thought about sweet Karina licking her nose, and her older brother—the thoughtful, protective Aleksei. She thought about that clever middle child: Orren, with markings as dark as the river rocks for which he was named. Not for all of Inali’s love would she ever drop one of those children.
Maksim moved onto his assessment of Willow Ridge, and Naia nodded. An ally without loyalty or honor was an ally you couldn’t trust. Surely Angier would realize that Whisper Caverns was a worthless ally once he knew this story. Maksim gave her permission also to smooth over relations with Hollowheart Keep, and the scout blinked in surprise. For some time she had desired to make peace with the reclusive Keep wolves—she had friends there, after all—but she had stopped short of mentioning this desire to Maksim, fearing his anger over their transgression was still too fresh. Even mellow, pacific little Naia was enraged in the weeks directly following the incident. Time healed many wounds though, especially injuries as superficial as this one.
”Yes, Sir,” she replied to his advice not to travel alone. Her mind was churning from the new information, and at the moment the simple agreement was all she could manage verbally. It seemed their affairs were not as bad as she thought—at least recent events had not opened any new wounds with Whisper Caverns. No, it would be the same old scars and the same old hate in Ash’s eyes, hardly reason to start a war afresh. Soon the River wolves would take steps to neutralize other possible threats, and it would be back to life as normal for Naia the scout. ”Knowing the full story eases my mind,” she assured her leader. And it did; she was glad her pack had not violated any treaty with Whisper Caverns—betraying any ally was not behavior befitting of Cut Rock River wolves. ”Thank you for listening,” she continued, grateful for his audience so early in the morning. ”I’ll start on this assignment at once.” She moved toward her leader, licking him under his chin in a respectful request to make her leave. Once she had permission, she exited quickly, intending to run the quickest border patrol in the history of Cut Rock River before departing to inform Inali of her plan.
Exit
