Late Morning; Overcast; 73° F/23° CFor the past two weeks Mapplethorpe had been away just long enough so that the markers he usually kept pungent and strong just barely faded away. Given that there was the possibility of rain, it was with perfect timing that the grizzled man returned to the face of Mount Dire. Training Taima and grooming her with the lessons he had seen his sisters excel in had been one hell of a ride. Tufts of his fur stuck up in places where they shouldn't have and where the young Lyall had bitten him in defiance at the base of his right ear still looked fresh aside from the spots of matted brown fur along the side of his head. The next time Datura's mate even dared to bare her teeth Mapplethorpe was certain he would be well-prepared; everything now, however, was perfectly fine. During their short trek back to pack territory, the yearling had profusely apologized and put to light the confession that she had never really acted in such a way in the face of a superior. Had it not been for the rather obvious explanation of hormones, Taima Lyall would have found herself abandoned in the heart of the Red Fern Forest.
The yellow-eyed man had watched her trot away though before he began to make his rounds about the territory he had missed. Wherever @Naira and @Chulyin had stepped, he, too, planted his muddied paws into their tracks. There were many dominant males here, he knew, but to those coming upon Nomads Pass shouldn't be allowed to even assume that there were barely any brutes around to protect the female leader, the Queen, who often patrolled her borders. As far as Mapplethorpe was concerned, he was the one who would and should be feared; and, it was with every scent gland in his body - his rump, his ears, and cheeks - that he possessively marked over wherever his beloved and her knight came in contact with a number of inconspicuous landmarks.
To any passerby it was now apparent that the other sovereign of the Mountain of Dire had come home.
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