Mender's Tale

by The Rhombus

Based upon a roleplay with Historian1912 and set in the Seven Hunters continuity. Mender has the reputation as being the best healer in the Mysterious Beyond, helping all who require it, but that was not always the case. Follow Mender as she recalls how a lowly fastbiter eventually found her place in life once she met a most unusual pack. This is Mender's Tale.

24. Chapter 20: First do no harm

v

Chapter 20: First do no harm

"An unexpected development from the Battle for the Valley and its unintended cultural contamination is the proliferation of primitive medicine in what the locals call the Mysterious Beyond. With the preexisting vocation of "flyer messenger" serving as a basis for effective long-range communication, both packs and herds have discovered the benefits of having both flyers and healers among their ranks, both in terms of healing their own members and also in alliance building. The resulting proliferation of alliances, even between groups with diametrically opposed diets in rare cases, has also led to a rise in antagonism between what had been isolated herds and packs. Now the vocation of flyer messenger has been joined with other titles such as that of assassin and spy. An ironic side effect of this increase in medical knowledge might very well be an increase in warfare on a scale never before seen on this planet.

As authorized by the message you left on the Archiver Stones, we have taken actions to safeguard the Consortium research team on this planet. Though we cannot deny that the actions taken to safeguard our family may have secondary effects on the budding societies in this region. We can only promise that these secondary effects will be kept to an acceptable minimum."

~Commander Logos, Confidential Report on the Hidden Runner Civil Conflict

---

It was times like this that Greenshade hated her job.

The sweet yet stagnant smell of death lingered in the air as she and her counterpart carefully navigated the overgrown forest. There was a special kind of terror in smelling the death scent of your own kind. Not seeing the corpses was almost as horrifying as not seeing what had caused those corpses. Every part of her self-respect was being used to fight the unmistakable calling of her instincts.

What are you doing? Run!

Greenshade gave two shakes of her tail and gave a cutting gesture at her neck. Two dead bodies. This was then followed by two taps on her beak. Less than ten body-lengths away.

The other hidden runner froze, straining to detect any hint that whatever killed the other two hidden runners was still in the area. "I don't smell anyone else," he finally said.

Greenshade clicked her beak together in annoyance, but realized that her displeasure was misplaced. They had no indication that they were still under threat, and the smell of death was now at least a few days old.

"Aye," she affirmed as she reluctantly moved ahead through the thick underbrush in her search for the decomposing bodies, "We need to check to make sure, but I think we know what happened to the last scouting party."

"I guess we now know what happened to Isca and Sepheo."

Greenshade stopped as she peered through a large bush. It was not lost on her counterpart that her entire composure fell.

"We are scouts, Bluntbeak; to our leaders we have no name when we are on the job." She gestured ahead grimly. "Sepheo has completed his last run."

"My cousin Isca has completed his last duty," Bluntbeak said a few moments later, having spotted the other body.

After remaining silent for a while, Bluntbeak couldn't help but live up to his name. "Can you tell what killed them?"

Greenshade shook her head. "For the love of Fate, Bluntbeak! Can you give me a moment?" She took a deep calming breath as she examined the body carefully, mouthing an apology to the dead as she turned the corpse over. "He was your cousin; I have no idea how you can stay so calm."

"We have a job to do now. I can get angry later," Bluntbeak replied.

Greenshade nodded reluctantly as she continued her task. Sometimes her counterpart lived up to his name a bit too well, but she couldn't deny that he was the best second that she could ask for in a mission. That was when something caught her eye.

The head dangled without any resistance. Sepheo's neck had been crushed in a single blow.

She quickly ran over to the other hidden runner to make the same determination. With Isca as well the beast had used the same strategy without any sign of struggle. Each had been killed within a few body lengths of one another without detecting the threat.

Greenshade looked up at her friend. "We need to get out of here. Now."

---

Great Valley:

"Though restricted in its habitat by its lack of plumage the yellowbelly has been known to wander into the Great Valley from time to time. Further research is needed to determine how they are able to survive with few natural defenses against predators."

Datum tapped the rock twice and then sat on the ground with a contented sigh. His parents wanted them to keep making reports for them to check when they returned from their mission to the hidden runner lands. Though he still found the formal speak to be annoying, he did get some satisfaction at having completed the day's work.

Though that satisfaction was short lived as worry, no longer restrained by his focus, was now able to invade his mind.

"They will be okay, you know? They have done this before."

The rainbowface looked at his sister with an annoyed expression as he rubbed his beak, "Yes, and I seem to remember the last trip not going so well. You can ask Charger about that."

He knew that he had gone too far as he looked away, but he couldn't help it. Nothing good had come from the last trip, and the fact that they were only being helped by flyers this time did not fill him with confidence.

Bonk!

"Hey!"

He rubbed his head as he tried to avoid his sister's second attempt at throwing pebbles. As a result he only got a glancing blow the second time. Nonetheless this earned a reaction from him.

"That hurt!"

Much to his dissatisfaction, however, this earned him a smirk from his sister. "Well, if that hurt you then imagine how much a flyer dropping it on your head would do. Mom and Dad have those to protect them in the air, and some of their bellydragger friends to help them on the stream.

Datum continued to rub his head, but he couldn't help but nod in acknowledgement of his sister's message. With fewer larger dinosaurs to protect, his parents could swiftly make their journey and use some of their 'hidden resources' as Mom always put it. But something didn't sit right with him.

"But this shouldn't be necessary!"

His sister jumped back as he threw the second pebble across the stream.

"Why can't they have some flyers do this? Or anyone else? Why does it always have to be them to do the…" he paused, finally getting ahold of himself.

But his sister could already guess what he was going to say.

"...to do the valley's dirty work? Why can't it be someone more expendable?"

Datum stopped cold, looking at his sister. "Sis, you know that I don't mean that."

Axiom glared at him. "You know what Mom and Dad say about that way of thinking. That is how a Redclaw would think, not how a Cadet thinks."

Datum groaned. "For once I just want to think how a rainbowface thinks. A report to people I have never met is one thing, but can't I at least care that my Mom and Dad might be in danger?"

His sister stared at him a long moment, but eventually her facade fell as well. Duty or not, she could not hide the fact that the same fears were present in her as well.

"Hey, I'm scared too," she finally admitted, "But what can we do about it?"

Datum huffed. "Not a darn thing. That's the problem."

"What can you do about what?"

Both rainbowfaces bolted in a cascade of rainbow-colored snouts and blue plumage into the bushes at the unexpected question. It was only when they heard Charger's amused snort that they came out of the bushes with indignant looks, hands firmly planted on their hips.

"Nothing that an arrogant threehorn can help with!" Axiom finally responded, earning an even greater laugh from their threehorn counterpart.

"Well good luck finding a humble one!" Charger boasted, "The gang is getting ready to play Sharptooth Escape. Are you two ready? Or do you need to work on your creepy rainbowface stuff first?"

Datum gave his sister a look. It was a look that she immediately identified as she gave him a death glare. He pretended to relent, even though he had no intention of asking this of the gang in the first place.

Their last adventure had been more than enough. Charger's one eye was a testament to that.

"We're almost done, Charger. Tell the others we will be there in a moment."

The small threehorn gave both rainbowfaces an inquisitive look before he finally charged off with a shake of the head. He had been around the two enough to know that acting weird was something they simply would never grow out of.

"Crazy rainbowfaces! They're as crazy as a yellowbelly hunting a belly slider!"

Little did he know that his nonsensical insult was caught by both of their ears

Both brother and sister blinked before sharing a look. Did yellowbellies actually hunt belly sliders? Maybe Charger knew more than he was letting on?

Within moments both rainbowfaces were chasing after the threehorn. Neither of them knowing that this was exactly the reason why their reports had to be okayed by them first. After all, yellowbellies did not hunt belly sliders.

But some predators did...

---

Seeker's territory:

"Aunt Mender! Look what we found!"

"What did you find, Ungu?" Mender asked. She walked over where Ungu was staring downwards intently.

With a slight strut, the small fastbiter leaned down and, with a powerful shake of her jaws, quickly perform a killing blow on whatever she had found. That was when Mender noticed that Ungu was giving a killing shake to something's tail…

"Wait, sis!"

In an instant Gyors had placed his foot on the hole in which the reptile resided and proceeded to grab it by the tail, and spoke through his bite.

"Cut-mm-it-when-it-half-up!"

Without warning he proceeded to walk backwards, sending the tail region of a rather upset snake into an absolute frenzy, its body circling back and forth as it was forcibly extricated by the youngling's steady movement. It was when the snake was about halfway out of the hole that Ungu struck.

In the end Gyors was left with a limp half in his jaws, while the remainder of their catch fluttered in a frenzied spasm in the ground below, before finally coming out of the hole entirely, its jaws striking at nothing.

Mender had already placed her niece and nephew behind her.

Ungu tilted her head, confused for a moment. Then, without the slightest hint of irony, she looked at her aunt with excitement. "We caught a belly slider!"

"Good find, but, next time, leave it alone," Mender said, trying not to sound too scolding. After all, with Gyors not being that used to relying so much on his sniffer, this was quite an accomplishment.

Gyors began to speak, "It...mmmm... did not…"

He spat out the dangling snake that had occupied his mouth.

"It didn't make much noise, but I smelled something and then Ungu felt something moving in the ground underneath her feet."

"It kind of tickled," she clarified.

"And you didn't bother to tell anyone before you went hunting it?" Mender asked. Even if she were just looking for ground fuzzies, Verant had expected her to let him know what she was doing in case something went wrong.

It was only then that Ugnu looked concerned. "We… um… well we decided to see what it was… and um…"

"I didn't figure it out until Ungu began to drag it up," Gyors clarified, "Um… it's only the head end that has the nasty stuff, right?"

"Yes, but it's attached to the rest of the scaley slider," Mender replied, "It's not something you want to hunt. They're not very big, and they could kill you if they bite you."

Ungu looked chastised for a moment, before quickly reverting to excitement in the way that only a child could. "So since we already killed this one, does that mean we can eat the not-head parts?"

"Hey, Veer, remember that time that you got that one belly slider?"

"Don't remind me, beak-for-brains! My left wing ached for days after that."

"We know; that is why you always veered to the left side!"

The children were suddenly alerted to the presence of the two flyers as Veer tried to give his counterpart a playful snap. They had been so engrossed with the snake they had neglected to consider their immediate surroundings.

Not that that would stop them from taking a closer look.

"Are you Aunt Mender's friends?"

Mender was nearly halfway up the tree as the flyers made a panicked exit from their perch. As much as the flyers' presence had surprised the kids, the kids suddenly sprinting up the tree and talking to them from a wing's-distance away was something else entirely.

Both flyers landed on the ground some distance away, before looking back at the two fastbiters and their adult guardian with bemused expressions. "Holy spiketail shits! Where did you guys come from?"

"Want to rephrase that?" Mender asked irritatedly.

Gyors carefully climbed down the tree and landed on the ground, being mindful of Mender's warning about not re-injuring the eye, as his sister dismounted the tree behind him.

"Um… we climbed?" he offered finally.

Fratus opened his mouth to speak when a certain orange fastbiter spoke from behind them.

"If he were a snake then he would have bitten ya!"

As Mender saw the two flyers scatter into the wind once more, and a triumphant Taunt tail-smile from behind their departing form, she couldn't help but sigh.

How did Verant keep his sanity?

Chomper's voice suddenly cut through Mender's daydreaming as he walked over to where the rest of the pack had gathered. "Well I finally got the kids occupied with something, so I think we can begin the meeting now."

"Does it involve anything I should be worried about?" Mender asked, pretty sure that doing anything other than putting all of the kids in a giant hole could still end in chaos.

"Breeze and Soar are keeping watch over the pack's little shits, so don't worry," Chomper yawned in a display that would have made any leaf-eater descend into a panic, "I'm sure she can keep a watch over them while we talk here."

"Kind of like how we always stayed put when our parents were in a Great Valley Meeting?" Cera mocked.

Littlefoot rolled his eyes. "That is why we will keep this brief. Though we could send another one of us over to keep watch over the kids," upon seeing Taunt mockingly smile Littlefoot added, "Someone who won't make things worse."

It was then that Ducky sat beside Mender, an exhausted look in her eyes, as Leap nodded at her and quickly left to help watch over the pack's children. "Well, I guess we can get started then. We need to help get the other children home."

Littlefoot nodded. "Indeed. Our allies still bleed and yet the enemy is still outside. We need to get them here and assist them before we can do what our alliance demands."

"So when are we going?" Mender asked, almost impatient to do anything to help the rest of her family.

Normally such an outburst of presumptuousness would have invited accusations of insubordination, but in this case there was no real disagreement on the proper course of action.

Cera was the first to speak. "I say we send a delegation tomorrow. That way we can prepare, but we still aren't wasting time."

"We have already waited awhile in order to help the kids, so we should not wait awhile longer," Ruby agreed.

"Do we even need to vote on it?" Littlefoot asked.

He waited for a brief moment as no one said a word or raised an objection. Everyone looked at one another. The decision of the pack was obvious.

"Well vote settled. When we leave?" Petrie asked from above.

"I can go now if someone comes with me," Mender offered. There were still some things her smell-blindness made difficult for her. Navigation was one of them.

"We need to decide on who stays and who goes first," Littlefoot declared as he looked back and forth at his packmates and their guests, "I know that look. And I get it, trust me, I get it. But many of us need to stay here to guard the territory. We don't want to give Wrok a chance to make a move on our lands."

"If he has spy flyers then he may also have killer flyers," Ruby added, "So either Soar or Spotter needs to stay."

"And we need a few chasers, and we need the muscle," Taunt said, pointing at Chomper's massive bulk behind the pack circle, "So how many are we talking about for the mission?"

Littlefoot pondered this for a moment. "We need some healers here, but no more than one or two… but we need as many as possible for the mission…"

Mender was listening intently, not watching what was going on around her. She was surprised to have Cynnil walk in front of where she was sitting, having not realized she was even that close.

"My pack can go."

Not that I disagree, Cynnil, but a little warning would be nice, Mender thought.

The brown fastbiter appeared to stare at the hidden runner for several moments, even though only a brief second went by. His eyes looked as conflicted as they were unreadable.

"What you do with your pack is of course your right, but we are dealing with hidden runner conflicts here. And if I get a message from Ignis then I know of no one I would like more to assist me in carving through the hidden runner speak."

Cynnil paused for a moment, before bowing politely and stepping back to just behind Mender. It was an unspoken agreement to Littlefoot's proposal.

"I can go as a healer," Ducky affirmed, "Leap is good with the kids, but not so good with healing leaves."

"And I can also help with the kids," Breeze added before seeing Spike step up.

Spike nodded. "I can be one of the chasers."

"I guess the orange idiot is right; I need to stay here in order to watch over the territory," Chomper affirmed while giving Taunt what passed for a cheeky grin.

"Me and my mate can work over who does what, but me think she will want to go," Petrie clarified.

Littlefoot nodded. "So we have one healer so far, a chaser, and a flyer. I don't want to send out a team with fewer than three ground members. Not with threats about."

"One? Who said I was staying here?" Mender asked, almost indignant. To her, there was no question about whether she was going.

Littlefoot cocked his tail in an apologetic manner. "My apologies, Mender. I meant no offense." He gave Cynnil a brief glance who gave a nod. "So that's two. Does anyone else…"

"Ready for one more?"

Everyone in the pack suddenly turned their heads at the fastrunner's assertive voice. He stepped out of his place in the back of the circle and gave Cynnil a quick look of confirmation. As soon as he obtained her surprised nod he remained where he was.

"You sure, Orchid?" Mender asked, as surprised as anyone by Orchid's declaration.

The fastrunner nodded. "You agreed to take me in instead of allowing me to go off on my own. Who would I be to deny my help to someone who desperately needs it?"

"Just stay close, alright?" Mender was glad Orchid wanted to help; she just wasn't sure how safe it was for him. "No one we're helping has met you yet, and I don't want an accident."

"Like what happened to me," Nahoda offered helpfully as he and Arial watched from behind Chomper.

"I don't think that was an accident so much as attempted lunch, dear," Arial playfully corrected as she continued to look at her brother with concern.

"Well thankfully someone stopped the attempt," Nahoda offered back, nuzzling her.

"Well…" Littlefoot began, seemingly unsure how to end the meeting, "I guess that is our group. Finder, you will be in charge on the ground, but follow Soar's lead if she gives instructions."

"Yes, sir," Spike affirmed, being mindful of his pack leader's restatement of the pack hierarchy. The insistence on listening to Soar was a deviation from the rankings, but not an unexpected one. After all, eyes in the sky could often see what ground dwellers could not.

Littlefoot sighed. "And we will need to explain this to the kids."

"...And make sure that they do not follow us," Ducky added.

"Let's face it: most of our defenses will be keeping the kids in our territory as much as keeping Wrok out of it," Taunt added with some amusement.

"They are so much like us," Cera deadpanned with no amusement.

"How did any of you survive your childhoods?" Mender asked, suppressing a laugh.

Littlefoot snorted. "We ask ourselves that all the time… but I think we all remember what it was like back then, and we should deal with our kids appropriately."

"Entertain them and then tell them?" Cera asked.

"Oh… someone is looking for an excuse to spar!" Taunt mocked.

"I owe you one for last time, dear!" Cera responded with mock venom, clearly indicating her plan.

Littlefoot gave Mender and Cynnil a little look. "They have got a mock battle thing going on for the kids… so if the kids want to see how things happen next they have to be here to see it."

Cera gave a little strut. "I let him win sometimes, just to keep it interesting for the little ones."

Mender shook her head. I wonder what would happen if Taunt legitimately won. Now that would be something to see.

Littlefoot stepped forward into the center of the circle, signifying the end of the meeting.

"So it is decided then. Healers…"

He gestured towards Mender, Ducky, and Orchid.

"Prepare your plants for the mission. And combatants…"

As if on cure Cera chased after Taunt, effectively bringing the meeting to a close.

Mender immediately left to gather the things she needed. Almost immediately she noticed that Cynnil moved to follow her.

"How long do you think the pack will keep the kids occupied?"

"A couple of days if we're lucky," Mender replied to her pack leader, who was now walking alongside her.

Cynnil nodded. "Well, we have a flyer to help track them down in any case… but I think that a certain niece and nephew might need to be reminded about the issues of peer pressure."

"Just remind them that their parents will be here soon." Mender noticed Cynnil's skeptical look. "Well, it worked on me."

Little did either of them know that the kids already had a conversation in their future.

---

Splash!

Gyors allowed the water to jolt his senses back into something resembling wakefulness. He absolutely hated the pain leaves, but he could not argue with Mender's demand to let her know if he felt too much pain. He would obey his aunt, but that didn't mean that he had to like it.

"Gyors?"

The little fastbiter spun around so quickly that he soon lost his footing. He ended up slamming his tail into the water, sending a torrent all over his sister.

"Um…" He tried to suppress a chuckle but failed miserably. "Sorry, sis!"

He focused on the soaking wet fastbiter as her surprised facial expression turned into one of annoyance. He couldn't have aimed his watery attack any better if he had tried.

His facial expression fell as the void in his vision mocked him. Without any meaningful depth perception he would not be able to aim for much of anything anymore. No playful splashes… no playful pounces… no leaping attacks in a hunt.

"You okay?" Ungu asked, concerned at her brother's fallen expression.

Gyors nodded as he stepped out of the water. "Just thinking about things now that the leaves have worn off."

"I'll get Aunt Mender." Ungu immediately turned to go and do just that.

"No, wait!" Gyors panicked. He did not want to be in the mind haze again.

"Do you want to keep hurting?" Ungu asked, unusually blunt. She didn't like her brother being in pain.

"I'm not hurting. Not yet," Gyors affirmed, "Last time the hurt came later. I was playing that smell game before that, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Ungu replied, "Even with the pain leaves you still do better than me. Showoff."

Gyors allowed himself a slight smile as he gave his sister a playful nudge and pointed at his wound. "Well you have me beat here. So I guess we're even."

"So, what did you think of those flyers?" Ungu asked, intentionally changing the subject. Her brother's last statement had been a bit too close to home.

Gyors sighed. "They seemed nice enough. I think that I scared one of them, but I don't know why… he was huge!"

"Well, that flyer from here that visited us... What was his name... Spotter?" Ungu hated how much trouble she had remembering who everyone was. "He didn't like being on the ground around Daddy, and they're friends. I guess flyers just don't like being on the ground."

"Well their flying is their strength. Remember what Daddy says about strengths?"

Both of the younglings recited their father's saying from memory, "Everything has a strength and a flaw, knowing both can play into your claws."

"And a flyer can't smell good," Gyors noted from memory, not noticing his sister's flinch, "Maybe those flyers couldn't smell us and didn't know if we were angry or not?"

"Gyors..." Ungu shook her head in exasperation. "You don't need your sniffer to tell if someone's angry. How you talk and act makes it easy to tell."

Gyors took on a slight tail-smile as he ignored the beginnings of pain reentering his mind. "So what am I feeling right now?"

He intentionally made his entire body go slack, showing no emotion at all. He made his entire body a mask, only letting his smells do the talking.

Ungu nearly panicked for a moment before smirking. "Wet." She slapped her tail into the water hard enough to sting, soaking her unsuspecting sibling.

"Hey!" Gyors protested as he showered her in water by shaking the water off of his scaly body.

Ungu started to laugh but almost immediately choked on it. She froze, barely remembering to signal to her brother there was movement in the weeds in front of her.

Gyors went rigid in an instant, before quickly going to her side. The wind was blowing away from them, hiding the scents of their pursuers. It was an ambush.

That was when he focused on the rustling grass. It was being made by something small… something their size.

Something they could fight.

Gyors went into a crouch, knowing that any attempt at hiding would not work here as they had already been found. Their only option was to launch the attack and hope for the best. Giving a slight twitch of his left hand to his sister to charge on his command, he prepared to unleash his fury upon the hidden runner scum.

"Whoa! It's us, Gyors! Calm down!"

Ungu was surprised to see Biter appear, but she hid it behind a glare that made it clear that if her brother gave the order she'd rush him regardless of his placating gestures.

A flash of orange and black appeared beside Biter's diplomatic form, as did the unique form of the rose-colored youngling.

"Guys, that's not funny!" Gyors protested finally before shaking his head and sighing. The dull pain was now getting a bit stronger, and he knew that a pain leaf was in his future.

"Gyors can't see on that side, you jerks!" Ungu snapped almost before Gyors finished speaking.

The trio quickly lowered their tails in a shamed gesture. Pounce took a step back, whereas Swipe lowered her head in a submissive gesture. Only Biter maintained eye contact.

"We're sorry," he spoke for the entire small group, "We uh… we kind of sneak up on one another all the time. Dad says it helps us stay on alert."

"My dad said never to do that unless everyone knows you're playing a game first. If something's sneaking up on us, and we're not playing, we act as if it's dangerous until we know it's not," Gyors explained. Beside him, Ungu was trying to stifle a laugh, thinking of how bad her brother was at following that rule.

"Well…" Pounce raised his tail playfully. "Doing that kind of ruins the surprise."

"I really don't like surprises," Ungo said.

Gyors raised his hand to rub the skin above his now non-existent eye, before remembering what Mender had told him about removing the special leaves. "The last surprise I had wasn't really a fun one," Gyors deadpanned.

Ungu was about to ask her brother about whether his injury was bothering him again when she saw a fastbiter a bit beyond the newcomers. She tensed for a moment before realizing who it was.

"How are things, children?"

In a flurry of feathers and feet the trio of fastbiters hurled themselves into the air and, upon landing, scampered off into the weeds. It was only a few seconds later that three feathered heads peaked through the tall grass behind their guests.

Gyors couldn't help but get in the last word. "I see what you guys mean about surprises. This is quite fun."

"We're fine, ma'am," Ungu responded respectfully.

Pounce, Biter, and Swipe only know re-entered the scene as they half-sneaked to Gyors side, trying not to show their embarrassment at having been spooked by Breeze's arrival.

"Well at least everyone's legs seem to work," Breeze offered with some amusement, "In time maybe you three will decide to be pack chasers."

"Breeze!" all three protested in annoyance.

Ungu started a bit, surprised the other kids would address an adult simply by her name.

Breeze laughed at the response. "Anyway, children, I am here to talk to Ungu a bit. Would you care to lead Gyors to Lookout Hill? I think he might enjoy watching the sparring match."

"Sparring!" Swipe jumped excitedly.

"Who is it today?" Biter jumped and landed on Pounce before jumping off him again in a seemingly unconscious reaction.

"I bet it's Mom and Dad!" Pounce replied as he shook the dust off of his body and gave his friend a glare, "If it's not fight day then it is usually them that fight."

Breeze nodded. "Correct, Pounce. Stern Claw decided that our guests should see one of our pack's traditions… and also your Dad tied a fire leaf to her tail again."

Pounce laughed. "That's our Daddy!"

Gyors gave his sister a look that said it all. This pack is insane.

Sounds like the adults still like to act like they're kids, Ungu thought. She couldn't imagine her parents playing those kinds of pranks on each other. Wait, why does Miz Breeze want to talk to me alone?

Gyors was nearly knocked over as the other kids practically dragged him away. "Let's go, Gyors! You have got to see this!"

Gyors was momentarily disoriented before he caught the excitement of the other kids and proceeded to run where they were leading him.

"See you at the spar, sis!"

Wait, what? One moment her brother was beside her, the next Ungu was alone. What could I have done wrong? They said I wasn't in trouble earlier, and I haven't done anything Mommy would be mad about today.

"They didn't spook you too badly, did they?"

"No, ma'am," Ungu replied, now very confused, "Did I do something wrong?"

Breeze's eyes went wide. "No. Did you think that you were in trouble?"

"My mom only makes sure I'm alone when I'm in trouble, and..." Ungu shrugged helplessly. "I don't know all your rules."

Breeze was careful to lower herself in order to make the size difference less noticeable as she gave Ungu a reassuring tail-smile. "You have done nothing wrong, Ungu. I just wanted to ask you about some things without our little ones nipping at your tail."

Ungu immediately turned to look at her tail to see if it had been bitten.

"It's a figure of speech, dear. Often the little ones make any kind of serious conversation impossible." Breeze chuckled. "Especially when those three are involved."

She continued, "How is your brother doing?"

"His eye still hurts. Um, I mean..." Ungu stuttered, "Where his eye was. Where he got hurt."

Breeze nodded. "And he has been trying to hide that?"

"He doesn't like the pain leaves."

"I can understand why. They kind of take you out of it," Breeze agreed with a nod of the head, "Mender says that he can use half leaves now. It is time to wean him off."

"He'll be happy to hear that," Ungu replied. She halted an attempt to continue when she saw Breeze's expression. "Ma'am?"

"The pack made a decision today concerning your pack. We are going to send an expedition to help them along the way." Breeze looked at the little biter kindly. "Mender, Haven, Soar, and my mate are going to see what they can do."

"I will be taking over Gyors' treatment," she added.

"Oh." Ungu didn't know what else to say. Why are you telling just me? Doesn't Gyors need to know too?

Breeze detected her unspoken question. "Mender is going to tell him herself, but I thought that you should know as well. We want to make sure that you understand what is going on. And it is important that if there are any problems that you let me know right away, okay?"

"Okay..."

Breeze detected the hesitation in Ungu's voice. "Is something wrong, dear?"

"No, everything's fine," Ungu replied a bit hurriedly. She didn't like how Breeze was looking at her.

The gray fastbiter continued to stare at the little biter for a moment before breaking eye contact and silently sniffing the air. The scent and rapid response appeared to confirm her suspicions. She was not getting the full answer.

And she already suspected why.

"Our pack used to have a member who was mostly smell-blind."

"W-what?" Ungu stammered, taking a couple of steps back. How'd she know? How'd she know?

Breeze closed her eyes. She had hoped that she was wrong.

"Yep! She tried to hide it from us, but we helped her use what smell she had. She just needed to learn to trust us and to let others know when she needed help." She tried to act nonchalant about this information as she gave Ungu a smile. "Not all injuries are as obvious as a lost eye."

"I know," Ungu muttered to herself. She started looking for a place she could dart to and not be followed; the ground swallowing her up would be nice, too.

Breeze continued as if nothing was wrong. "She is so good at using her other skills that you can't notice that she's smell-blind now. Not unless you really know what you are looking for."

"She's still alive?" Ungu asked, shocked.

Breeze raised her tail in a happy manner. "Yep! Though I don't think I should let you know who she is unless she tells me to tell you. But she is very much alive and going on adventures with her new pack to this very day."

She tilted her head. "Is there anything that you want to tell me, Ungu?"

"Don't tell Mom and Dad, please," Ungu begged, embarrassed beyond what she thought was possible.

Breeze nodded and gave Ungu a reassuring nudge. It was probably good that Ungu didn't recognize her scent well because she was now quite concerned. Your parents don't know?

"I can't understand scents," Ungu finally admitted, "I can't even tell who is who at night if they're not looking at me."

Breeze let out the breath she was holding. She had to be careful here. She didn't want to distress the poor girl any more than she already was.

"So you smell the scents, but you don't understand them? As in you can't tell them apart?"

Ungu nodded her head dejectedly.

Breeze nudged her again. "Hey, take it easy. At least you can smell the scents, so you have won half the battle. Someone simply needs to help you win the other half. We cannot fix a problem until we admit that a problem exists."

"How can you fix this?" Ungu asked, "It feels like it gets worse every day."

Breeze tilted her head. "Do you think that is because you are finding it harder to identify things, or simply that your siblings are getting better at it?"

"I... I don't know." Being honest with herself, Ungu had to admit that she'd just stopped trying after a while. Why try when I'm just going to lose anyway?

"Well… then that will the first part of your treatment. Your brother is quite good at the 'sniffing game' and he really needs it now with his lost eye. So you two could help one another as you both improve." She gave Ungu another nudge. "But Ungu… you really do need to tell your parents at some point. They love you. They care for you. But they cannot help you unless they know that there is a problem."

"They can't know!" Ungu practically shrieked in panic, "They'd be so disappointed. What good is being fast if you can't find what you're running after?" All of Ungu's siblings, as well as Ungu herself, tried to stand out, to be good at something. To stand out from your many siblings for the wrong reasons, though...

"We all have strengths and weaknesses, Ungu. A good packmate helps to share their strengths with others and allows others to help address their weaknesses." Breeze nudged her again. "A pack is more than each of its individuals. It is like a body. And a body can only be healthy when all of its parts work together."

"No pack's gonna want me," Ungu said with a sigh, "No one tries to be sick." A thought suddenly occurred to her. "Is that smell-blind friend of yours even real?" she asked, suddenly a bit suspicious. It can't be as easy as she makes it sounds. I tried. Nothing ever got better.

Breeze closed her eyes. Please forgive me for this, Mender, but we can't have her doubting now.

"You can ask your Aunt Mender about that. She seems real enough to me."

"W-w-what? That's impossible!" Ungu protested. Mom and Dad never said anything about Aunt Mender being smell-blind. And her hidden runner friends wouldn't want someone that can't smell with them. Most of the kids back home didn't want me on their team when we did those big smelling practices. I wonder why we never did that with chasing?

Breeze continued, "Oh it's possible. Remember what I said about a pack being like a body? If you can't be the pack's nose then you could be its ears like Mender. Or its claws like Stern Claw. Or its brain like Seeker. Or its feet like me. You and your brother just need to find your path, and you have your whole childhood to do so."

"C-could I talk to Aunt Mender? Please?" Ungu asked, afraid her question would offend Breeze but needing to know if what the grey fastbiter was saying was the truth.

Breeze sighed and nodded. "She is preparing for her trip while Stern Claw and Taunt entertain all of you kids. But I will see if she has time after the spar is over."

You may not be in trouble, Ungu, but I don't think I can say the same for myself.

---

"You told her what?" Mender nearly shouted, glaring at Breeze, "Why would you ever do that?"

Breeze took a deep breath. This was pretty much going as expected.

"Mender… have you considered that your sniffer problem might be a family thing?"

"Breeze, I don't have a mate, and, as much as I wish I did, I don't have kids. So how could it be a family thing?"

Breeze almost wished that she had feathers like her mate so that she could groom them and calm her nerves. "I mean that you had to get it from somewhere, and sometimes things skip a generation, like my grey color. What if your scent-blindness was like that?"

"Wha... why are you asking about this?" Mender asked, "None of Verant's kids are smell-blind. I checked. Repeatedly. To the point Staza got annoyed with me."

Breeze frowned. "Mender, Ungu told me that she has problems telling scents apart." She took a breath. "She hid it from her parents and siblings, and I had to give her hope somehow. You are that hope." You don't need to know that she thought she was broken. Talking to her was kind of like talking to a little version of you.

"Where is she?" Mender asked, having forced herself to calm down, "And how did you find out she was having a problem?"

Breeze grew tense. "Right now she is enjoying the little show Taunt and Stern Claw are putting on."

"You mean Stern Claw showing how many ways Taunt can be hurt?" Mender asked, trying to cut down the tension between the two of them.

Breeze understood her attempt and responded in kind. "Now, Mender, you know that he sometimes gets a few blows in… As for how I found out about Ungu it was something that she said about being bad at the sniffer game."

"Really? I wasn't the only one back when I was with my parents that wasn't good at that game." Mender suddenly gave Breeze a suspicious look. "You didn't just ask her if she was smell-blind, did you?"

"She is not smell-blind, but she cannot tell people apart in the dark," Breeze clarified, "She smells the scents, but cannot tell them apart. It is like in the color stone test you have for those who can see but not understand color. She smells scents but does not tell them apart."

"How'd that happen?" Mender asked, now very confused, "I can't smell all that far at all, so my brother didn't know there was anything for me to learn. But if she can smell..."

"Exactly. And since her brother is good at the game I think some simple exercises can help us test her abilities. But first she needs some confidence." Breeze smiled with her tail. "She wants to talk to you after the little spar."

Mender looked away from her friend for a moment, thinking. "Why didn't you just tell me you thought something was wrong with my niece?" Mender asked, managing to remain completely in control until the end of her sentence, "I could've helped."

Breeze looked down. "I didn't want to worry you if I ended up being wrong. You have more than enough to worry about right now."

"Breeze, this is my family. I need to know everything, even if it turns out to be nothing. What if you'd been completely right about what you thought was wrong?"

"I kind of told Ungu the same thing," Breeze admitted, "I guess I should have followed my own advice."

Mender just nodded in agreement. "You sure you don't want to trade places with me? I kinda went through this once already."

Breeze placed her hand on Mender's shoulder. "I appreciate that you trust me with finding your family, but you are the best healer among us. Ungu will still be here when you get back."

Mender shook her head, chuckling. "What is with everyone and lying? I'm not the best. I know of at least two better than me, and I'm talking to one of them."

"You surpassed us long ago, Mender. There is a reason why the swimmers still use your name to mean healer."

"Are you sure it wasn't because they already have a word meaning 'haven'?" Mender joked, trying to hide her embarrassment.

Breeze took her deflection for what it was and quickly changed the subject. "Speaking of Haven she is at the spar to treat Taunt if Stern Claw decides to change his name to 'Bite Mark'. I just hope that he knows that your family doesn't appreciate strong language."

"I'm going to remind him," Mender replied before turning to head to the sparring match, her tone suggesting that her reminder might be even less pleasant for Taunt than the sparring match.

Breeze decided to follow her former student. "Remember what the rainbowfaces told us! First, healer, do no harm!"

---

Hidden runner territory:

Savory. Sweet. Hearty. Many words could be used to describe the meal that they were enjoying at that moment. Red fish and cave flyer eggs were both delicacies meant for the best hunters or for the leaders of a pack. But on this day the meal tasted as bland as a spiketail's backside.

A meal was only as good as the circumstances of its consumption.

Ignis turned from her meal to look at the stricken mother that she had allowed into her personal den. Her body was covered in scrapes from her headlong sprint through branches and thorns, but those injuries paled in comparison to the injuries that could not be seen. The loss of her mate and children.

"Ma'am, you need to eat," Penol said, trying to strike a balance between being understanding and making sure the poor female's health didn't deteriorate. She started to say something further but thought better of it.

The female shook at Penol's words. It was only with the most difficult of movements that she accepted the offered fish and tried to nibble at it, nearly choking in the process. Her dry throat trying to resist Penol's overtures.

When she finally did eat part of the tail she looked up at Penol. "Why are you bothering to help a wretched thing like me?" She looked away with more than a little shame. "I am not important."

Ignis was about to rise and protest when she felt her mate's hand touch her on the shoulder, reminding her that once she finished eating that was the sign for everyone else to finish. She reluctantly sat down. This was Penol's situation to correct.

Penol forced herself to not let her emotions overcome her; it would just make the situation worse. "You bled for the packs," she said, offering a hand to the unfortunate guest, "You're important; otherwise you wouldn't be here. Now please eat." Penol's tone left no room for contradiction.

Though the female seemed to doubt Penol's words she did as she was instructed. After all, one did not disobey family of the Leader.

While she could tell that she hadn't convinced the other female, Penol was just glad she was eating. With that accomplished Penol returned to the other part of her job.

Ignis watched with satisfaction as her cousin calmed the poor female. Though she had offered her sanctuary in her domain, an almost unprecedented step, her station in life prevented her from taking a more active role in comforting her subjects. Thankfully there was another one of her family willing and able to take the burden.

There was a reason she chose Penol for this training position.

"This is a wonderful bit of deflection, Great Leader. Sometimes the only way to forestall bad omens is to create omens of your own."

Ignis closed her eyes for a moment as she took a deep breath. Dravos, not now.

Dravos did not appear to hear her thoughts as he continued whispering. "Fate cannot have left you if you are the compassionate one."

Ignis did her best to maintain her magnanimous and careful facade as she whispered into his ear, "I didn't do this for appearance sake, Dravos. Regardless, you had better hope that it works and Wrok does not take my scrape. I don't think Wrok will have any qualms about bashing you with a rock."

She continued to watch Penol provide new eggs to the assembled children and her mates as Dravos went oddly silent for several moments.

"Of course, ma'am."

Ignis allowed herself an internal smirk. Sometimes it was good to have the last word.

---

I'm glad we're helping her, but this could get awkward, Penol thought as she finished handing out the eggs, If the kids start asking her questions... Dismissing those thoughts for the time being she walked over to Ignis to see if she wanted anything else.

"Is there anything else you would like, ma'am?" Penol asked Ignis. She noticed that, not surprisingly, Ignis had what Penol thought of as her leader face on. Ignis always feels a bit fake when she's like this, Penol thought, It's a bit weird, but it doesn't feel creepy like Dravos does. Just being in the same area as him... yikes. There was a reason she'd been trying to find every excuse to be as far from Dravos as possible while not looking like she was trying to avoid him. Unfortunately, his close proximity to Ignis made this very, very difficult.

"One red fish would be fine. I am sure the young ones would prefer to have the last of the eggs," Ignis responded assertively as her station demanded. She then almost inaudibly added "please" as it would be scandalous for the others to hear her request, as opposed to order, food.

But there were some ways that Ignis decided to keep even if only those who were close to her were able to see them.

"As you wish, ma'am." Penol bowed and turned to retrieve the fish as ordered, moving slightly faster than was entirely appropriate.

"How are your studies going, dear cousin?" Penol nearly stumbled when Ignis spoke in a familiar tone once the order had been made, "You have been learning under Talus over the last few days, have you not?"

"Yes, ma'am," Penol replied, her tone betraying that she'd been caught off-balance. I really wish she wouldn't do that. I never know how to behave when she acts familiar while I'm doing my job.

Ignis gave her a smile before whispering, "We shall talk after dinner." This was followed by two taps on the ground with her foot. "Would any of you children like more eggs?"

What followed was a scene that was something between precious and an absolute farce. As the children could not rise and shout their desire for eggs with dignified guests present, they resorted to looking at one another before thumping with their feet loudly. The result was an undignified torrent of chaotic sounds that yet still followed the established protocol.

While they're not behaving wrong, Penol thought with a mental laugh, I don't think this is what was intended by their etiquette teachers.

As she tended to the children she did not see the weary look on Ignis's face.

---

It had taken longer than a typical meal in the Leader's Den, but Penol had finally picked up the last remnants of the night's meal. Though her work would begin early the next morning, Penol allowed herself to feel satisfaction at her work.

"You're… not like the others."

Penol froze for a moment, barely keeping herself from jumping in startlement. She'd completely forgotten Ignis's guest was still present, the female having been unnaturally quiet for some time. "Ma'am?" Penol finally asked once she regained her composure.

"You're not like the others. Then… neither is she or her first mate. They..." The female shook her head. "I'm sorry. Please don't listen to my ramblings."

"What do you mean?" Penol asked, curiosity getting the better of her, "About me being different, I mean."

The female rubbed her head as if tending some old injury for several moments before finally answering in hushed tones. "The Proper Ways and the Special Ways. Those are the things that we common runners lack. But both you and her know how to live without those ways, don't you? I can see it in your eyes. And I saw it in hers when her children thumped the ground like it was a belly slider."

Penol couldn't hide her mortification. Where Ignis was concerned, there was nothing she could say in reply that would be even remotely appropriate. Explaining that the Great Leader was a bit of a rebel herself just wasn't done. As for herself, the truth simply wasn't pleasant.

"Not so loud," Penol hissed in reply despite both of them barely being able to hear each other.

The female quickly crumpled to the ground in a submissive gesture.

"Sorry," Penol said before carefully moving to sit beside the other hidden runner, "Could you tell me your name? Mine's Penol."

"Prizo," she replied weakly. At the other hidden runner's kind gesture she began to calm again. "I was mated to Hemlock, the son of Maltoy. But no one you need worry about. No one of rank."

"Hm, guess we're the same then," Penol replied.

Prizo looked up, surprised. "What do you mean?" Nobody is made a Chosen Assistant without having family ties.

Prizo watched in fascination as Penol seemed to look for her words. Despite her enormous tragedy. The loss of her mate and the eggs which would never hatch, she had found hope in the kindness of a stranger. A Leader of the Packs she had simultaneously always known, yet never known, since her ascension. A constant figure who bathed everyone else in her glow.

What she had found in this sanctuary was a level of, dare she think it, earthiness that she thought was only the hallmark of the common hidden runner. But yet seeing her Leader have common traits made her more worthy of loyalty in her eyes. Fate had given them a leader who could understand their needs.

Penol sighed. "I was just a common hidden runner until Ignis became the Great Leader. M-my family was disgraced."

Prizo's eyes went wide, but she said nothing. The taint of disgrace did not fade after two generations was what she had always been told. Surely the infraction was minor?

Penol forced herself to continue. "My mother mated far below her rank," she explained, "Her parents weren't happy."

Prizo bowed her head, not wanting to ask her question verbally.

"They omitted her from the family song," Penol said in answer to Prizo's unspoken question before turning her head away.

Prizo took a deep breath, not really being ready to say what was on her mind. "And Our Leader did not look at you any differently. She did not judge you by rank."

It was not a question and Penol knew it.

"Well, she called me her cousin when she offered me this position," Penol said, "I still can't believe I'm here sometimes."

Prizo took a deep breath, not quite comprehending what she was hearing. "Forgive me, High Born, but that must be quite a story."

Penol nodded with some apprehension, "That is quite the understatement."

Penol did not know what to do other than stay out of everyone else's way. Most of the other members of her family didn't actually consider her to be family, so she found herself standing at the back of the crowd hoping the others would forget she was there as much as they were trying to pretend she wasn't.

"Loyal packmates, the Leader will now address you!"

As if on cue everyone stood more rigid, as if being inspected by a Deputy. Not really thinking, Penol tried her best to replicate the expression.

That was when her cousin's features became visible from the top of the hill. Imperious eyes looking down upon the crowd as two other hidden runners stood at either side. One holding a sweet bubble, a sign of fertility, and the other holding a thorny vine. At this point in time she had no idea how fitting Dravos's gesture truly was.

I know I'm not doing anything important in this, Penol thought, but is it really too much for someone to explain to me what is going on?

"My fellow packmates, I stand before you on this day in order to make choices. Choices that will affect my scape in the same way that your chosen Deputies have affected our packs. One of the duties of a leader, and one in which the opinions of her people is most important…"

Ignis's eyes locked on to Penol's for one moment before she turned towards one of her guards, giving him a slight nod.

"...For this reason your grievance speakers, which your packs have selected, shall be welcome in my morning meetings. I do not fear hearing the thoughts of my people."

I wish I could say the same, Penol thought. She suddenly stiffened when she unexpectedly felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Follow."

What did I do wrong this time? Penol, thought, trying not to panic, This is why I didn't want to be here. I don't know what I'm doing. Despite being rather worried, she didn't bother to try to flee or resist. It wouldn't have done any good and probably would have made whatever trouble she'd gotten herself into far worse.

She followed the large male as the crowd parted, greeting her with a mixture of critical glances and intentional disinterest. Thinking that she had shamed her already disgraced line she much preferred the disinterest. It was all that she deserved.

Suddenly the crowd appeared to part as Penol realized that she was now in the front of the crowd. Now nothing was hiding her from the full scrutiny of everyone present.

"But for those who shall learn the Special Ways, I can think of only one choice. One who has never experienced the Ways, but who was hatched to them. One who has the heart of an Elect, but who never lusted for power. One who could only be chosen by my word."

Wait, what's going on? Penol thought, now very confused.

"My cousin will step forward."

Who? Penol wondered, not thinking the Leader could possibly mean her.

That was when she felt the slight push of the guard, his expression almost apologetic. He had grabbed a Low Hatched and had ended up summoning family of the Leader.

Penol stepped forward awkwardly, not entirely sure what she was supposed to do beyond that. Despite the fact that she walked quickly to her cousin's presence the walk felt like it took ages. It was only when Ignis gave the slightest nod of her head that Penol practically fell to the ground.

Silence fell upon her for several moments. In the assembled crowd no one said a word.

"Penol, my cousin, arise."

Penol got up hurriedly, concentrating on getting up without embarrassing herself further. She hadn't meant to get to the ground quite that quickly.

That was when she felt her cousin's hand on her shoulder.

I died back there, right? Penol thought, unable to believe the Great Leader would actually touch her, This is just doesn't happen to me.

"Penol, you are to be trained in our ways as our assistant," Ignis gestured at herself and the two in her entourage before gesturing to her to face the crowd.

Penol looked back at the crowd, her mind having not quite caught up with what was going on around her.

"Observe, packs. I present to you Penol, my first assistant. May Fate guide her."

Thunder seemed to echo around her as the crowd began to beat the ground rhythmically with their clawed feet, assaulting the daylight with their salute. As Penol's mind shut down against the incomprehensible sight she was only sure of one thing. Her life would no longer be the same.

"How… how did your mother take the news?"

Penol nearly jumped at the other female's words. "To put it mildly, she was thrilled. My grandparents, not so much."

Prizo tilted her head. "They were not thrilled at being freed from their disavowal? I can't imagine how good it must be to regain a child again… I..." She grew silent as the reality of her situation once again threatened to hit her full force.

"Well, the only reason I even knew they were my grandparents was because my mom had to explain why I didn't have any family related to her," Penol said, not wanting Prizo to become depressed again, "We actually talk now. I'm still trying to figure out how the first time I saw them was the first time they knew I existed."

"And… does your mother have her parents again?" Prizo asked after a pause.

"Some of her siblings are happy to be able to talk with her again, but she and her parents just don't seem to know how to act around each other anymore. Which I can't figure out, because sometimes my grandfather is visibly happy to see me."

Prizo laughed slightly. "It is a hard thing to admit to wrong especially when one's pride is at stake, Younger One; sometimes it is easier to show an apology than it is to say it. Reminds me of a certain male I used to know..." Her expression turned somewhat melancholy though the smirk was still there, "I think he would have liked you."

"So what was it like having a fastbiter pair in your territory?" Penol asked after a pause.

"Oh Serious Eyes and Momma Claws? For fastbiters they were nice… though one had to fight the urge to run off whenever you saw Verant staring at you through the bushes." She gave Penol a look when she realized that she was a bit confused. "You will understand when you have eggs, dear. Even fastbiters are a bit protective of the little ones."

"So they kept their kids away from the pack?" Penol asked, still confused.

Prizo nodded, "At first. When they decided to let them play with the little ones that was when Creepy Eyes earned his nickname. Though his creepy eyes protected us from Questor's stinking pack. Until finally he couldn't."

"Somehow I think he might find us creepy," Penol replied, thinking on what she'd heard from reporting scouts about how other dinosaurs reacted to hidden runners.

"They… it took a long while for him to trust us," Prizo agreed after a pause, "He took exception to those who would 'blend into the grass like a field of egg-stealers' but he made an exception for friends of Seeker. If it hadn't been for that then we would have moved on to safer rivers."

"So that's what Verant was like. What were the others like?" Penol asked, fascinated.

As the two females chatted with one another, each in rapt attention of the thoughts of the other, they did not notice the eyes gleaming in the light of the outer cave. It was an inquisitive pair of eyes. The eyes of someone with a sudden idea.

Dravos left the cave without a word. He had work to do.

---

Wrok's territory:

"So you are telling me that all three scouting parties were murdered and none of you stinking, worthless morons could even find out where they went?"

"We have a good idea which way they were heading when the scouts were killed, judging by where they were killed," Bluntbeak replied, doing his best to remain respectful, "If they changed direction after that..." He shrugged helplessly.

Wrok stormed past Bluntbeak, leaving both him and Greenshade in his wake. He let out a sigh of relief when he realized that he was not the target of Wrok's fury.

"Well? What do you have to say?"

Bluntbeak barely resisted the urge to look back to keep track of what was going on. Judging by Greenshade's nudging him to remind him not to look back, he was starting to think she could read his mind.

"We did not pursue, sir… because we wanted to check for new orders. We did not think that…"

"Exactly! You did not think! And now you have eight dead scouts and nothing to show for it but your hide. How do you think that looks to me? How do you think it looks to the two scouts who are still standing at attention while you shake like a fucking youngling?"

Sounds like these guys are about to get demoted, Bluntbeak thought, cringing in sympathy. The only way to get back in the leader's good graces would require a very high chance of death, probably by trying to kill the fastbiters Wrok was so angry about.

It was then that the other deputy spoke. "I will personally lead another mission, sir! With these two scouts I am sure that we can find them again!"

And quite possibly die, Bluntbeak thought grimly, We'll need more than the small groups we've been sending out so far.

"Tell me, Deputy, what do you think the purpose of your mission?"

"To kill the fastbiters, sir!"

"Not the literal mission. The actual mission. Do you know?" Only silence answered Wrok's question. "Do any of you know? If so then answer now."

To do the job that idiot Questor can't? Bluntbeak thought.

"To show our enemies what we are capable of and to discourage Questor from challenging you, sir!" Greenshade practically shouted as she stared forward, not daring to move. In that instant Bluntbeak had no idea if she had answered correctly or had invited the leader's wrath.

The sound of slow footsteps greeted Bluntbeak's ears as Wrok walked between his two scouts, briefly looking at each of them. "Bluntbeak."

"Sir!" Bluntbeak replied, stiffening even more.

"Do you agree with your comrade's assessment?"

"Yes, sir," Bluntbeak replied, deciding not to voice his doubts about Questor's competence.

Wrok smiled slightly. "And what else would you like to share with me?"

"I have doubts about Questor's competence as a leader, sir," Bluntbeak replied.

Wrok walked closer to Bluntbeak until he was beak to beak with his inferior, staring him directly in the eyes. "I see where you earned your name. But you are not wrong." He then walked passed him as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

I've got to hide my emotions better, Bluntbeak thought, relieved.

"Greenshade you have proven your competence. You are to take Aldarek's place as Deputy. Do you still approve of your partner?"

"Yes, sir."

Thanks for the endorsement, Bluntbeak thought.

Wrok nodded. "Then you may keep him. You will need a messenger to me," he gave Bluntbeak a glance, "And that is the one job where talking is not a disadvantage."

I am glad you approve, sir, Bluntbeak thought sarcastically.

"As for you, Deputy Cornal, you are to keep your position. You actually tried to use a messenger to alert me before fleeing the field."

"Thank you, sir."

There was silence for a few moments as Bluntbeak continued to stare forward. Undoubtedly Wrok was deciding what to do with his demoted deputy.

"You shall take Bluntbeak's place as scout under your new deputy. Now get out of my sight."

A choked breath, something between a gasp and a sob could be heard.

"Now!"

Bluntbeak hurriedly sidestepped to avoid being knocked over by the panicked hidden runner as he fled, not caring that Bluntbeak was in the way.

"Face me. None of you are scouts anymore, and we don't have time for nonsense."

Bluntbeak and Greenshade turned at the same time so Wrok was now in front of them. The three other remaining deputies, his chosen killers, having been waved forward, now joined the meeting. The three sentinels of death had vines on their necks, a symbol of their loyalty and a mark of what they had done to the previous pack.

Wrok wasted no time in becoming animated as he began to speak.

"Our assault was marvelous and our ally is firmly in our debt, but we have failed to push the advantage. This leaves us vulnerable if our ally chooses to make further changes to his loyalties. This needs to be addressed."

Short of killing Questor we'd have to sit and watch him constantly, Bluntbeak thought, wondering where Wrok was going with this, Not a very useful ally if you have to treat him like a hatchling.

"Should we kill him, sir?" one of the vine covered three asked matter-of-factly.

Wrok gave a wave of the hand. "That would only invite another to try the same. Questor is safe until fate decides otherwise. But we must show that fate still favors us. And as Questor has failed in his efforts to kill the remnants we lose nothing in changing the definition of victory."

This made Greenshade tilt her head. "Sir?"

Wrok seemed pleased by the confusion for some reason. "Right now the so-called Leader who has defiled our people is laughing at how many we have lost in going after one fastbiter. She thinks this means that we are weak. This gives other packs the motivation to potentially join any hunt against us… but we can shift the tides."

How?

"We have thirty hidden runners of scout rank. That should be more than enough for a bit of opportunistic hunting." Wrok took a familiar orange root and crushed it with a rock. "How many two-footers have the scouts tracked today, Greenshade? By scent I mean."

"Three families, sir," Greenshade replied readily, having remembered the earlier scouting reports.

"And two fastbiter packs," Wrok added as he grabbed a spear and dipped it into the red sap, "The flyers can give the Orange Death to the two-footers at night… you four will see to it that none of the younglings survive. When the packs come for the free meal… well… just make sure to add some more orange to the red food. After tonight who would not dare fear us?"

And probably want to kill us, Bluntbeak thought, This could go very wrong.

"Won't this make all of the packs want to attack us, sir?" his partner, now boss, asked. It was obvious that Greenshade followed the logic, but not the purpose.

Wrok nodded. "Exactly. But when the Hand of Fate is moving many wait until they know who is going to be crushed in its grasp. If we don't want to be on the receiving end then we need to strike first."

"Seeker will already be moving against us. Best to remove any friends he might have in our territory, and to make any others think twice," one of the vine-covered deputies agreed.

But if things shift against us... Bluntbeak wondered, Well, we'll simply have to make sure that never happens.

"Alright, you all have your orders. Any questions?"

Greenshade appeared ready to speak when four other voices cried out 'no, sirs' in unison.

Wrok nodded. "Good, let's turn this unfortunate setback into another victory. Dismissed."

Bluntbeak turned to leave, following Greenshade. "So, how do you think we should handle those fastbiters if we run into them again?" Bluntbeak asked, not wanting to dwell on the contents of the meeting.

Greenshade turned towards her partner with an almost dumbfounded expression. It was only then that he realized just how much had changed for them both.

Of all of the voices to answer Bluntbeak had never expected Wrok's. "May I borrow your messenger for a moment, Greenshade?"

Greenshade froze for a moment, her mind appearing to shut down. "Yes. Yes, sir."

"Excellent. It will only be a moment."

This can't be good, Bluntbeak thought, freezing for a moment, Does he still have that Orange Death? Did I do something wrong? He forced himself to calm down and turn towards Wrok. Wrok wouldn't kill or demote me right after giving me a new job, right?

"Sir?"

Wrok smiled a moment. "I think I have my first message for you, Bluntbeak. It is time that I send a message to an old friend."

---

Seeker's territory:

"Ha! You have to be faster than that to catch me, Stern Face!"

"Arghh… you are going to have another scar by the time I'm done with you!"

I know they're playing, but they sure don't act like they're playing, Ungu thought, Ugh, I wish I knew what these smells were telling me.

Taunt quickly dodged his mate's attempt to bite his neck as he struck out at her undefended chest. In the resulting tussle Stern Claw was nearly thrown into the audience of children, causing a torrent of little fuzz balls and flyers to move like a school of fish disrupted by a shark. This earned a fair number of taunts from the audience on the other side of the 'fighting circle'.

"Ha! Taunt is playing pinecone with Stern Claw!" Biter mocked, ignoring the glare from his sister once she got situated once more.

Pounce rolled his eyes. "You want to be the main attraction in the second match, don't you?"

Biter strutted arrogantly. "If Swipe is brave enough to face me again."

Ambush chuckled. "I bet a ground fuzzy that Mr. Biter gets swiped!"

"You're on!"

The children soon settled down as the adults began to circle once more. With Taunt's point he was within striking distance of evening the score.

At least the other kids are easier for me to figure out, Ungu thought, chuckling at the previous chaos, How does Aunt Mender do this?

"Look out!"

"Eep!" Ungu dashed out of the way to avoid being crushed by Taunt.

Only to feel herself rising into the air as a sudden pressure was felt on the back of her neck. Taunt ended up falling where the little biter was moments before.

"Urgh… Well, Mender's above me; that can't be good."

Ungu felt her body being lowered back to the ground as a rather familiar voice echoed from behind her.

"If Ungu had been hit then it really wouldn't have been good. For either of you."

Ungu looked back to see her aunt looking none too happy. She tried not to cringe. Please tell me I didn't do anything wrong again.

"Well… that is four points," a rather subdued Cera noted as she walked by and helped Taunt to his feet, "Perhaps no more throwing might be in order?"

Taunt groaned. "You just want to scar my pretty face."

"You have an odd definition of pretty," she retorted.

"Pretty enough for you to decide to let me ride you, my dear," Taunt muttered, earning a glare from Mender.

"You got lucky due to a lack of options," Cera muttered as she cheekily ran back into the fighting circle; she knew Taunt's reaction before it happened.

"Why you ungrateful-"

Mender hurriedly covered Ungu's ears. "Language," she snapped, glaring at Taunt.

But Taunt was already face-to-face with his adversary and mate as the battle resumed in earnest. This time the fighting was up close and personal with each making flirtatious comments in between the exchange of blows.

"Why are they acting like that, Aunt Mender?" Gyors suddenly asked as he checked on his sister with a quick glance. "They are talking like they like one another, but they are beating each other up."

"Oh that's how Mommy and Daddy are!" Pounce replied nonchalantly as the other children moved close to Mender in case one of the fighters went airborne again.

"It's when Momma gets silent that you know she is mad," Ambush noted.

"It's what they're saying that I'm worried about," Mender muttered to herself before turning to Ungu and Gyors, "Don't repeat any new words you hear from them." She would have tried to make the same point to Taunt and Stern Claw's kids, but the effort seemed hopeless. It was too late to prevent their parents' brand of insanity from sinking in.

"Are those bad words?" Gyors asked with genuine concern as Pounce laughed beside him.

"Well not all of them. 'The', 'an', and 'me' are not bad words," Pounce added cheekily.

"If you're not sure, don't use it," Mender finally said, "I really don't want to have explain things to your parents." Trying to explain to Staza why her kids now knew words they shouldn't would not be pleasant.

Ungu nodded. I don't want my parents mad at me. They're probably not going to be happy about my sniffer, anyway. Maybe it won't be that bad. They like Aunt Mender, and Miz Breeze said she's smell blind. But how do I bring that up with her?

It was then that a slapping sound was heard followed by an audible groan from Stern Claw.

"Goal!" Pounce cheered, "Daddy won for once!"

"Boys rule, girls drool!" Biter added triumphantly. He did not have time to react to Swipe immediate retaliation as his legs were knocked out from under him by a familiar pink tail.

"See you in the fighting circle, boy."

"Is Biter okay?" Ungu asked, seeing him sprawled on the ground.

Pounce helped him up as Ambush rolled her eyes. "Everything is alright except his pride."

"Hey, my pride is fine!" Biter affirmed with a boast as he shook his head, "Now I just need to grab my vines and show my sister who is the dominant youngling in the nest!" He then sprinted away without another word as the respective males and females in the various families began to cheer on their new champions. It was obvious that this would go on until each family had their own little settling of scores.

"Um… Mender do you want to help with this? We need to make sure the little ones do not hurt themselves, oh no, no, no."

Ungu jumped in the air slightly, startled by Ducky's voice. When did she get here?

"Sure, Haven. But do you mind if I talk to my niece for a moment?"

Uh oh, Ungu thought, I wanted to talk to Aunt Mender, but what does she want to talk to me about?

"Oh, no problem. I am sure it will take awhile for Biter and Swipe to get ready for their little spar. You know Ponder will give them the safety lecture twice."

Ungu felt the slightest hint of a nudge against her neck.

"Ungu, will you come with me for a moment?"

Ungu nodded nervously. What did I do?

---

What do I do?

To say that Mender felt that she was out of her league would be an understatement. She knew how to handle injuries and panicked patients, but anything like parenting was in a world totally unknown to her. But Verant and Staza were not here, and someone had to reassure her niece.

She took a deep breath. Best to start slow.

"How did you like the fighting?"

I think I'm going to watch from a tree next time," Ungu answered, sounding like she wasn't sure she wanted there to be a next time.

"You didn't like it?" Mender tilted her head with curiosity. "Being in one of their spars hurts a bit, but it is kind of fun. Well the injuries aren't, but the competition is."

"I got a point once," she added with more than a little self-deprecation and a good-natured smile.

"Who'd you fight?" Ungu asked, curious.

"Ponder. She was very good at feigning and slashing. I did not make it to the second round, but, as I had not even had my adult name at the time, I felt good just to have that one point. We all have to begin somewhere."

Mender allowed herself another breath. A fight was as good of a topic as any to shift to the discussion of overcoming adversity and insecurity.

"They let you do that?" Ungu asked, suddenly remembering what Ruby's rank in the pack was, "But I thought..."

Mender blinked as she looked at the little biter. "You thought what, dear?"

"Miz Ponder is Seeker's mate, and Seeker's in charge here," Ungu said slowly, "And Miz Ponder seems to be highly ranked, so why would they let a kid fight her?"

"It was their way of showing they respected us enough to let us in on their spars and… they also wanted to help us for when we went on our way." Mender paused for a moment. "You have to remember that we didn't know about vines as protection so all of my pack's fights were actual fights. That is why your Dad is so good at fighting and I was good at avoiding them." Most of the time. I have the scars to show for the times that I didn't.

"So I guess it is kind of like when your Mom and Dad train you in how to do grown up things. You are not an adult, but you pretend for a little bit," Mender added.

"How'd you become a healer?" Ungu suddenly asked, enjoying learning more about her aunt.

This caught Mender off-guard. "Uh… that is quite a long story. I was unsure what I could do to help the pack, and Seeker suggested I become a healer. I thought he was crazy. Actually, I still think he was crazy."

Ungu just looked at her aunt with a confused expression.

Mender looked right into her niece's eyes

"It was hard for me to think of myself as anything but a burden. My bad sniffer would have killed me many times if it wasn't for my brother."

"W-what?" Ungu stammered. While Breeze had told her about her aunt's smell-blindness, having her aunt bring it up unprompted was still rather shocking.

Mender nodded. "My brother and your mom always exaggerated their gestures for me so that I would get the message, but so much was lost to me. This pack helped me to refine what smell I did have, and for that I will always be grateful. But I could not have gotten help until I admitted that I had a problem."

"So that's why I could I always figure out what they meant," Ungu thought aloud, looking away from her aunt.

Mender stopped her forward motion.

"It's alright, Ungu. You don't have to hide things from me or from this pack. They will help you, but first you have to admit that you need help."

"They'll just laugh," Ungu replied, thinking more about the other kids than the adults, "At least you had a reason you couldn't find things."

Mender tilted her head. "And you don't? You have a sniffer problem too, but that doesn't mean that it can't be helped. As for the kids, how many of them laughed at Gyors not having one of his eyes?"

Ungu opened her mouth to respond but promptly closed it and looked away.

"And how many helped him in the sniffer game?"

"That's different," Ungu objected, "He got hurt. I'm just dumb."

Mender's face was in Ungu's in an instant.

"Don't say that, Ungu. Don't you ever say that. You hear me?" Her eyes were brilliant in their intensity. "You were loyal enough to go on a flyer when you didn't have to just to help keep your brother company. You went into a pack you didn't know in order to fulfill your vow. And your father says that you memorize things as good as me. Does that sound dumb to you?"

Stunned, Ungu backed up away from Mender. She didn't know how to react.

Mender pulled away, taken aback by her own reaction. "Sorry, Ungu, it's just… that does not sit well with me. It took me a long time to realize that I wasn't dumb. Too long. And life is too short to be held back by the ignorance of others."

"How am I not dumb?" Ungu asked, more confused than anything, "My brothers and sisters can figure out what they're smelling really fast. I can't figure it out at all."

Mender pondered how to answer for a moment. "In our travels, my pack heals many packs and herds, anyone who needs help unless we are starving at the time... and we have found some swimmers that had a similar problem to you. They can see well enough, but they do not see the right colors. Some leaves look similar to blood to them; they see no difference. This is part of the reason why we have begun collecting color stones to find out when people have this problem."

Mender put a hand on her niece's back. "I think you are having something similar to what those swimmers have, but with your sniffer instead of your eyes. It has nothing to do with your head."

As if to punctuate the point she playfully gave Ungu's head a few playful bonks with the dull part of one of her claw.

"Aunt Mender... stop," Ungu protested with a laugh, ducking away.

Mender smiled as she stopped giving the little biter the playful head nudges. "Now then… no more calling yourself dumb. Understand, little hunter?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ungu replied, happy that someone had an idea what she was dealing with.

"Now then. I do believe that Biter and Swipe are going to spar and undoubtedly the other little biters will be joining in. Can I count on you to make sure Gyors stays away from the spars?"

Ungu nodded enthusiastically. "I can do that." Not being that interested in sparring herself, she didn't need any encouragement to stay away. Keeping Gyors out of it, though…

"No, Gyors, the vine goes over the tail. Like this."

"W-we're back?" Ungu asked in confusion. Mender had led her in a wide circle. Her posture suddenly became more confident and rigid when she realized what her brother was doing. "Gyors, what do you think you're doing?" she yelled, dashing towards her brother.

Gyors turned his head as he stumbled over the vines on his legs. Though Gyors was prevented from doing serious damage to himself in the process, Ungu's assertive reprimanding of her brother made Mender smile.

"So much like Verant."

Then as Ungu looked at Mender, horrified at breaking the normal hierarchy of her fellow siblings without adult approval, Mender gave her a reassuring nod. Again getting authorization to continue her actions, Ungu literally began to rip the vines off of her disappointed brother.

"And so much like Staza."

---

Mysterious Beyond:

The lush verdant fields of the plains stretched for miles in all directions as two colorful streaks of scales emerged from the foliage under the flyers overhead. An observer would have only picked up on the slightest hints of sound emerging from the female rainbowface had they approached close by.

"It is odd to think that hidden runner society could be relatively primitive in technology, but so advanced in social organization. They have the beginnings of a religious system, an elective monarchy, and now it seems an internal conflict spanning multiple packs. We normally don't see this level of societal development until they begin using bronze."

Chronos sighed as he tapped on his mate's stone.

"...I forgot to turn it on again, didn't I?"

He merely nodded as he gave her a slight smile.

Logos sighed as she tapped the stone again and put it back in its receptacle. Securing the vines snuggly with an annoyed grunt. "Well, now that I am done with our "rainbowface speak" as the kids call it, i'm sure that our findings will not be of much comfort to Ignis."

Chronos nodded. "As we have found out it isn't particularly fun being the specimen. Though we are again. We are not exactly disinterested parties in this, dear."

Logos rolled her eyes. "Obviously. Wrok deposing Ignis would weaken the valley's position, and with it our security as well. But we can't be rash about this." She gave him a coy expression. "I know that look."

He shrugged. "The hidden runners already know about spears and healers, so who is to say that they don't make the next logical leap…"

Logos stopped and stared him down. "You know that isn't funny. Arrows and fire are a bridge too far, if we..."

"I'm not suggesting that, dear!" Chronos exclaimed rather loudly as he quickly looked up in the sky at their entourage before leaning in more closely. "I am not suggesting that. I was referring to their social development. Who is to say that Ignis won't, I don't know, learn a few tricks in the murkier tools of statecraft?"

Both rainbowfaces looked at one another for several moments as the flyers circled overhead. Neither said a word as an unspoken consensus began to take shape. It was only after several moments that Logos spoke in a tired voice.

"Remember: whatever you give to a leader you also give to their heirs."

Chronos nodded. "We must first ensure that Wrok is not that heir. One problem at a time, dear. One problem at a time."

Logos sighed. "If only reality gave us that luxury. It isn't the problems I see that I fear, it is the ones that we don't know about that keep me up at night."

---

Breath in.

The elderly flyer rose from her perch, her aging legs declining to perform what still-agile wings would accomplish. A reminder that though her years were not short they were not insurmountable either. Fate had often killed a flyer of her age long before the ravages of time could finish taking their toll.

Breath out.

She looked upon the four sleeping bodies with a soft smile plastered on her beak. For all she knew these could be the last batch of children, or the third of many more to come. Her eldest children now had children of their own, acted as messengers to serve the growing need, or had gone off to find their own winds to guide them. Her second clutch now included the flyers she would face as those she could trust. The brothers and sisters of the one child who had become an entirely different kind. And the brothers and sisters of the brave daughter who had given all to save the valley they still called home.

Breath in.

She took off as her sister landed behind her to watch over the sleeping souls. A silent reminder that even if fate took her before her time that they would still find a future. But their actions over the next few days would determine what kind of future it would be. As the breeze of her flight cast its cool air over her body she focused her gaze on the bluffs below.

Breath out.

It was time to make sure fate made the right choice.

The rocks echoed with the sounds of landing feet as she extended her wings to deaden the impact of her landing, casting mist upon all present from the condensation upon her wings like a confused cloud not knowing where the ground resided. In that moment all talking ceased.

"Well, children, I take it that Fratus has told you what happened."

There was no audible answer for several moments as each looked at one another in apprehension. Finally one of her daughters spoke.

"He told us that Hano was helping Wrok."

Another voice spoke up, "I never liked the guy."

"He should die for what he tried to do."

Volan unclenched her foot as she tossed her cargo to the center of the clearing. As Hano's still bloody beak clicked against the rocks her adult children attempted to scamper away from the morbid artifact.

"Your brother agreed."

The sound of heavy breathing complimented the horrified looks of the flyers, though their horror was for the revelation and not the result. It was not lost on her that within moments two of Spotter's brothers nodded as if approving of the scene.

Volant nodded. Her children had to understand the stakes.

"If Wrok wins his spat with Ignis then none of us will be safe. He does not seem like the type to settle for potential threats wandering around, and make no mistake we are threats to him. Anything he cannot use is a threat."

"Reminds me of a few old friends until I got wiser," a familiar voice called from behind.

Volant tilted her head without turning towards Pterano. "Is everything clear, brother?"

She could hear the nod in his voice, "The skies are clear. Nunti is keeping watch over the bluffs."

Volant smiled slightly. "Wrok sees us as a threat unless we are on his side. The conspirators see the alliance as a threat to a way of life that is never coming back. And much of the land-dwellers do not see the big picture. That is where we come in."

Everyone seemed to stare at the beak in that same moment. A testament for the fate that could await any flyer at any time.

"First we need to find our spy's go-between."

Pterano looked around in confusion for a moment, "and then what' sister?"

Her eyes turned cold. "Then we have a delivery to make."

---

Thank you for the reviews, everyone! Both Historian1912 and I appreciate your feedback. Before I get to responding to the reviews, however, I would like to give a shoutout to JulianR94 and his story, "The Eighth Hunter". He has begun to revise the story from chapter 1 (only chapter 1 is completely revised right now - the revised chapters have "final version" at the end of them), so I would encourage old and new fans of his writing alike to check out the results. Sadly, this site does not actively inform readers of when a chapter is revised.

DevoutRelic: No problem about the late review. I obviously have not exactly been timely in updating this story due to complicated nature of the plot interactions and the roleplay conversion aspect of the story, so I cannot complain about the delay in the review. (: Rest assured that both Historian and I greatly appreciate your continued interest and reviews. Both Gyors and Ungu have a rough time with their respective challenges, but only time will tell what the future holds. As for certain members of the valley being uncomfortable with sharptooth allies, this is something that was latent before the events of Songs of the Hunters and have only been intensified due to the pack supporting Dein and Terri despite the loss of a Great Valley resident. There is an old saying that "nations do not have permanent allies, only permanent interests" and this holds true for herds and packs as well. The alliances that have formed to address one threat are not chaffing under the new political situation.

As for seeing the raw roleplay, we might have to consider that at some point. There is about 15,000 words of the roleplay that are currently being revised to fit the desired plot of this story and a few excerpts that had to be excised as they did not fit the pacing of the current story. But if Historian1912 has no objections I think we may be able to release the unedited roleplay after the story is done. I will keep you informed. (:

Keijo6: Wrok is indeed taking on several layers of schemes and plots at the moment. The hidden runner culture is one that is highly social developed while at the same time being at the low level of technological development of the rest of the LBT world. And with high levels of social development (social classes, a quasi-elective monarchy, rudimentary administration, etc.) the capacity for intrigue goes up immensely. It is generally believed that our intellectual development was greatly driven through our complex social systems, but such complexity and intrigues also leads to an increase in the capacity for the more unsavory aspects of society.

Speaking of unsavory, the riddle test is actually based upon a technique that is used to catch leakers in espionage situations. Give all of the suspects a message that is only slightly different; see which message ends up leaked; and then eliminate the leaker. As we have seen the gang does not mess around when it comes to eliminating threats. Though this is one of the first times that they have used outright fear as a protective tactic.

Thanks again for the review. (: I hope that you enjoy the next chapter.

bryan mccloud: Well Wrok is a hidden runner (troodon) and not a fastrunner (Oviraptor) but we will indeed be seeing more of Chronos and Logos in this story. Though I probably really should make a crack fic with them in it. I suppose their will be plenty of opportunities to do so in the next season of the fanfiction prompt challenge.

AltCode: Thank you very much! I would like to apologize for the slower speed of posting chapters for this story, but I do hope that Historian and I can maintain a more constant posting schedule. Due to parts of the story being from a roleplay and the numerous interacting plot points this is a story that takes a bit longer than my previous offerings in order to prepare.

gordhanx: Thank you for the detailed review as always. As for how the pack handled Hano, they are now in a situation where they have to make an impression on those who would threaten them and this requires some deterrence through the cultivation of fear. Not to mention, as you shall see, there was another purpose behind that particular act. A purpose that will soon serve their allies in the Great Valley quite well.

Nimbus01: Thank you very much for the review. (: I am glad that you are enjoying the characterizations of the new and old characters alike. Though this story is not being written as fast as its predecessors I think that a lot of that relates to the fact that there are many conflicting character motivations in this story that requires much explanation and careful characterization on my and Historian's part. I can only hope that we are able to maintain this as the story continues on.