i am the blood of the mountain

It is with the ease of old friendship that Achilles greeted me, and I him, despite our never having met before. The ties of our forefathers seem to have transcended the generations, and the kinship shown between Boneclaw and Heyel, MoonGlow and Isola, even myself and Isola, translated to an amicable meeting between us. Seraphina's presence was welcomed as we turned into the pack lands and began to make our way across the rolling topography of the foothills of Spirane. Mirth filled eyes turned towards the fair-haired form of Achilles as he asked after how we mountain wolves dealt with living closer to the sun than the rest of Moladion. Only then did I realize he was seriously curious, and I a lighthearted chuckle rose in my throat before I replied. "I cannot say such a thing has ever been a problem for me or mine; perhaps the darker undercoat that runs in my family has prevented the sun from damaging our skin. A matter of adaptation, I suppose." Then again there were also lighter hued wolves amongst the numbers of my pack; though those such as Ailith or Niviaq had never mentioned issues with it before.

Seraphina loped off ahead of us, and my ears pricked forward to follow her motions as she scouted out the area before our arrival close behind her. I dipped my head in thanks to her, unfazed by her earlier use of Latin in place of the common tongue. As she moved to take a vigil from the edge of the shaded alcove of trees within which Achilles and I soon came to stand within, my attention was returned to my fellow alpha. All matters of skin care were put aside as he launched into the real reason for his visit, one which I had long been expecting and held no false ideas of what it may be about. It was a reassurance to have him come back to Spirane himself to iron out the finer details of our interpack relations - he was not his mother, as I was not mine. It was high time we got to know one another so that moving forward we would stand on equal and firm ground.

He spoke of the basics of the agreement which he wished to renew, and I nodded my head in concurrence. While the terms he laid out were certainly those that would allow for a sustainable relationship between our packs, there was something more that I sought to ask of him. "For three generations now our packs have known allianceship and camaraderie. Always the leaders of Spirane and Diveen, and Solevion and Trenus before, have aided one another in regards to training our respective numbers and socializing our adolescents. When usurpers have attempted to tear down the legacies of one family, the other has always offered shelter. I, too, wish for these things to continue for years to come; someday it will be a child of my den and one of yours that make these same arrangements." I paused, a glimmer of pride shining in mahogany eyes as I looked upon the golden facade of my equal. "I would ask one more thing of you Achilles. That the lines of communication always be kept open between us and our packs. That we keep each other informed - be it of the movement of prey or the movement of enemies known or unknown."

Perhaps it did not seem like much, for it was not so much a change from the way things were when Isola and I held an alliance between our packs. But it was a form of insurance, to know that Achilles would not keep things hidden from me if they affected my pack, and I would gladly vow to do the same for him in kind.

daenerys