Zelda was still a bit anxious about everything. Having the pups bounce around her were both a blessing and an added complication in a way since she wanted to be upfront with Pine and now she couldn’t be. She knew Pine couldn’t have expected all this to come down on her, so she knew it wasn’t purposeful to have the two girls bouncing around her, but she certainly didn’t want to give them the wrong idea about herself or their mother because they might have a disagreement on how a situation might be handled. ”Mara told me she had come to you about our little event. That might be a good time to spend a day or two with us, if you wanted.” Zelda added, her tail waving lightly. Though it was a large event, Zelda had faith in her pack in trying to keep it peaceful as possible, this was a step towards that as well.

However, the change in conversation to Arace met with both the normally good natured females to harden. It was a difficult topic to say the least. Her and Pine clearly had different ideas on the topic and now some things should be handled. Her tail twitched slightly noticing how she certainly didn’t seem to have remorse for what she had done and there was a kind of pit in her stomach at that thought and feeling. So Starfall had been right. ”I heard you all enjoyed it.” She breathed quietly, unable to stop herself. Starfall said they had, but he didn’t say specifically whom. The tormentors or Pine, or all of the above. It still met with her heart throbbing in her chest and the ill feeling in her stomach at being able to watch something like that happen then not stop it or even worse thing it was right. ”But I am grateful you did not fight in giving her up to Starfall. He was… most distressed when he arrived. I did tell you about the bond, what it could do.” Zelda mentioned softly though she didn’t mention her own tears, her own regret she hadn’t told Pine sooner, not that it seemed to matter to her as her next words.

”Arace could have been fed lies about that wolf from the one who given her the contract.” Zelda said immediately jumping to the wolfess’ defense, though she had no ground to stand on there. Arace didn’t seem to care who she killed if there was a debt to be paid she paid it, it didn’t matter who she was killing at the end of the day, but Zelda would have liked to think if she knew she was a mother, a mate to someone maybe, just maybe she would have told her contractor no. ”If she had known everything about her, she might not have ever done it. She’s…. Morally grey in some ways, but she’s not evil at heart. Just like someone else I know.” Zelda said firmly, unable to believe that Arace would have done it if she really had known… though the only way to know for sure was to ask her. ”I’ll ask her next time how much she knew, though, you might be right, maybe she did, but she might not have as well.” Zelda ended, hoping to put a cap on that particular subject, she didn’t really want to pontificate, but it was hard with this particular topic. Sure, she wasn’t going to abolish Arace of all guilt, she still did the deed, but at the same time her punishment for such seemed too extreme. Zelda just wanted Pine to feel some ounce of remorse, feel SOMETHING for what she had done to another wolf, who might not have known everything to begin with. It made Zelda… uneasy knowing she could do something so violent and not bat an eye, even when presented with a case where Arace wasn’t the soul conspirator.

”Orion now knows, I told him of my suspicions before I talked to Arace, but have not had a chance to get back to him. The murderer, if they are a Diveen wolf as I expect is rogue. Orion knew nothing about Arace or what happened.” Zelda repeated, hearing Pine’s own rhetoric about ‘if the murderer was rogue’. ” I planned to bring it up at the Ball if I saw him. He was very willing to work with me in figuring it all out. Perhaps it would be a good time for you to meet with him too, and work together in sorting this matter out completely. All of us want to figure this out. It will be a good time a place for it too.” She recalled back then that Pine had come saying she wanted to know why someone was framing her friends, that she wanted to get to the bottom of it, but she had only done part of the work then, Zelda was going to see it through regardless of what Orion or Pine did at this point. Though Zelda gathered that a Diveen wolf would be welcome under the eye of someone else, she mentioned strangers were no longer welcomed either. That caught Zelda’s attention seeing as she paused before saying it. Another moment though, for Pine asked what she would do if they found Arace’s contract holder.

”That will depend on what we find out once we know who it is, their reasons, and if you two can come to an agreement on what should be done. Orion… was very upset though to hear he had a killer in his pack. He has… strong opinions... on those who kill for no reason, as well as Cannibals. So I am sure it won’t be something that you won’t disapprove of, or myelf if the circumstances are right.” Zelda admitted, she wasn’t as soft and spongy as she thought the little wolfess believed she was. She just believed in second chances, and Arace, given that chance was thriving right now, but admittedly Zelda was only involved so thickly in this mess because of her mistake of letting Arace be stolen, and Starfall’s imprint bond with the wolfess as well. While she certainly didn’t want anyone to be killed for no reason, this wolf was going out of their way to make sure they didn’t get caught, not to mention the tension created between packs… Zelda was… unsure if this wolf was like Arace, or what was going on. She guessed she would find out once they found them.

Once that seemed exhausted though Zelda couldn’t help but ask. ”Why is it no strangers are allowed here anymore? Did something else happen?”