This was her first among many such plans to come in the future. She had never thought that she would come to this point – it had never been her plan, it had never been her backup plan, it had never been a thought to cross her mind. Since she had been a pup, she had been groomed to be her sister’s second in command, to be her support. Ainae, on the other hand, had been groomed to lead, to take command, to be Queen. Yet now, with everything that had happened, Ainae would soon be returning to their homeland of Faraway, and Yayoi would be taking the throne here in Mona Toforan for her own rule. It had been purely Ainae’s decision, a power play – afterall, Yayoi’s older sister (by minutes, but who’s counting?) had always wanted the throne in Faraway - a territory ruled by kalaks, with armies, resources. What did Ainae want with this stepping stone in a land where kalaks were the minority, not the majority? What did Ainae want where the fight was to gain the things that would be readily available in Faraway? And yet for Yayoi… for Yayoi it was the perfect place to be. She, like the Scientist, however, saw the world through glasses wrought of curiosity, where she wished and wanted to know how everything worked, and what new things were evolving each day, be they natural or magical. Whilst under Ainae’s reign, she had had little time, for Ainae always put so much upon her shoulders, using her as a knight in the constant chessgame of life. Yet now… now Yayoi would be the player and the members of her pack her pawns. Even more curious to Yayoi than Ainae’s decision to leave Yayoi in charge, not just as a general but as a Queen, was that Ainae had decided to leave the remainder of the compass in Blossom Forest as well. It was the single most compassionate act that Yayoi had ever seen Ainae perform – done to ensure that Yayoi had support in her claim to this throne. Junichii, Eisu, Cyra… they all stayed here, but Yayoi’s question now was would their loyalty turn to her and her throne… or remain with Ainae and hers afar? She knew that Eisukuro’s loyalty would be with her due to their love for each other… but they would have to be careful in how knowledge of that came to unfold. Yayoi hoped that Cyra’s loyalty would switch easily to Yayoi as well due to their friendship that bordered on the edge of being true sisters aside from their lack of a blood bond. But Junichii… he was the wild card. Yayoi had served with him for all of this time… but how would he react to all of this?

At any rate, she had decided to test her compass by this first act in her initial plan. Since the Scientist had decided to remain in Blossom Forest, Yayoi had decided to encourage new tests, new research… and the first was to see exactly how their exclusive plant reacted if at all to the other wolves in this land. The kalaks had felt pulled to it, but had only reacted to it upon eating it. The goal was to introduce it to the other packs, and see if they reacted at all. It would be nothing obvious, just a stirring of their hackles, a sudden lapse of focus. But the kalaks were particular creatures that noticed those little details. At random, Yayoi had chosen this pack, this Crith-Thalmhainn as her first pack to implement her plan on and had gone along for the ride. She had wanted to show the three remaining Compass members that she would be a hands-on leader – she would go to war for them and with them, and she would run the day to day activities with them as well. The plan was simple – extend a… not peaceful… but interested hand to each pack for introductions, feel out which packs they could be allies with, and which packs would be… ones they would potentially go to war with. Of course, while that was true, they would also be extending the Dolgar as an olive branch. For the other packs, Yayoi would allow her generals to do it themselves. But for this one… for this one it would be with her on point. At any rate, once she and the other kalaks reached the border, she howled, calling for the Alpha, and only the Alpha. Being so new in this area as she was, they did not have the spy system set up that they normally did in other places. She did not know the name of this wolf, nor of his background or anything else. She was essentially blind. She turned to her right and to her left, peering at the wolves around her – each of them holding a sample of the Dolgar. It no longer would bother them as it once had if any of them ingested it, but still each would be extremely careful in the handling of the plant. They needed to be healthy specimens if they were to flourish and bloom in each of the packs. And the oddest thing about the plant would be the most miraculous thing to these strangers – it grew at all times of the year. Flourished, really. It made it useful for times like this.

WC: 904