Sequoia could hardly believe what had just happened. The change in events left her head spinning as she tried to chronicle what had just happened.
We've gained their blessing? Shadow, Snow's brother is here? She's going with him? The alpha's are leaving? What? her thoughts went wild as the dire cloud lingering about the meeting lifted and the mood shifted. She looked at Pan, shaking her head and standing up, stretching out the length of her body, rump in the air as she reached out and clawed at the ground to relieve the tension in her body. "Well. I don't know how, but it looks like we have some good news to deliver." A wolfish grin tugged at her jowls as she looked at her fellow beta with a sense of relief and accomplishment.
They would be safe.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to relay the news as soon as possible. I don't like the idea of leaving Snow behind, but then again, these wolves are our packmates now... and if they trust us, we will trust them." She turned to the horizon from whence they came, knowing her family was in the distance, recovering from the loss of their packlands. She let out a low growling bark and took off running, knowing Pantalaimon would be at her side in no time at all.
And so the Stardust Vale Pack lives on, in thanks to our brothers of the Wintermoon Packlands. She cleared her mind and soared across the landscape, a new, brighter goal fuelling her stride.
It had taken every ounce of Shade's restraint to stop him from bolting after Shadow and tackling him to the ground. The wolf could very well have triggered the strangers to act out in defence and a fight could have been the end of the meeting. But when he saw the events unfold before him, he felt his jaw drop. Shadow's sister was the white wolf of the trio? How could that be? The reuniting of the two was warming, and as the Alpha's accepted the outsiders into their lands, Shade was filled with a concoction of relief, for the end of the tense meeting, and stress towards the knowledge that the prey of the Wintersmoon Packlands would now be half as bountiful for the pack this winter. Sharing meat and shelter was not ideal for any pack. He stood, hoping the outsiders returned with only a few others rather than a large, injured pack.
As he shot reassuring glances to the others that surrounded the low hill, he began to walk forward, wanting to meet this sister of Shadow's. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the beta female take off into the woods, no doubt rushing back to tell her pack the good news, the male followed shortly after. As he followed the pair of pawprints towards the dens. He heard a howl from within, Shadow's call, beckoning a healer.
So the white one was injured, humph, a healing body requires more flesh to feed it. Sighing, he made a stop at his personal stores within his personal den. He entered into the small gap in the earth beneath a large sheet of stone, lifted up by the thick roots of an ancient pine that grew beside it. The pine needles that fell made for good insulation and the rock above kept snow and water from pouring in and the shape of the den let little to no draft in. The intricate growth of the roots roofed a fair length of void into the side of a sharp incline in the terrain, the main pack dens lay but a few yards away. As a beta, he owned the right to keep a reasonable amount of personal stores of meat. This was for multiple reasons; should the alpha run out, the betas always had a supply to ensure the health of their leader, also, the beta's rank offered them certain privileges: such was the way of the lupine hierarchy.
As he gathered up a thick slab of elk meat from a burrow within his den, he made his way to where the black and the white wolves waited for a healer. "Shadow," He said, dipping his head in acknowledgement. "So, this is your sister, Snow? It's hard to accept the site of you two together. You've spoken of her for many moons, and you look as much like her as the sun does to the moon. But your features give it away nonetheless." He moved forward and placed the meat before Snow.
"Please, eat, you will heal faster if you provide your body the energy it needs to do so. I am Shade Starscream, beta of this pack. I welcome to our packlands." He wasn't sure what else to say, he wasn't exactly a social butterfly and he knew he had rounds he should be doing. But a noble side of him would always insist on treating the alpha's guests with great respect and kindness. He stood, looking down at the white wolf, and then at the black beside her. He shifted his gaze about the den, not wanting to stare at the ghostly female. Truthfully he had often wondered if Shadow merely kept a deceased sibling alive in his mind through stories and memories. But now, before him, the one he spoke of so fondly proved his thoughts wrong. Shadow must have known somewhere in his heart that he would find his sister.
As he thought about the concepts of loss, loved ones, and death, he felt a sickening pit consume his gut as his memories of his mother welled up within him. He huffed, letting out the emotion in an undetectable way and then focused on recollecting himself. His eyes were colder now than a few moments ago, and his walls were up. He did not want to be near Shadow or Snow right now, but he was not such a mutt to bluntly disregard a guest, let alone a female.