A Leader's Questions...

Nyx's ears perk up at the question; truthfully, she doesn't know how to answer it. Despite knowing what it meant for a pup to be the weakest of a litter, they have never treated their offspring differently; such actions have always been considered 'improper'. "The same as we do to all of our pups, I suppose?" She hums quietly, bumping her shoulder against her mate's with a soft huff, not knowing how to elaborate. It isn't as if the wolves of her pack are yearning to separate a pup from its siblings solely because it's weaker or stronger. "We cannot control whether a pup is a runt or not. All we can do is try and make them go through the same lessons and experiences as their siblings and hope that it does not put too much strain on their body. But, to us, everyone is equal, regardless of how big or small they are at birth," she thinks it is fair. Nyx herself hasn't been often treated fairly and she doesn't want anyone else to have to go through that.

Rolling her shoulders slightly, she thinks for a brief moment, her eyes falling on the gathered wolves as Nyx ponders where to take the current discussion. Finally, she decides on a question. "Have you ever had to break up a bonded pair?" She herself, in fact, has had to make such a difficult decision in the past once, but now, everyone understands it had been for the greater good and not out of malice.

Scathos grimaced at the question, it wasn't one he'd ever thought about, one he'd never hope that he'd have to think about. "So far, I haven't had to break up a Pair Bond. But sometimes nature takes care of it for us. Three of our eldest members are nearing the age of seven, one of them our very own Lady Skorja is expecting a litter of pups, due in just a month. " He paused, "I'm not sure if she'll live long enough to see her pups grow into adolescents, much less adulthood."

The brute shook his head and sighed. Washing away his worries with an aggravated huff, he shot a brief glare at Nyx, for asking such a question. Turning his gaze away, yellow eyes searching for the next victim. His gaze stopped at one wolf and spoke. "A scenario, if you will. Your packs had a great number of pups this season, and will soon be growing up. But you don't have enough space. What do you do?"

Talon's eyes caught the bright moonlight of the leaders' clearing. Her ears perked forward. She blinked slowly at the male leader who asked how they deal with too many pups. "I kill them, of course." She emphasized the I, rather than saying "we." She was proud of the decisions she has had to make as a leader of her pack. She paused for a brief moment before continuing. "I prioritize importance within the pack first; was the pup born in the heritage or distinction dens where our most trusted and successful she-wolves reside? I evaluate their likelihood to produce strong and capable pups for the longevity of the pack."

Puffing her chest out with confidence, "Needless to say, we have produced hundreds of pups, but only a select dozen have every made it to adulthood and continued living in the pack. We live in the desert, there's no room for uselessness or most males."

She tilted her head, thinking of a question to present to the leaders. She hadn't participated in a while and wanted to keep the interest level going. "What sorts of trials or tests must your offspring endure to be permitted to live within the pack?"

Owyne, the leader of the Windhowler pack, tilted her head. 
"Trials? What are you talking about? I mean, if anyone wants to stay they can...unless they're evil or something." she responded, scratching her ear distractedly. 

After giving her ear a thorough scratch, she flopped onto her side and sighed, seemingly deep in thought. She obviously hadn't prepared her next question, and spent several long moments staring into the distance. Finally, her ears perked up and she turned to the next leader. 

"Oh! How far have you explored? And what's your favorite place to explore in?" she asked, before adding on her own answer, "I like the glacier!" 

@treestargarden

Birch gazed his eyes at the leader's question as gotten up from the patch of grass that he was sitting on to approach.

"I test among the wolf's personality's, strengths & desires " Birch announced to the wolves around him. "  When they become adols, I would give each adol a mentor too look up to until they reach adult hood to help provide & help eachother within the packs survival. "

Birch looked back among his pack &  signaled his tail at one of his pack members to come forward. " This is Corn, she has been in my pack for a while & has been mentoring a pup this season named Bark who would become a future hunter to provide for our causes. " Corn dips her head at Birch as she looks over Bark by her side "Corn reports to me about Bark's progress so we can help find ways to Improve his status, He has a scatterbrain personality so Corn helps improve his status of remembering certain things while hunting. " 

As Birch finally finished his response he gazed among the other leaders who stand before him as he think of a question to ask " As for my question I shall speak to all, what do you see among your fellow pups/wolfs & how do you provide for their survivals? "

Amaris, sitting nearby, overheard Talon talking about how she got rid of unwanted pups and was instantly fascinated in her,

''We have many trials a pup must go through before they can be truly be part of the pack, but my pack does not like violence and we most certainly do not like to see our pups in pain so we have trials of beauty and skills.''

She paused  to see if Talon was listening,

''We only let the fittest and prettiest of pups stay in our pack, once a litter of pups are born they are looked over for mutations, then they are judged by their markings. After that we see if they are strong enough to open their eyes, if so they are then left with their mothers to feed. If they can not they are taken to our Herbalist, where they are judged on their health. If one is unhealthy they stay with our Herbalist, if one is a runt but healthy they are judged again on their looks. If they have good looks  they stay. In the end if a unhealthy one stays that way it is drowned in a nearby river, and if a runt does not grow stronger the same is done to them.''

Amaris sat there for a minute then ask a nearby wolf,

''What do you do if you find that there is a secret in your pack that you do not about, such as secret mates?!?!''

Fog rolls in before pulling back to reveal a dusky she-wolf. She studies the gathered leaders.

"In my pack, Aether's Law prevents secrets from being kept, though it helps that all were once loners who I brought in. And in a pack so isolated, it is difficult for secrets to exist. As for secret mates? All mates are marked when they enter the mateship." She finds a shady rock to lay on. "So there is no true need to deal with secrets, though, should the need arise, my mate End is rather skilled in dealing with such matters."

"Though, I must say, I am rather curious how names are chosen in your pack, both for leaders and pack members. Leaders are named for their place in the Aether, such as my name Origin being the start, while pack members embody their namesakes."

Firenkyo 🌼 (she/her)
#7863

He looked over at the excited wolf as they asked their question & replies back to them " Im still trying to explore around the places, my scout Arizona only managed to discovered a couple so far that im available to reach at the moment. " Birch tilt his head thinking of which place he explored was his favorite " So far my favorite is Coniferous Forest,  pretty much because theirs a lot of spaces to roam around & a good practice ground for training myself at. " when Birch finished his question he looked over at the other wolf who also had asked a question & padded over to them. 

💖Quiet Cupid Wolf💖
#32728 

" Yes I do believe there might be a secret among my pack that I don't understand myself with. " he signaled A red pelted wolf from his pack to come forward, " particularly this wolf here named Arizona gave me concern a couple rollovers ago " Arizona rolled her eyes knowing that Birch was talking about.  " She had caught a disease that had to be cured. I don't remember the name of the disease but I heard from my herbalist that wolfs catch it by meeting other dogs, I tried asking her what she has been up to while patrolling but she wouldn't tell me its none of my concern. " Arizona tries to come up with an excuse to leave but Birch gazed at her threateningly to stay put. When Arizona sat down & let out a grown Birch faced the other led wolfs & asked 

" Has anyone else noticed anything suspicious going on within there pack members that needs to be adressed? & also my previous question still needs to be answered as well. " 

Amaris turned to Origin with a look of great sadness in her eyes,

''Our pack choses names in honor of former pack members, like mine, Amaris was my mothers name. She was known far and wide for her great skills and beautiful white coat, but she was also known for her past.''

Amaris paused before continuing,

''She wasn't always a pack wolf, she was a pet before she meet my father. She was in beauty show and skills contest. Her owners loved her so much even though she was in fact wolf, and when she left them for my father they became angry and hunted him down. They found and killed him, he didn't even known my mother was pregnant when it happened. He never knew. When my mother found out she hid from her former owners till I was born. She then left me in a safe spot and went to kill them. When they saw that she had returned they were over joyed but soon found out what she was trying to do. The night she tried to attack they were ready and shot her. She was found dead by another pack. The same pack found and raised me. And they did so till I was an adult, they then sent me away. And now I have my own pack.''

Amaris stopped talking for a moment,

''But that is not what you asked to know about. We name our pups after pack members we've lost!''

With that said she turned and said to the wolf besides her,

''Please tell me, how was your pack started???''

Birch sighed as he turn his head back at the wolf he answered his question before but looked away thinking within train of thought before he sat down on a stone to face the other wolfs. " ahem, Well, It started almost a month ago.

Around winter time when I used to be a young pup, I had a strange interest within plants. I would always sneak out within my pack's territory to adventure out & collect any plant that I could find within my path. My old pack members thought I was trying to become a future herbalist for the pack but that is not why I collected the plants in the first place. Instead my pup mind used those plants to create something that I couldn't explain back then but scene I'm older, I've realized that I created art with the plants."

 Birch tried to chuckle off but the thought of it made him frown before continuing 

 "Anyways the way that I used the plants angered my pack greatly because a lot of my pack members were suffering from a plaguing disease & I was ruining there medicine supply from my obsession with plants, I tried to have forgiveness in return by recollecting the plants again to help but they told me to not go out or ill make another mess out of the plants again. I felt ashamed & dread for creating things that went acceptable for my pack's expectations, I wanted to help my pack but my drive for creating art made me seemed mad around other wolfs of my pack. 

A couple rollovers later my mother.... Unfortunately my mother caught the disease & that is when things became more down hill then it had for me.. My old pack with not enough supply of plants & wanted to prevent the spreading decided to chase me & my mother out of the pack. My mother tried to convince them that my son is not infected & he should stay, but my pack had already made up there minds. 

My mother knew that if I stayed with her I would be infected & scene we were both chased from the pack, my mother would hid me within a great oak tree" which is the spot where I would start my pack at. " & she left me there to never return for me but to defend for myself & start my pack. " 

" From that day forward I still feel ashamed for what I had done & try to make myself quit art to prevent another major mess up like that happen around anyone or my pack. " 

He gazed among the other wolves waiting for him to ask them a question but Birch knew that he already had asked them questions that haven't been answered so he kept his mouth shut & excused himself as he leaped off the stone.