Orynne

    The young, dark she-pup slunk out of the den to have a look around. It was the dead of night and she had just arrived in the hollow mere hours before. She hadn't accepted any of the older wolves' offers to show her around, and she had stayed as far away from the other "foundlings" as she possibly could. She knew she couldn't leave, and she wanted to do her old pack proud by sticking around and keeping the peace or whatever, but she definitely did not want to make friends. Not yet, anyway.
    She sniffed around the flower-covered briar thicket where that big golden alpha, Hakaan and his most trusted wolves slept. The orange flowers smelled nice, she admitted to herself with a slight, very brief smile. Then she moved over to the enormous tree stump which served as the herbalist's den. The old tawny herbalist had been rather terse when she had passed by earlier, and now she could tell why. There was no way that that gigantic stump wasn't haunted. She shuddered and quickly moved on. In the dark, she came upon the river's edge, letting the water wash over her sore paws. It had been quite a walk to get here from the snowy north. Eventually, she sat and allowed herself one sniffle. It came at the absolute wrong time.
    "Uh, hi- Hello. May I sit?" A voice sounded, but Orynne couldn't see who it was. The beginnings of tears were blurring her vision, and her throat felt thick so she attempted to shoo the voice away with her tail.
    He took that to mean, 'come, sit!' and a white shape appeared beside her as the first of her tears fell. "Are you... crying? What happened? Are you- well, you probably don't want to talk about it..." He trailed off, then scooched in closer.
    Orynne scowled through her tears, managed to sniffle, "I- d-don't want to m-make any fr-friends! Leave!"
    The white pup's yellow eyes appeared in her downcast vision, suddenly very intent as he said, "then we won't be friends. But I won't leave you."

-

    Orynne stalked along back and forth in front of her team, shaking her head and trying in vain to explain to them what had caused them to break down during the chase. This was only their second hunt together, but she had hoped that they would have at least gotten a little better. Wing and Peregrine hadn't seemed bothered that they couldn't get a hold of the deer, and Nila had never done one wrong thing in her life, apparently. Now the trio was staring off into the space behind Orynne, waiting for her rant to be over and Orynne herself was fuming.
    As much as she hated it, the young she-wolf had to admit she needed his help. Rolling her eyes toward the sky and letting out a strained exhale, she flicked her tail to dismiss the group and stalked off back toward the hollow. Most of her packmates needed only one look at her to know they shouldn't bother with pleasantries, but of course Hufen came bounding over as soon as he caught sight of her.
    "Did it go any better today? Did you do the things I was telling you about?" He asked her hopefully.
    "No, no, no, no and no!" She growled with a frustrated swipe at the ground.
    "Ah. Well, hey, you can work around this, right? You can implement all the ideas in the world, but all they really need is time. It's frustrating, but you can do it. I have to do the same with yo- with Daya; she's young, she has a tendency to want to lie around, and she- No, you're right. We're talking about you."
    "Why do I have to be their leader, though? It's so much work that no one but you has actually told me to do!"
    "Well, you're the best at your own job. You're the only one who doesn't need work- well, everyone can always use some work, but... You've got you under control already. That's more than they can say, so they could do with a leader like you."
    Orynne's hardened, narrowed gaze softened a bit at this and she snapped, "I hate that you know what you're talking about," and stalked off again to find her group and make things right again.

-

    The pair walked along the riverbank, fur brushing closely as they went. They spoke in hushed tones, periodically stopping to laugh at the antics of the pups tumbling along in front of them. Orynne laughed as Thorn pounced on Coorah and the two tumbled into the shallow water lapping at the riverbank. The two adults exchanged a look and decided that that was as good a spot as any to sit and enjoy the day.
    As they sat and soaked up the sun's afternoon rays, Thorn and Coorah set to thoroughly covering one another with river mud. At first, Coorah tried to excuse herself politely and climb back up the riverbank, but the more mud her sister threw the more worked up she became. Eventually the little silver pup was as dark-furred as the naturally dark Thorn and the two couldn't stop giggling as they sat together splashing in the river.
    "Who would've thought?" Murmured Orynne to her mate.
    "Well..." Hufen grinned back at her, "I told you we wouldn't be friends."

-

    Orynne ran— or, more like stomped— through the forest, grumbling to herself about how unfit to be alpha that Aleifr was and how she still ought to be a hunter and how Ataahua would never have made this big of a mess of things. She had just come from the higher ups' den where he had told her that he wasn't going to change his mind.
    "Orynne, hold on a minute, will you? Come and talk with me a while," Wing's voice entreated as the golden she-wolf slowed down to match the dark she-wolf's pace.
    Orynne turned and looked at her with a curt expression, "I don't know that you've got anything to say that will make me feel better. You're still a hunter."
    "I am. But really, I think you'd hate it now." Orynne snorted derisively, but Wing carried on, "I have to herd young pups every day. Young pups who aren't obedient or eager to learn like the ones you're training, but young pups who are old enough to know exactly what they're doing and not need any guidance from any adults, thank you very much. You would absolutely hate working with Anahera. She knows what she wants to do, and even if you get her to agree to do what she should be doing, she just turns around and does the opposite anyway because that's what she wants. You should see it, really! You know... you know what it's like? It's like when you whipped us into shape, Per, Nila and me, and I know for a fact that you would absolutely hate to do that over again."
    Orynne had stopped to listen, and sat down now with a resigned thud and the faintest bit of a chuckle. She stared at the ground for a moment, then smiled up at Wing, "when on earth did we become friends?"
    Wing grinned and sat down beside her, giving her a playful nudge, "I think it's been longer than you'd ever like to admit. Now, we can sit here awhile if you'd like, but I've sent Ale to find Hufen so you all can talk properly with your loyal mediator. Why he still does it for you all the time is beyond me."
    Orynne sniffed disdainfully, but still smiled back at Wing appreciatively. They spent some time there, cooling the disgruntled dark she-wolf off with some reminiscing, then they headed back to the hollow with smiles on their faces, still telling stories when they arrived.

-

    Orynne thundered across the hollow, meaning to catch Aleifr and the rest of his party before they headed off into that ridiculous fog to fight that ridiculous fight. She didn't always approve of Aleifr's methods— in fact she never approved of anything Aleifr did... on the outside, anyway— but much of the time she thought him quite strong for the decisions he made. Ataahua hadn't made tough decisions like her brother's, but that was because she had led in a time of rebuilding. She needed strong, steady wolves on hunt duty to keep the struggling pack fed. Now, Aleifr had relegated Orynne and her friends to training duty because he needed strong, steady wolves to bring up the next generations of hunters so that the pack could stay fed for a long time to come. Though she hated not being out there herself, she did understand why he was doing the things he was doing. She had also come to the realization that it was wolves like her who kept him thinking he was a terrible alpha, and she needed to let him know what she truly thought before he left for this new harebrained, but extremely brave scheme of his.
    The old she-wolf finally reached the party as they were preparing to head out. She strode straight up to Aleifr and looked him straight in the eye and said, "I'm coming too. You need a fighter, even if it's just one to drag your tail out of trouble should you find it. But," she sighed. It still pained her to tell her son-in-law she liked what he was doing, "I think you've a solid plan, you know what you're doing, and you'll lead us in and right back out again with naught but a scratch between all of us."
    She and Aleifr both were still shocked at her words upon their return the next morning. Orynne thought back to defending the alphas on her own and shook herself, both proud of and aghast at her actions. She glanced at Winnie who was bringing up the rear with Alastor, working his undoubtedly sore jaw as he walked. She shook her head, wondering how on earth he had managed to hold on to the shadow creature with just his bite and still attack with his claws as he was thrashed about. It made the old she-wolf's bones ache just to think of it. Needless to say he had won all the respect she hadn't given him before that point.
    As they entered the camp they met with Nila, Daya, Thorn and the rest of their concerned and excited pack. Even the two missing wolves were there. Apparently they had returned early in the night, even before the creature had been defeated. Orynne was happy for her daughter to finally have her mate back, and she joined Thorn now in walking back toward the herbalist's den to have her wounds seen to by a newly coherent Raea. As she trotted off with her daughter, Orynne glanced back at Aleifr, finally giving him a solemn nod of respect.

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