The summoning was not unexpected, and Vesper responded to the cry immediately, drawing herself from the ground onto all fours and trotting in the direction of the mansion. Ever since that patrol, one that brought her to a patch of ground saturated with blood, the reek and signs of a prior fight, she had known that something was wrong and had been waiting for an explanation. Simple deduction brought her to the conclusion of what happened and who was affected, but it would put her more at ease to hear the words from the lips of her leader in front of the whole clan.
She had been somewhat absent from the clan grounds lately, wandering in the neutral lands to keep her mind off things. After a surprisingly enjoyable conversation with the loner Tayui, she’d returned more heartened and proud of the clan. As she’d said, Inferni always had and always would survive. She had heard of worse disasters the coyotes had lived through from Myrika, and this was just another grim chapter in a never-ending story.
Using her uncharacteristic optimism for energy, she loped after her other clanmates through the rusty gate to the room everyone was gathered. Immediately, her pale blue eyes found the faces she knew—along with one she didn’t, a small puppy at the paws of a pregnant Omni—and though she did not greet anyone out loud, she began to weave through the group.
Her tail whisked across Wraith’s shoulder in playful acknowledgment even as she wondered where her brother was; there was no denying she had a soft spot for the young scouts, almost fatherly. She saw Helotes seated not far from a small form that had to belong to Zana, and the coywolf grinned as she padded toward them. She gave a gentle bite to Helotes’ undamaged ear and an affectionate nose-poke to the pygmy who had found her way home.
There were others she hoped to see, but they had not yet arrived, and smothering any disappointment, Vesper turned to her bronze Aquila on his throne. She was about to give him respectful acknowledgment and find a place among the others when she saw the stone seats beside his throne—three Legatus chairs for three Legatus coyotes. Her ears tilted back against her skull uncertainly, and she approached one of the seats apprehensively, looking for his approval or disapproval. The Optio finally hopped onto one, balancing on her four limbs, and turned back to the faces of the clan she now had a small hand in leading.
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