No way was she missing this. The impromptu meeting with Ayasha in AniWaya was too important and far too interesting to just drop once they got back home, so Orin walked alongside Shawchert to Thornbury. They had left their daughters in Bangle’s care, so she probably would have had to go back to the village anyway. But the walk to the Capitana’s house wasn’t exactly the most pleasant venture they’d been on. Orin had become annoyed with Shawchert for being so tactless in such a sensitive matter, and if he had not noticed by the way she was acting, the missing tail hair would surely remind him.

She wasn’t trying to give him the cold shoulder, but when they walked away from AniWaya’s borders after any brief discussion they chose to share, Orin fell to silence. Silence and Orin didn’t use to go together, but now she welcomed it as she pondered what was happening just outside of their pack’s realm.

Not wanting to miss a moment of this, Orin didn’t even pause to change back to Optime. Still on four petite little paws, she pranced up the steps beside Shawchert. Ears pert as she awaited the sounds of movement inside. She hoped Skye was home; she really wanted to be a part of the information that was given to her. But for all that, she longed to see her daughters, and was torn between hoping they would be here too and hoping that they had gone out with the coy-wolf pup sitter.

As they waited for Skye to come to the door, her piercing yellow eyes turned from the door to Shawchert. Her irritation with him had begun to subside. The childish part of her wanted to tell Skye what he had done, but Shawchert was working so hard to redeem himself. Should she give him a break?

We’ll see…

The Tundra was just as surprised to see Skye in her Secui form as the Capitana was when she met Orin face-to-face on four legs. Her quadruped form hadn't been very useful to Orin in the past, but it was growing more and more beneficial. Still being a pack centered around art and crafting it was rare to meet anyone in their natural wolf body, let alone the bulky form of Secui. This form certainly made the woman look fit for her rank.

She couldn't help but glance around, but saw no trace of pups. Not her own or Skye's, though they could easily be in a room inside. “How are the children?” She had to ask first and foremost, just to get it off her mind. “Or rather, how's Bangle holding up?” She wasn't sure if Skye had seen them today, but a quick formality between mothers couldn't do any harm.

They all moved about Skye's porch; after the alpha took her seat, and then Shawchert settled in Orin moved next to the man and sat down. Her bushy tail curled around her forepaws, and the dainty woman sat up straight and dignified, looking strangely more catlike than wolfish. She looked at Shawchert as he spoke, then returned her gaze back to Skye.

“We've just been to AniWaya,” she reported, adding onto Shawchert's statement. “Things are... amiss... to say the least. We aren't certain if we can trust the girl we spoke to, but I honestly don't see why not. Between what we learned and the refugees' claims we can probably get a good idea of what's going on, and who to believe. And if things are as they seem,” she paused and shook her head. “It doesn't look good.” Her golden gaze went back to Shawchert, letting him take the reigns.

She was happy to hear that the pups were doing well and that Bangle was surviving the ordeal of babysitting. She grinned and laughed softly at the thought of where they had gone. Teaching them to make things from bone? Well, that was very much Bangle's style, and Titania at least would get a kick out of that, but how would he ever do that when the pup's didn't have their hands yet? Well, it was Bangle, the resourceful, sly coy-wolf merchant. Orin wouldn't be surprised if he found a way to make it happen. She nodded, grateful for the news, and turned her attention back to the matter at hand.

Her ears laid back in worry when Skye expressed the very concerns Orin had, but Orin didn't know that AniWaya had actually raided Crimson Dreams on the basis of refugees in their borders. A shock of fear struck her heart and she shot an annoyed glance at Shawchert. What had he done? Orin's suspicions were right... if the leader of AniWaya found out that there were refugees there, the fight could very well be brought to their own doorstep; the place Orin thought was so safe.

Suddenly wanting not to be so close to Shawchert, she shifted, laying down on her side and facing away from the man, though still looking at her Alpha. Her tail twitched, occasionally rising and dropping to the ground like that of an annoyed cat.

“Yeah, she growled. “It appears one of us has a problem with discretion. I thought it couldn't do any harm, just a fact-finding mission. But apparently it was a fact-giving mission as well.” Part of her wanted to drop it, to let Shawchert's error slide and forgive him for the mistake. But now, with the sudden feeling that Cercatori might not be safe because of this, she couldn't let her temper subside.

Shawchert repeated his question, and Orin gave him a sidelong glance. Who was he anyway? Demanding answers from Skye – it's not as though he were the Captain anymore. She didn't have to answer to him. They should just give Skye the information they have up front. And, in fact, it was all information Orin had gotten from them anyway, after Shawchert clammed up once he stuck his foot in his mouth.

“Or maybe we should just tell our leader what we know?” she suggested bitterly, then looked away, her ears slanted back in annoyance. All of her wolfish body language screamed of her annoyance and opinion of Shawchert at the moment.

Orin was just about to shoot another gloating glance at Shawchert, but the fire in her eyes died when she heard Skye say 'both of you.' She was being chastised for this too? That wasn't fair, it was Shawchert's screw up. These thoughts filled her head in a split second, and she jerked her gaze back to Skye in time to hear the rest of her Alpha's admonishment. She was right, they had gone without thinking. They left knowing that there could be danger in AniWaya, and hadn't even consulted with her first. Orin's ears fell back and her head dropped onto her paws. She looked away from Skye, and the tail that had just been so catlike and annoyed a moment before tucked up beneath her. She whimpered softly, a full, canine submit to her alpha.

Yet still she managed to look contemptuous of Shawchert, posturing her respect only to Skye. “I'm sorry, my Capitana,” she croaked, fully subdued. So far, the gentle verbal lashing was all she'd received, but it was fully within wolf etiquette for Skye to see fit to further illustrate their place. “I didn't realize there would be as much harm in it. We just meant to survey the area, we didn't intend to speak to anyone. I should have spoken with you first.”

She kept her eyes turned away from Skye even as Shawchert began the story. She might have been jealous that he had the glory of telling their leader the information she had gathered, but there was no glory left in this anymore. The weight of what they had done felt like she has a ton of bricks piled on her shoulders. She didn't even want to listen. Grudgingly, an ear flicked to show that she had been paying attention despite herself. What had he missed?

“The situation is dire. Ayasha is just a child, I don't even think she's a yearling,” she said to her paws. After a second, she sighed and lifted her head from her paws, but never quite made eye contact with Skye. “Maska is the name of the man who claims to be their rightful chief. Ralla is Ayasha's mother; we didn't meet her but I asked if we could, and said we would return within a week. We don't have to go back, though, if it is against your wishes. I told her that if we are not there to not wait for us, and she has a way of signaling us if she is in danger as well. Dawali – the original AniWayan chief – has been reduced to a silent Omega, and he is forced to remain in Lupus form. Ayasha says Dawali is obedient to his punishment and will not disobey the new leader. If there is a resistance, I'm not confident Dawali would fight for his pack.”

“The youngling also told us that Maska is recruiting outsiders, his gang of henchmen. I assume these are the people he is getting to brutalize Dawali's loyalists,” she sighed again and put her chin on her paws again. “She hoped we could somehow keep loners away from their pack lands so he can't recruit more. I thought we could start a rumor that loners are being killed there... thought that might help them out, and it's much better than us trying to police wanderers.”