Curiosity had brought her out of the Armada's usual territory, but she wasn't alone today. She had managed to convince Sirius to come with her on this small adventure because she wasn't just out exploring today - even though that was certainly something she loved to do. No, today she was looking for a possible place to have an off site warrior training which was exactly why she had recruited Sirius to come with her. She wanted his opinion on it before she made any kind of firm decision. She had considered just moving into the willows that neighbored their territory, but it didn't seem unfamiliar enough. She wanted something with a completely different terrain that might throw off one of their Students. Training in the snow with the Warlord had given her the inspiration for this training, but she was positive that she wouldn't find any huge snow banks this time of year unless they went really far north. The next best thing seemed like it would be uneven terrain, but she wasn't sure exactly where she wanted to take them yet. Tamsyn stepped over several small streams that snaked through the dense forest of the Mangroves and as she was walking around she realized that there wasn't very really that many places that created clearings or gaps in the trees. The ground was certainly uneven with all the various waterways that made their way through here and it would certainly be much tighter quarters than they were used to. "What do you think?" she asked as she looked up at Sirius curiously. "It'd definitely be a different environment for them if nothing else." She wanted to make sure that wherever they ended up raiding they would still be prepared. "Talk" Think

It didn’t take much convincing for Sirius to follow his General from the pack lands. Her rise in ranks was well deserved, but measured up also to the respect he showed her. She had earned her stripes in the Armada, and her voice mattered to him. The idea of his wolves training beyond the safety of the Armada concerned him. But, he trusted in Tamsyn, and after all, they were training them to fight for themselves. A group of training Armada warriors was something to leave others to fear.

“A far cry from long grass and shifting sand” he agreed easily, nosing through the trees and streams with a critical eye. He appreciated Tamsyn’s time in ensuring the warriors were trained in different terrains and situations. The last raid still left him with gritted teeth. The Aerie wolves had been out for blood. He might have found some respect for them, fighting with all they had to defend their territory. Only, the Warlord hadn’t been there to take anything they could not do without. And one of them had tried to take the entire tail off his very young child. There was a certain code of honour he operated under, and they had broken it. He would never find respect for those wolves, and wished them ill. He shook his head, clearing the thought, and looked across the land once more. “I believe this place will do well.”

She gave her Warlord a proud smile as he approved her choice in possible training ground. She'd have to work through how she wanted the training to actually go and would have to see how many Students they had to make sure they had an even number of fighters, but she was excited. Ever since she became General she had been extremely nervous about teaching and she was really just now getting comfortable enough in her skills to be confident in arranging something like this. She'd been afraid that her loss during their most recent raid would end up derailing her progress in convincing herself that she deserved her position, but the more she thought about that fight she really wasn't sure if there was anything else she could have done differently. It had just been a strange fight with an unusual weapon that had thrown her off. "Good! I'll see about getting that arranged soon then," she replied as she began to examine the trees around them again. She hoped that this would be the first in several trainings they would do outside of their usual lands, but she'd have to see how this one went. Of course they would need to train on their home turf as well since they were just as responsible for defending their lands as they were being offensive in their fighting. Her thoughts were disrupted when she noticed a rustling in the branches above her, the sound making her ears perk and her head tip back to look for the source of the sound. She had half expected it to just be some birds that were nesting there or perhaps a squirrel, but what she did see was a large pair of blue eyes watching her very closely. She stopped walking and looked at the creature curiously. She had never seen a primate before so she wasn't sure what to call the lemur, but it seemed to be a very young version of... whatever it was. "Hey.... Sirius," she whispered, getting his attention without looking away from the solid black lemur that was holding on to the branch almost directly above her head. "Do you know what kind of animal that is?" she asked him softly, too afraid that she might scare it away to speak too loudly. "Talk" Think

“Sounds good, take a few senior warriors with you, I'm sure they’ll benefit from teaching” and would ensure there were plenty of experienced warriors for Tamsyn to take charge of should they run into trouble. It could be said that the Warlord was mildly paranoid, but he did not mess around when it came to the safety of his people.

The Warlord had been walking towards the perimeter, searching for scents of rogues or any indication that others might live here, when Tam’s voice caught his attention. He turned back to her, and his teeth began to peel in a snarl. When he realised she was unafraid, he let it loosen. Remembering how she had wanted him to think the best of the bear, and that had turned out well.

Still, he came closer, returning to her side, and looking up at the creature. He was taller then Tamsyn, putting his nose close to the black creature's fur. He didn’t try to bite it, this was Tamsyn’s find. “It’s a monkey, a primate. I couldn’t tell you what kind” he frowned, and looked closer. “No, not a monkey. That tail would make a very nice pillow, however.”

She had been too focused on the creature to notice the snarl that Sirius had pulled at first. If she had she probably would have at least given him a disapproving frown. It was so cute and fluffy and certainly didn't deserve any sort of aggression. She glanced toward him when he informed her that it was a primate before looking back at the animal with even more curiosity than before. She'd heard of primates before, but she had never seen one. It's little hands seemed to hold on to the branch so well and she couldn't help but smirk when he mentioned how its very long, fluffy tail would be a good pillow. She couldn't disagree with him on that point. The lemur was looking at them both warily from where it was lingering in the tree and she couldn't say she blamed it. After all, she'd probably be a bit nervous too if two creatures much bigger than her that could possibly eat her just walked up and started staring at her. She silently made the decision that she'd try to befriend it the same way Sirius had with his companions and how Resin had the jackals she took with her to fights. This primate certainly didn't seem as fierce or scary as a bear or jackals, but she thought it fit her. Perhaps he would be helpful with other things. She had been meaning to try her hand at crafting some armor and she bet his little fingers would be great at that. "Hello there," she called up to him, smiling as she started trying to figure out how she might get him to come down. What did lemurs even like? She had no idea how to entice him to come down or if he could even make out what she was saying. He did at least look like he was listening to her so that was a start. "Hey, I think we could be good friends!" she told him, her tail wagging softly. "Do you wanna come live with me?" The lemur tipped his head as he seemed to be considering her with his large, bright blue eyes. It didn't really seem to be making him move though and she hummed thoughtfully. "What do primates like?" she asked Sirius, giving him a glance. "Talk" Think

He looked across at his trusted General, and would see the fascination in her expression. She was feeling an attachment to this creature. He would be a fool not to see that. He thought of Bast, about finding her as a babe. He would have eaten her without a second thought, if Zee hadn’t stopped him. And his kids would have been raised with one less guardian, and his family would have been missing a whole he never knew would have existed. There was something strange about companions, but they were undeniably an important part of wolf life.

So, he would not eat this long tailed not-monkey. But… he would make sure to tease her first. “Dinner?” he offered as a suggestion to what it was. He had a companion-trader he had gone to on more the one occasion to find battle companions for his wolves. He could ask this trader the species of primate this was, if Tamsyn was serious about adopting it.

His lightly wagging tail would give away the game, and tell Tam he wasn’t serious about eating her new friend. As she glanced to him once more, questioning what to offer the creature, the Warlord turned around and padded back a few steps. He raised his head to gain Marshal’s attention, and the vulture drifted down to him. “I saw some fruit trees back near the entrance of the mangrove, could you grab me a couple apples?” he asked the bird.

He turned back to Tamsyn and offered her an encouraging smile. But keeping the distance. He would not scare off her new friend with his imposing size. When Marshal returned, the bird landed on Tamsyn’s back, holding the apple out past the wolfs side, and dropping it lightly on the ground for the General to pick up.

Tamsyn's mouth dropped open with shock at the very idea that Sirius might eat this cute, fluffy creature. Once she looked at him to reprimand him for even suggesting such a thing she noticed his wagging tail and realized he had been joking with the statement. It was hard to tell sometimes - he said most things with such seriousness that it was hard to distinguish what was joke from truth. She gave him a glare, but a little smirk still pulled at her muzzle. She liked when his humor came out. He was really quite funny when he let himself be. She watched him step away and asked that his vulture companion go to fetch a few apples for them. Apples! That was a great idea. Fruit seemed like just the kind of thing this blue-eyed money like thing would like. She smiled and her tail wagged excitedly before she glanced up at the lemur again. In the time that she hadn't been watching he had worked his way down the tree a bit and was now sitting on the lowest branch. He was watching them both curiously, his long, fluffy tail swaying gently as it hung over the edge of the branch. Tamsyn grinned and resisted the urge to try and get closer to him, instead waiting for the apples to arrive. Eventually Sirius' companion returned and Tam looked over her shoulder at the vulture as he landed on her back and deposited the apples beside her. "Thank you!" she told the bird gratefully before he took off again. She looked over at the lemur again with a smile. "Do you like apples?" she asked him, picking up one of the pieces of fruit carefully between her teeth and lifting it up so that he could reach it. After a momentary hesitation the wide eyed young primate reached out and took it from her before immediately beginning to take several bites from the sweet fruit. Tam smiled a huge, pleased smile and glanced over to Sirius, ready to tell him that it had worked. Before she could speak though, the lemur hopped down from the branch he had been perched on and landed on her back, still holding the half-eaten apple in one hand. It made Tamsyn jump a little from surprise and she looked back over her shoulder at him. They looked at each other for a moment, mint and blue eyes watching each other curiously. Eventually the lemur settled into her scruff and held on tight to her fur with his very nimble feet and one free hand before going back to bunch on his apple. Her tail began to wag furiously and she giggled happily at the development. "I think I'll call you Blue... What do you think?"  The lemur looked at her just as curiously as before, but didn't seem to object. They'd clearly need to learn how to talk to each other, but she had a companion! She was thrilled all the same and when she looked back to her Warlord again she looked like a kid on Christmas morning. "Thanks for your help, Sirius! I think Blue is going to be a big help." "Talk" Think