The black and gray woman lingered near what seemed to be a gathering place in the middle of the pack, finding herself a place that she could be tucked into and be out of the way. Being alone was a new thing for her. When she was very young she was always with her parents or siblings and once she became an adult she was always with Osmond since he very rarely let her out of his sight. Now Osmond was gone and Tamsyn had to live her own life and keep up with the duties and responsibilities she seemed to have here. Rhona wasn't quite sure where she stood here just yet and her mind was still just beginning to process this culture shock that was so entirely overwhelming to her. Her mind flashed to the image that was burned there of Osmond's body torn to shreds and left as nothing more than a pool of blood and unrecognizable pieces and a small shudder ran down her spine. It wasn't the fact that it was Osmond that got her - no, he deserved every single moment of that carnage - but just seeing that play out in front of her was not something she was able to comprehend. She wasn't new to violence, but murder was one of the few things that had been outright outlawed in her old life. She had to assume that it wasn't necessarily common place here either, but the fact that it had been done at all still threw her. It made her go back and forth between being happy that she was here and finally free of the tyranny that she had been living in and being incredibly nervous about this place that she had ended up in. "Speech"

Asla had been moving some of the last items from the communal den to her new, personal den when she saw the sulking girl. Asla could practically smell the apprehension and nervousness on her. Her father again, no doubt. Always bringing home strays. Not that she could talk anymore. She'd brought home Bas, hadn't she?

Dropping the roll of skins in the grass, the young princess padded over to the new wolf. "Who are you?" The brow above her marked eye raised in question. "And why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Asla had never seen a ghost, but she'd probably made a few.

Rhona jumped a little at the sound of a voice speaking to her and she lifted her amber eyes till they landed on a tan and gray-marked young woman. She was smaller than herself in height and build and somehow that didn't keep her from being any less apprehensive about meeting her. At first she didn't quite register the questions she had been asked and realized with a start that she was just kind of staring at the stranger instead of actually answering. She dropped her eyes back to the ground as her ears flicked back with embarrassment. "Sorry... I'm Rhona." The first wolf she met in the pack besides Tamsyn and Sirius and this was how it started... wonderful. She tried to gather up what scraps of confidence she had, but they were still threadbare from the events that had happened a few days prior. She wasn't sure how to answer the question of why she looked like she had seen a ghost. There were so many layers to that and she didn't know where to begin or if she should even try. "I'm just processing some... things," she said, landing on what was possibly the vaguest answer she could have possibly thought of. Even to her own ears it sounded insufficient and irritating so she sighed and glanced off to the side as she tried again. "I had an abusive mate and he chased me here. He was murdered and Sirius let me stay." That was really just scratching the surface, but she hoped it was enough to explain her far off gaze and jumpy demeanor. Her eyes landed on the roll of hides that was laying behind the woman, realizing she must have been carrying them before she stopped to talk to her. "Would you... like some help?" she offered with a small nod toward the roll. If there was anything that could get her out of talking about herself for a moment and perhaps make up for the awkward start to their conversation she would do it. "Speech"

Another timid female?  Gods above... Was there no such thing as self respect in the rest of the world? Seeing the woman cower was sickening. The young girl furrowed her brow as the woman immediately apologized. A sign of weakness. She gave her name as Rhona and Aslatiel accepted it with a nod.

Rhona went on to say that she was processing things,  then,  as though she realized how cryptic that sounded,  she elaborated. Abusive mate. Dead. Her father let the woman stay. Sounded about right. "My father does like to collect the broken," she spoke more to herself than to Rhona. "So who killed him?" That was the interesting part,  wasn't it?

Rhona,  having seen the roll of furs,  offered to help. Asla thought it over for a moment but eventually nodded. "Sure. You grab this one,  I'll grab more." Leaving the roll where she'd dropped it,  Aslatiel grabbed another bundle of things from the communal den then made her way back to the skittish woman.  "Come on then."

Hefting her pack,  Asla led the way across the length of the territory to the opposite side. Her father had constructed this den as a birthday gift. She had her own space now.  Motioning for Rhona to follow her inside,  Asla spotted into the den. There were a few different chambers off of one large,  tall space. One at the back was significantly smaller than the rest. "You can put the furs in there." She began putting her other things away in the mean time.

“My father does like to collect the broken.” That hit her harder than the girl probably meant for it to - if she had meant for it to be heard at all with how she had said it mostly to herself. It made a knot twist in her stomach. Was that all she was? The broken? How had Tamsyn gotten to be how she was now? Were they not cut from the same cloth? All these questions floated around in her head and distracted her to the point that she almost missed the follow up question that was given to her. “Resin,” she replied, giving the large, scarred woman’s name. She still hadn’t quite convinced herself to face Resin since the day she killed Osmond despite how close she was with Tamsyn, but at some point she knew she would want to thank her for what she did. When her offer to help was accepted, Rhona got to her feet and went to where the furs were laying and waited there for the tan woman to reappear. She realized when she looked at her a second time that there were also some interesting green-hued markings around her body as well, but it was mostly just a passing observation. She picked up the bundle she had been assigned to and carried it as she followed behind the young woman dutifully. She liked having a task, even if it was just a simple one like this. At least it was better than laying there afraid of her own thoughts. At the silent invitation to come inside, Rhona did just that, her orange-hued eyes looking around the space curiously. With a nod to the instructions she was given, she gently placed the furs she had been carrying in their designated space before backing out into the main chamber again. “Um... I don’t think I caught your name,” she mentioned, letting her focus return to the tan and gray woman again after she finished admiring the space. "Speech"

Ears parked as Rhona spoke the name of the once that had killed her former mate. Asla chuckled and grinned. "Ahh, my grandmother. Yeah, that's something she'd do." Though Resin was a very calm sort of wolf, Asla had always felt that there was another side to the one-eyed woman. This proved it.

Into the den they went. Rhona began putting the furs away. She did pipe up though and asked Aslas name. Grey ears perked and she looked over her shoulder at the dark woman. "Aslatiel Fatalis. Princess of the Armada." The girl slid her paints onto a shelf dug out in the wall.

"So what did he do that was so bad? Had to be something pretty substantial for my grandmother to go so far." Next she took out her old star maps and began to shelve those as well. She rolled one open and almost reverently brushed her pads over the dried paint. She had loved stars when she was younger.

Rhona committed the name to memory with a small nod. She ended up settled on her haunches in the middle of the main chamber, passively watching Aslatiel put away some belongings. She wasn’t sure if she should stay or go, but she wasn’t asked to leave so she decided to just stay until told otherwise. And then came the question of what Osmond had done. Her ears flicked and she looked off to the side, looking out through the entrance of the den. It was probably easier to say what he hadn’t done, but she was sure her host mostly just cared  for how it pertained to her grandmother. “Well, Resin didn’t really attack him because of me I don’t think. He had chased Tamsyn and I into the pack’s territory... He was also Tamsyn’s brother and was one of the ones that had abused her growing up so I’m sure that had a lot to do with Resin’s reasoning.” She had really become a bystander in the whole thing and at least in this context what he had done to her was just another thing on the list of why he needed to die. Her eyes glanced toward Aslatiel again before shifting to the floor in front of her paws. “The place where Tamsyn and I grew up was... very different from here. Us women were treated very poorly and were expected to be property of the men,” she explained to give a bit more context. “The man Resin killed... He always took it too far. Gave Tamsyn half of the scars she has now, indirectly killed my older sister, made me be his mate instead, forced himself on me every night, attacked Tamsyn immediately when we crossed paths with her near here...” He had a long list of crimes to his name and she listed them off with a deadpan tone. She almost felt numb to the reality of it now and had honestly said far more than she really meant to. The words had started tumbling out and she hadn’t really known where to stop. "Speech"

Things were starting to make sense now. Resin had killed the man for Tamsyn. As Rhona explained further, stating what he had done, Asla snorted. "He deserved it. I'm sad I wasn't there to see it." Or help with it. Not so much because she cared what he had done in his past, but because she enjoyed bloodshed.

The whole situation clearly upset Rhona still. The girl supposed that she could understand. Purple eyes narrowed for a moment before she moved forward and gave the dark woman a shoulder bump. "We aren't like that here. Women can be as strong as they want to be." With her little gesture of camaraderie, the cream and grey lass went back to organizing her belongings.

"With practice, " she began, setting up some pottery on a shelf. "You could be strong. No one will ever walk all over you again." Lavender eyes flashed to Rhona for a moment. "You have to really want it though. It's hard work." She seemed to inspect the woman for a minute. "I could help you though, if you want. I train every day."

Rhona easily nodded in agreement when she heard the smaller woman say that Osmond had deserved it. He certainly had and she wasn't denying that, it had just been the amount of bloodshed and violence behind his death that had thrown her. Even if he had been killed more simply or not ripped apart when it was done perhaps she'd have an easier time, but he hadn't been. He'd been torn to shreds and had left a massive splash of blood across the ground in the wake of his death. The very logical and analytical side of her brain told her that it didn't matter how he died, it only mattered that he had, but the sheltered, emotional side still hadn't really processed what she had seen. She looked up at Aslatiel with surprise as she approached, blinking when she bumped her shoulder. The simple gesture pulled a slight smile to her lips. It wasn't a big gesture by any means, but she still appreciated it all the same. She had already begun to figure out that things were very different here. The fact that Sirius had begun her training her very first day here very clearly painted a picture that women were not treated any differently here from the men. It was a fact she was slowly adjusting to, but she was excited and nervous for the change all the same. Learning how to fight was probably the biggest adjustment for her of anything... either that or learning to not immediately act submissive to any males she came across. She watched Aslatiel go back to sorting and putting away her things, feeling a bit more calm than when she had first arrived. It had felt like it was her against herself, and she still felt that way to a certain degree, but at least the had the opportunity to get better here. Back in her old life that opportunity was never been a blip on any of their radar. There was a status quo and she was not allowed to step outside of that box. Rho nodded with understanding to the fact that it was going to be a lot of work. There was going to be a lot of hurdles for her to go though, mentally and physically, to get to where she needed to be, but she wanted those things. She wanted to be strong and she never wanted anyone to treat her the way she had been treated in the past. She was ready and willing to put in the work, she just needed to learn how to be patient with herself during the long road to get there. Her smile widened in response to the offer to help her with her training, her tail wagging gently against the den's floor. "I would really appreciate that." She knew that Sirius would probably continue to help with her training as well and she could ask Tamsyn as well, but she hated feeling like a burden. Perhaps if she had enough wolves to learn from she could spread her time out between them so she wouldn't bother one particular wolf so often. "Speech"

Rhona seemed excited by the prospect of training. Asla liked seeing the smile on her face, no matter how hesitant it had been at the start. She was determined to make this new wolf strong. She was tired of all of the weaklings that ended up at the Armadas door. "There are a lot of people that will help. Me, my father, my brothers Azure, Indigo and Mortis, Tamsyn, my grandmother too, but you might be afraid of her now." Asla shot Rhona a reassuring smile. "She's actually really nice, I promise. She's just... protective." That was the best way to put it for now.

Putting the last of her things away, thre girl turned to look at the larger female. "Well. Do you want to start now? We can spar outside in the clearing or I can take you to the barracks and we can practice with the training dummies." The cream and grey girl tilted her head. "What else do you like to do? Any other interests or skills?" She chuckled. "We don't just train fighters."

With a pull of her skull, Asla motioned for Rhona to follow her outside. Even if she didn't want to spar, there was no use stayng inside on such a fine day. The breeze was sweet smelling. The sun was warm. The little rodent birds were singing in the blue sky. Asla closed her eyes and inhaled the sweet summer air. "Well, Rho, what do you want to do? The world is your dead baby deer. All you have to do is crack open its ribcage to get to the good stuff." Horrible analogy, but this was Aslatiel.

Rhona was actually a little surprised as she listened to the quite extensive list of wolves that Aslatiel seemed to think would help her with her training. There were some names she knew and some she didn't, but she hoped that she would meet them sooner rather than later. A little, guilty smirk crossed her face when the smaller woman mentioned that she was probably afraid of Resin now and it was a pretty true guess. She didn't want to be and eventually she would get over it, but it had certainly been quite a display of violence and strength that was very much not something she was used to or comfortable with seeing. Protective was probably putting it lightly. She wouldn't have wanted to see what Resin would have done if Osmond had done much more than get a bite or two in on Tamsyn. She blinked with surprise when Aslatiel suggested that they get started with the training and practice now. They certainly didn't waste any time around here. Sirius had done the same thing after meeting him. She couldn't really say that she minded necessarily, it just felt like a pretty sudden shift in topics and activities. When the topic of what else she was interested in or did came up, Rhona had to think for a moment before she answered. "Well, my mother, sisters, and I used to craft things pretty often," she mentioned with a small smile. There wasn't many fond memories from her previous life to think of, but those were a few she could think back on happily. "We made all kinds of stuff... leather satchels, bundles of kindling for fires, travois for carrying prey back on..." She knew there was other stuff as well, but that was a few things that she could think of off the top of her head. At Aslatiel's gesturing, she followed her pack mate back out into the open. She blinked and looked at her with confusion at the quite morbid analogy she had used, but after a beat of slightly concerned silence a laugh bubbled up in her chest and she found herself laughing lightly instead. It felt good to laugh, it wasn't something she had ever done much till now. "Lets... spar," she answered with a bit of uncertainty, her tail wagging with an eager, anxious energy. "Here in the clearing is fine." She had already been down to the training area with Sirius so this would give her a bit of a change of pace to test what she had learned with him. "Speech"

Rhona was into crafting. Asla could see the woman being a crafter. If she wanted to get stronger though so no one would ever push her around again, she would have to become a fighter. The girl was happy when Rhona agreed to a spar. The striped young wolf grinned and motioned for the older lady to follow. She swept out into the clearing and turned to stand across from what was now her opponent.

"Attack me like you would attack someone that's going to hurt you. Don't hold back, okay? I'm tougher than I look." A disclaimer. Aslatiel felt that she had to tell others this simply because she was so small. She hated it when people held back because of her size or title. It was incredibly annoying.

Squaring her shoulders, Aslatiel smiled one last time. "Ready?" With that, she leaped forward, rushing Rhona with the intent to slam her left shoulder into Rhona's left shoulder to knock her off balance. Jaws would open wide and she would aim to sink her teeth into her back, left knee to pull it out from under her.

Aslatiel Sirin Fatalis vs Rhona for Spar
Round 1/2
Age: Over 1 year.
Size: Small
Build: Light
Mutation 1: Cat claws - Offensive
Skills: Advanced Hunter & Master Fighter
Specialty: Knight

Rhona thought back to the lessons she had been through so far and the practicing she had done so far as she squared off in front of Aslatiel. While she was certainly more comfortable with and faster at getting into her defensive stance than she had first been when Sirius was teaching her, she still wasn't nearly as natural at it as she was sure Aslatiel would be. That was okay though - she had to learn some how and if her new friend was willing to spar and help her get there then she was willing to go through the awkwardness of it all. She settled down into a slightly widened stance with her toes digging into the soil as she braced herself. Her head tucked down over her throat and her shoulders rolled forward so that her scruff bunched around her neck. She felt a bit like she was going through a check list of what she needed to do in order to fight and in a way she kind of was. So hoped that eventually she would be able to do all of this without thinking about it, but until she got to that point she would just continue to do it this way. She gave a small nod in agreement when Aslatiel told her to attack like she was someone trying to hurt her and to not hold back. The irony was that she had always learned to not fight back when she was getting hurt, but that was a thing of the past now. Now she needed to retrain her brain and how she responded to everything. With one last nod to confirm that she was ready, she braced herself as Aslatiel came rushing toward her. She was small and fast and Rho's reaction times weren't quite fast enough to keep up. She tried to lunge out of the way, but didn't quite make it and she felt the smaller woman's shoulder connect. It knocked her off balance a bit since her momentum was already heading toward her right, but as she staggered to the side she was able to twist the lower half of her body out of Aslatiel's reach as she regained her balance so she was able to avoid the bite she had aimed at her back leg. Trying to act quick, she lunged forward and tried to wrap her front legs around Asla's neck while her teeth went for the girl's scruff, hoping she might be able to use her height and heavier build to her advantage in order to over power Aslatiel. She wasn't entirely sure if this was a smart move or not, but she was just trying to let her instincts guide her since she wasn't entirely sure how to be offensive with her attacks. Rhona vs Aslatiel for Spar Round 1/2 Age: Over 1 year Size: Large Build: Medium Skills: Novice Fighter & Novice Intellectual Specialty: N/A "Speech"

Rhona agreed to treat her like a full sized opponent. There would be no holding back. There really was no other way to learn. As Aslatiel made her attack, Rhona managed to sidestep just enough to avoid the bite to her knee, but not the slam to her shoulder. As the woman staggered, Asla took up the slack, sticking close and waiting for her next opportunity to attack.

The larger woman tried to wrap her forelegs around Aslatiel and, surprisingly, the girl let her. Before the bite could land though, the small, striped fae threw her full weight to the side. She spun, landing on her back on the ground. All four paws, including the two with sharp, retractable claws, pointed upwards as she sought to kick the other woman hard in the chest and belly. The front paws would prick Rhona with claws, but Asla didn't have them fully extended. They were more of a reminder than anything.

Aslatiel Sirin Fatalis vs Rhona for Spar
Round 2/2
Age: Over 1 year.
Size: Small
Build: Light
Mutation 1: Cat claws - Offensive
Skills: Advanced Hunter & Master Fighter
Specialty: Knight