Acciona knew there had been a lot going on in the Armada lately, but so far she had missed most of the excitement. She had been spending quite a bit of time wandering around lands surrounding the territory, enjoying the freedom she felt. Never in her life had she been able to move around unclaimed lands with any sense of safety, and even claimed lands felt unstable before she had joined the Armada. But her demons were dead, she had watched them die and there was no questioning if they would be coming for her again.

Despite all of that though, and the new things she’d been able to discover, she knew that she needed to step up in the Armada. She’d been hiding away and using her lack of experience as a crutch, and while she was trying to better herself, she needed to start forcing herself to mingle with the rest of her packmates until it didn’t feel awkward for her anymore. And she needed to start paying Sirius back for all he’d done for her. The only way to do that would be to work on things that actually benefited the pack, and not just her.

It was with that in mind that she began to head out, hoping to find someone new. It would be a start, and perhaps if she was lucky they would point her in the right direction of things that needed to be done that weren’t beyond her abilities still. She would learn, with time, but she refused to a nobody in the pack any longer.

"Speech."

Naiche had more work to do now than he once had.  Naiche was a general now!  The word rang in his head with a note of pride.  He had just turned two and already accomplished what he had set out to do, at least partially.  The goal to grow strong and rise up wasn’t something that was ever really accomplished as to stop meant to grow weaker.  Still, even if the main part of his job was training now he wouldn’t quit all of his patrols. Admittedly he was keeping to a walk for a portion of his patrol with his shoulders complaining on his recent misuse of them.   He could smell spring was on the wind, no more stray snowflakes trying to make their way onto the land and the scent of ice no that made his nose tingle.  As he moved on he saw a wolf farther in the pack land he had not met before.  A glance past the border with a cautious eye as if someone might jump out now where it was fine before then turning to trot towards the stranger.  The scent of the armada was on them and Naiche had to assume new and if not question why he hadn’t seen her before. Naiche stopped at a polite distance looking her over.  She was an adult but small, around the same size as Asla in fact. Asla had more than proved small size didn’t have anything to do with how strong or weak a wolf was.  Why was he thinking of Asla?  “Hello,” a bit of formal courtesy towards this new wolf, “I wasn’t aware we had brought in some fresh blood, but its good to see.”  He was certainly assuming she was new.  “I’m Naiche, general for the armada.” Yah, it was even greater saying it than thinking it. "Naiche"

It wasn’t long before she was spotted by a golden hued man, and he quickly approached, temporarily abandoning whatever task he had been attending to, to come and greet her. He was larger in size than she was, but she was tiny, and most wolves were larger than her so she had gotten used to it, despite her timid nature. Besides, this was one of her packmates, and despite her anxieties, she knew that know one here would harm her. This was a safe place, perhaps not from scolding if she continued to be as useless as she had been, but she would work to change that. Hopefully before anyone got too upset with her.

She offered the man a smile, forced and awkward, but a smile nonetheless. He spoke, mentioning new blood and she quickly realized that she had been so good at concealing herself here that he didn’t even recognize her. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did bring about a fresh wave of shame. Her ears fell against her head as she wondered how to respond, not wanting to lie by pretending she’d just joined, but not wanting to openly voice her own failures. "I’m Acciona. I uh- returned last season after… Some time away."

The way it was phrased it almost sounded as though she’d taken a vacation, or perhaps been sent on a mission, though anyone who exchanged more than a couple words with her would likely doubt she was capable of going away on her own to do anything very important for the pack. She wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of divulging the whole story of her kidnapping though, especially with her captors dead. Sirius had killed them, which meant they were no longer relevant outside of the context of her past, but she was certain the general didn’t want a whole run down of her history. He must be a busy man, with much better things to do than to listen to her sob story.

"Speech."

They seemed to be getting a number of returning members.  Strange but equally strange was the number of wolves that left the armada.  Naiche had been here a season now and the number of wolves had dropped quite a bit so it was good some returned to replace their numbers.  How could wolves so easily leave the pack?  To Naiche once in a pack, it was a thing to stay in for life, especially one as perfect as the armada. “Well, welcome back, belatedly” Offered with a formal sort of politeness.  She didn’t seem to have the confidence that so many in the armada had.  “I’m patrolling.  Why don’t you patrol with me and tell me about yourself? “  It was important to know every wolf in the pack.  He needed to know who were fighters or what other jobs they had, as well as simply for the sake of bonding or how to work as teams.  “What have you been doing during the winter? I work hard at knowing all who live in the pack.” Admittedly winter had been harsh on Naiche, so perhaps he had slacked off a bit too much? "Speech"

He welcomed her back, though it wasn’t exactly in a friendly, conversational tone. It wasn’t harsh, or angry, or judgemental. At least not yet. She nodded a silent thanks, taking in his offer to patrol. Again, it didn’t seem like an invitation to hang out, and there was little room for her to decline. This was what she needed, though, so she was grateful for him taking the lead and trying to pull information from her. She needed to be more involved around the pack, and with him being the General, she could imagine it must be odd to him that they’d never met before, let alone him having never seen her around. She had known she’d done well to isolate herself, but hadn’t realized just how effective she had been. It was a skill she’d learned early, and trying to go unnoticed had become instinctual for her. She had to fight against her natural habits to put herself out there,

"Of course." She said softly, moving to walk alongside him for the patrol. "I’ve been familiarizing myself with the lands around the Armada." She wasn’t sure if that was a sufficient answer, but wasn’t sure how else to explain what she’d been doing. "Before… Before I went away, I wasn’t really able to get out much." She had tried, once, but it had ended in her recapture by Enno.

"Speech."

Naiche was all about work.  So even as he had the new wolf come with him for a patrol he was giving the environment the same amount of attention as he did to get to know the stranger.  “I’m hardly a sort to aim for casual socializing but be aware it's just as important to know the members of the pack you belong to as it is the land.  If a fight happens your life is as much in their paws as theirs are in yours.” He paused glancing at the ground to look more pointedly at Acciona, “Anyone you haven’t met yet you should make a point of going to say hello.”  It was made as a point of fact not arguing whether she had or hadn’t.   That said moving back forward, walking through the pain-in-the-tail snow.  “What do you happen to gain from the armada?  Everyone here should be trying to better themselves.  Will you be a fighter, healer, hunter, or something else?” Fighting was of course Naiche’s favorite and a thing he felt like all wolves should love but had come to learn not all felt the same way he did.  If she was a hunter or healer he wouldn’t be able to help much in those skills but fighting, oh that was an area he could always help in. Naiche couldn’t smell any of the normal scents of spring.  No scents of fresh flowers or grass, no sign of bees flitting about or pheasants amongst the grass.  Nope.  Lots of snow though.  His eyes scanned the surrounding area.  If a bear would be kind enough to appear they could have some real fun.  No sign or scent of one at the moment sadly. "Naiche"