Kotori made his way to the edge of Elysium territory, ears pricked for sounds of any nearby wolves. A bag was lowered to the ground before howling a request for Manea’s presence. He had no children to offer her to cement a relationship as Ashen had. Still, Manea had seemed pleasant and their last meeting had gone well when he’d advised her of what would likely happen. So this shouldn’t be a surprise.

Howling for the matriarch he waited patiently at the edge of the Elysium wolves' territory. In the big was a bottle of liquor his father had given him. It was the main thing Kotori had asked for, lots of alcohol for the party but he’d also been turning it into gifts for the packs he hoped to ally with. Kotori would need to grab more ale before the party. Aside from the alliance, he would also mention the upcoming party. It seemed as if the moment Kotori stopped to wait for anything a list of items that needed to be done started flowing through his mind.

Kotori’s injuries had healed over at this point. It had taken the worst of them more than long enough. Kotori had been sure to bathe well before he showed up today. If Kotori wanted to prove his pack to be of value he couldn’t just aim for ‘good enough’ or half ass’ng important details such as good impression on alliances.

"Kotori Fatalis"

Manea was fairly good at recognizing voices and remembering wolves she met so when Kotori howled for her from the border she listened with a pleased smile. She couldn’t imagine that the young man would come calling again if he didn’t have something of substance to present so she was eager to hear what news he had to share. Slipping away from Kavik, Manea made her way quickly across the land bridge to the mainland, crossing over to the edge of her territory that surrounded the Firefly Lake. She was met with the fairly familiar sight of the earthen-hued male that was waiting with her with a bag of some sort at his side.

She gave his possible gift a curious glance before turning her full attention to her guest, offering him a friendly grin. “Well, what a pleasant surprise!” she said as she reached where he was waiting, settling gracefully onto her haunches across from him. “It’s good to see you again, Kotori. I hope that you calling for me means you have good news?”

"Manea Mendacium"

Manea didn’t leave Kotori waiting long.  As large as the Elysium pack land was Kotori realized it could mean a long wait.  The smile she offered Kotori was returned with a dip of his head.  The fact Manea thought his visit was a pleasant surprise was a good sign.  After their last visit it certainly had seemed likely Manea might be willing to agree to an alliance but that didn’t mean it would for sure happen.  He could have read her thoughts wrong, she could have changed her mind after he lost that challenge, or just decided Elysium had enough alliances already for all Kotori knew.  Still, Kotori held good hope and belief this would work out.

“Good news indeed.” Kotori nodded with pride in his voice.  “As you saw,” Kotori had to admit grudgingly, “I lost the battle for rights to the rapids land.” He shrugged but the smile grew again as he added,“that crazy wolf left after saying she intended to defend the land from me.  No one else has come to try and take it.  The land is mine.  My pack, Valta, officially claims the rapids as well as Sunset falls.” Maybe he sounded a bit overly proud there but this was Kotori's moment in time, achieving the goal he'd worked so hard for.

“It appears your pack and mine will indeed be neighbors.  So, this is my formal request we set up an alliance.” Kotori picked up the bag to put it a bit closer to her.  “As an offer of goodwill and, hopefully, a celebration of a new alliance, I brought a bottle of wine as a gift.”  

Too bad he had to lose that fight.  It would have been more fun to proudly say how he had won the challenge match but that was in the past.  He had fought, he had lost, and then he had regained it.  In the end, Kotori still got what he wanted and that was what was important at the end of the day.

"Kotori Fatalis"

As she had hoped, Kotori brought the good news of the founding of his pack. In a way she appreciated how he made a point to mention the challenge that he had ultimately lost. Because of her own experience and the way that Elysium came to be it made their paths incredibly similar so there was a kind of kinship that she felt with him from that. She couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculousness over the fact that his challenger had fought so hard to protect this land from him only to not claim it herself, but she knew there could be numerous reasons for that decision. Either way, it meant that Kotori got the land he wanted in the end and she was proud for him. It was obvious that he was proud of himself as well, but why wouldn't he be? There was a lot of hard work and faith that went into creating something like this so he deserved to be proud.

Kotori was to the point and straight forward with his request then, stating that they would indeed be neighbors after all and therefore he would like to create an alliance with her pack. Her brows raised with a bit of surprise at his directness with his request after only one meeting prior to this one, but a grin still tugged at her lips at his confidence. She glanced down at the gift he passed over to her and she reached into the bag, pulling out the bottle of wine he offered with a pleased hum. "I have to admit, I do like your style, Kotori," she said with a chuckle, giving him a smile as she sat the bottle down between them again.

"I was once in your position—not all that long ago recently. I staked my claim on a piece of land up north and ultimately lost to my challenger. I then went on to build Elysium as you see it today," she admitted, feeling that he should know her journey since she had witnessed his. "I'm inclined to agree to your offer as long as you agree to my terms. I currently have standing alliances with The Hallows and Ashen so I will not agree to any alliances that conflict with my current ones. I don't believe that will be a problem for you given your relationship with Ashen and your sister being the other half of The Hallows' ruling pair, but I just want to make sure that is clear. The offer I give to all of my allies is to have open borders as long as they announce themselves when stepping into my lands and if you have anything you wish to trade in the future we can establish a trade route of sorts. As long as all of that is agreeable to you then I think Elysium and Valta can consider themselves allies."

"Manea Mendacium"