Hanako figured she'd spent enough time beating around the bush. The longer she put it off the more she got all worked up, her mind conjuring up all sorts of worst case scenarios. The worst of which Azure declared for all to hear that he despised her with his very being as The Warlord heartlessly tossed her out out of the Armada. It was a new, rather unwelcome feeling, having to worry about what the future would bring. Before everything had seemed so solid and certain, but now things were starting to shift and she wasn't quite sure how she felt about that.

Standing by the pond with her paws a few inches from the bank, Hanako took a long moment to watch her reflection. Nothing physically about her had changed, nor had she expected it to, but something, somewhere had shifted. She squinted and wondered if she was just making yet another mountain of out a molehill, if anything she ought to be proud of herself, that she was taking the incentive and getting stuff done on her own.  It was true she was simply following Azure's lead, doing whatever he commanded of her, but the fact that she was doing it so well and seamlessly was surely something to be proud of. Or at least she liked to think so.

With a sigh she tilted her head back and called for The Warlord. There was no urgency to her tone, just a polite and casual invitation.

The Warlord wasn’t far from his sister's den, and it was a short walk from Io’s cottage to the pond he had helped her construct. He did so at a light trot, answering the call from one of his newest members. The red-splotched wolf stood near the water. Her frame... even smaller then he remembered. What did his toughest child see in her? Or was he so much more like his father then he realised. Falling, in the end, for the underdog. He came to a stop before the silver-eyed wolf, and offered her a smile. She was an enigma, and he looked forward to a chance to learn more about her. “Hanako, hello. Settling in well?” "Speech"

The Warlord didn't leave her waiting for long. A few moments later, not that Hanako was counting the seconds or anything, he joined her beside the pond and...from what she could tell he seemed happy enough to heed her call. Any worries and all she'd had about bothering him were easily swept away by his smile and Hanako offered one in return as her tail curled high, swishing from side to side in an habitual but friendly gesture. Despite how approachable he made himself out to be she briefly wonder how friendly was too friendly, and where-if at all- should she draw the line? She wouldn't presume to act as though they were family but surely he wouldn't be offended by the fact that she was happy to see him, right?  No one wanted to be grimaced at and it wasn't like she was rolling over and showing off her belly, she was just acting chipper and young. Something he likely expected from her.

"Mm!" She nodded. "I'm really starting to like it here, everyone's been so nice. In fact, I met Natha by the river the other day and we had a good talk, she's really good at giving advice."

As with her last encounter Hanako decided to keep it short, sparing him of the uncertainty she'd shown Natha. On the other paw though, she knew it'd seem if little strange if she just blurted it out from seemingly out of nowhere. Yet again Hanako found herself walking a thin line. She took a breath, her lips pursed in thought as she put together an explanation, or the beginnings of one anyway.

"So I was thinking, you already have plenty of really talented warriors and healers at your disposal. I don't want to just fall in line with the others, I want to fill in the gaps of what you don't have." She turned to him, hoping to see a glint of approval in his eyes. "I won't pretend that I know much about leading an army, but I do know that it's important to know your enemy and that you can't always gather information through brute force. And I think I can do that for you, I want to be the Armada's spy."

The Warlord, with no idea of the internal-stressing going on inside of her, would continue to view her an interesting unknown. He couldn’t help but wonder how she, and no one else, and crept under Azure’s tough exterior. She mentioned a chat with their one and only none-wolf member. He hadn’t seen Natha engaging with the wolves much, so it seemed this was yet a second creature she had managed to warm towards her. It was true that the Armada had very few ways to gather intel at the moment. Perhaps there was merit to the girl’s words. She was already showing a glimmer of talent to working her way into the hearts of others. Briefly, the thought of a double-agent crossed his mind. However, he suspected they hadn’t created enough enemies yet for someone to go through the trouble of planting Hanako. He eyed her a moment longer in silence, considering it. He knew little of her, had no reason to trust her. Perhaps what he really needed to do was give her a chance to test her talents. To see if she gave him the truth, and the whole truth. But how? He began to form the inklings of an idea. “An interesting proposition Hanako... a spy, do you have what it takes? Can you form the appearance of friendship without attachment? Be alone in enemy territory? Think about the difficulties of what you're proposing, and if you believe you can do it, I will set something up for you.” he said, falling silent and giving her a moment to work it through. "Speech"

Normally Hanako would have simply nodded and told Sirius what she thought he wanted to hear. But his questions were heavier than most, and whilst circumstances often forced her to tell slightly altered versions of the truth she didn't want to lie to him or even get into the habit of lying. So instead she took the moment and looked out at the pond, her brows furrowed as her lips curved into a pensive frown. She took it one question at a time, like she was slowly ascending a set of stairs. As to where all of this would lead her, she didn't know yet but she'd surely find out sooner or later.

Hanako was certain that the first wouldn't be an issue. Though it wasn't out of heartlessness or lack of care, Hanako found it worryingly easy to sever ties. She'd never really put too much thought into it before, but despite all of the wolves she'd met during her travels she could never truthfully say that she missed any one of them. It wasn't to say that she wished them ill, it was just...well it was hard to put into words. Even more so because she'd never even stopped to consider why, it just seemed like a irrefutable fact. One she had no right to question. But if she must then, well it likely looped back to the fact that she felt as though life wasn't exactly her own. Besides if they had well and truly wanted to be her friend wouldn't they have forced the issue, fought for her and insured that she remained by their side? No one but Azure had done that, in part it was why she was so attached to him.

So could she put on the show of friendship and cast them aside when it was time? Yes, she could do that for the Armada.

The second was a little trickier. Hanako had a bit of trouble unpacking the meaning. Was he referring to the fact that she'd be alone without her packmates to back her up, if need be? That if she got into trouble would she be capable of getting herself out of it?  Or was it simpler than that, was he asking her if she could stand to be alone? Just her and a job that needed to be done. Hanako had long since concluded that she'd do whatever Azure asked of her and thus Sirius too, by extension. Prior to the Armada she'd never had a home anyway so she didn't think she'd get particularly homesick and besides she always felt a sense of peace and belonging when on the move. So whatever he meant...Hanako felt certain, or as close to it as she could get, that she'd be able to manage.

"I can do it." Was all she said.

She took her time deliberating his words. He would have respected her answer less if it had been instant. Though, of course she may have considered all implications before bringing this to him. He had her thinking, pondering, and working out if she wanted this. He wondered if her ties to Azure were strong enough to tie her to the Armada. Would she become lost in the job, and forget why she was doing what she did?

He didn’t know her very well at all. He had nothing but guesses. Time to create something to see what she could do. “Very well… I want to see what you can do. I’ve heard that Resin is planning to meet with someone, but can not figure out who, what, or where. Find this meeting, listen in, and report back to me. How you approach this is up to you.” he would have to figure out the particulars as soon as Hanako was gone. He stared, unblinking at the white woman. Tail swishing idly behind him. Would she take what might possible be her first mission?

Sirius accepted her words without fuss on fanfare. It was only natural that he wanted a demonstration of her ability and whilst she had no formal training per se she trusted in her wits to get her by. If she kicked up a fuss cause he didn't take her words at face value then it'd only prove that she wasn't ready or capable for this. She'd talked enough and now it was time for action.

"Course, I'll look into it. "

Of course, Hanako hadn't even met Resin by that point so she didn't even have face to put to that name but for the time being it didn't really matter and simply added another layer to the task. Her eyes narrowed in focus as she pondered the best approach. Naturally, the first step would be to figure out who Resin was and go from there, but she wondered just how difficult test Sirius intended for this to be. Would Resin know of the plan, would they be keeping an eye out for prying ears? Either way, Hanako knew-or at least hoped- that Sirius wasn't a cruel man, that he wasn't intentionally setting her up for failure. She expected some degree of challenge but wouldn't it be a waste of both of their time if he was asking the impossible of her? Deciding that it didn't really matter for now Hanako swept those thoughts aside as she shifted the weight from one paw to the other, ready to set off. Though before she left she turned to look at Sirius one more time, as though to make sure he had nothing left to say.