A cold front had moved in the night before, mixing with the warmth of summer and birthing a gray, humid morning. Mist rolled along the ground but it did not deter Natha from her morning patrol. The sun had risen above the horizon but it was hard to tell with the silver and gray clouds that draped over the sky. It was a quiet and peaceful morning. So far the only thing amiss was coming across a coyote. She was quick to dispatch it and toss it over the border before continuing on her way. Hopefully, it would serve as a warning to other foolish beasts.

She paused at the end of her patrol, lingering at the northwest border of the tall grass plains. She could hear the sound of prairie chicks and other fowl moving through the grasses. Perhaps that was her cue for breakfast. Or maybe she'd just do a bit of chasing for exercise.

Magnus was bored. What better way to spend your time than patrolling the borders? Magnus shrugged, left the den, and padded towards the edge of the territory. The morning was misty and cool for a warm summer and cause a slight chill to run down his spine. Shaking it off, he realized a moment later that he wasn't the only one with the idea to patrol this morning.

He'd never officially met Natha before, but how could you not know of the cat in the pack? Magnus smiled as his picked up the pace to a smooth trot and wagged his tail as he approached. "Good morning," He offered the cat with a small dip of his head. "Mind if I join you on your patrol?" He asked, noticing what she was looking at a moment later. A hunt maybe? Magnus wasn't exactly hungry, but he could certainly eat if the lieutenant needed her morning meal.

"Speech!"

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The wolves of the pack were growing ambitious and it seemed a rare occurrence that one could patrol in peace anymore. Already Natha had seemed to be deep into her check of the borders, Az had caught the scent of the coyote she'd tossed back out considerably less full of life then he assumed it started with. She was a good cat, and although he hadn't spend much time one-on-one with her, he begrudgingly respected the lieutenant. Magnus on the other hand, Azure was having trouble forgiving. He'd thought they'd bonded, Magnus was one of the few wolves young Azure had thought to consider a friend and then he'd up and vanished. Unfortunately for Mags, Azure could hold one hell of a grudge. "Oh, you've found a babysitter." He commented towards the earless man, his tone recognizably bitter. Turning from him with a huff he tipped his head to the lynx in a respectful greeting. "Poor Natha."  He made no movement to leave and simply peered over the border above the lynx's shoulder. "What's on the to-do-list today, Lieutenant?" It had been some time since he had some real interaction with other pack members aside from Hanako, and at the very least he might be able to get some more jabs in at Mags while watching to make sure he didn't turn coward and run away again. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Natha stalked along the border when her large ears picked up the sound of a wolf approaching from inside the territory. She looked to see Magnus and shook her head at his words. "Not at all. Just stretching my legs. You?" She did her best at striking up small talk but it still didn't come easy. Her kind were used to spending their lives alone apart from coming together to mate and of course raising kittens.

They were soon joined by Azure who shot off a loaded comment at Magnus. She cocked a brow at the younger wolf then smirked. "Hush, Azure. Don't mention the word 'babysitter' unless we're sure your father isn't about." With pups on the way she was wary about being roped into baby sitting duty.

"Patrolling mostly, however…" she squinted at Azure. "It seems there is tension among the troops to deal with. Do you two have something to air out?"

Natha hadn't minded the company and for that Magnus was thankful. He needed some company lately and was longing for someone to talk to, even if it was just about menial things. He needed to get his mind off of some things lately and while not anything would do it, it would at least give him something else to think about for a few minutes at best. "Same, really. Just trying to get back on my duties since I've been back." It was at the end of his sentence that he heard a familiar, snarky voice and his lip twitched. Apparently his mission wasn't widely known, that or Sirius didn't want others to know where he'd gone off to to protect his own feelings. Either way, Azure apparently didn't know and he bit back his own snarky retort as he watched the boy approach.

"No tension here, that one just had a bit of separation anxiety when I left for a mission, apparently." He glared hard at Azure for a moment before his eyes flashed back to Natha, his hard expression softening into a light smile. He had respect for the cat; being around all these wolves couldn't be easy for her.

"Speech!"

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Azure cracked a smile at the cat's comment - shit there were pups to be coming soon. Az had almost forgotten. "I'll make sure to let him know that you're at the top of the volunteer list." He joked. He was prepared to reply to her acknowledgement of their tension when Magnus spoke up, and Azure's grin faded into distaste. Separation anxiety? It was frustratingly accurate, and that pissed Az off further. "Witty." The yearling shot back, unamused. "If I'd have found out I was unimportant enough to have a search party sent after me, I'd claim it was a mission, too. No judgement there." His fur was beginning to stand on end and he shook it out, blowing out a breath as he turned his shoulder to the man. The more time he could spend pretending Magnus didn't exist, the better. It was that or battle out his frustration and betrayal, and he assumed his father would disagree with it if Az made that choice. "Lets get to patrolling then. We need to make sure these borders are safe, wouldn't want a cougar sneaking in while you're babysitting my little siblings." Wait, did Natha even fight other cats? Was that species insensitive? Oh well, she likely hadn't made it to the rank she did by being lenient on intruding predators. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Natha didn't know of the mission Magnus had been sent on but that didn't bother her in the slightest. She trusted Sirius to take care of the upper echelons of the pack and the general pack business. She scowled at Azure's comment about her being at the top of the volunteer list. Well, she planned to be very busy whenever she was asked. Besides, she didn't know anything about raising pups. If Sirius wanted them to be raised as cats fine, but she would not be responsible for their mental confusion and identity crises.

Azure turned his attention to Magnus with another snarky comment and she sighed. She didn't do conflict resolution. "I don't know anything of this mission or supposed mission but if its bothering you bring it up with your father, we have work to do." Thankfully Azure seemed to agree so off they went. She chuckled at his comment about a mountain lion. "Any mountain lion that comes down to this level of terrain and walks right into pack territory is probably out of its mind." The elusive cats tended to be shy, sticking to the mountains north of them. However, one could never be too careful. There had been a number of diseased animals wandering around which paused not only the threat of their fangs and claws but of disease itself. "Although, I suppose with pups on the way we'll need to keep an eye out for bears as well. Autumn is right around the corner and they'll be wanting to put on fat for the winter. Fat, juicy pups are sure to be a temptation."

Magnus couldn't help but roll his eyes when Azure opened his mouth again, spouting out some crap. He didn't even listen, choosing to ignore the child's intolerance. He had to get over some things if he ever planned on running the Armada one day, and certain members leaving without his knowledge was something he needed now. Of course, if he ever were the warlord he would likely need to know where they were going, but it was always better to have some amount of tolerance for it now. Didn't he know that Magnus wouldn't leave for good without saying goodbye, or much less at all? He had no intention of ever leaving, so why did Azure take it so personally? Mortis and Asla didn't give him any grief over it, so why was Azure?

He almost didn't want to patrol with them anymore, but decided to stick around and be the bigger wolf. If Azure was going to have an attitude, he just had to let it roll off his back and pretend it didn't annoy him as much as it did. Maybe he could be a babysitter, for real babies and not the baby Azure was acting like. He was excited for the pups, and a chance to have something little to play with and toughed up. The Fatalis children were already grown a bit when he came along, and now with new little pups on the way he would get to have the experience of playing with the little ones while they were still little. The thought brought a small smile to his lips, but it faded quick as the motions to continue patrolling started.

He fell into pace beside Natha, but on her other side from Azure. Of course they were taller than the cat and could see over her towards each other, but that hardly mattered. There was some distance between them and a cat that would likely break up anything Azure tried to start if it got that far. Of course, Magnus have every intention of shutting Azure down if he tried to say something again. He decided just to keep his mouth shut however, keeping his eyes and ears open for anything while the other two conversed.

"Speech!"

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