After his speech at the meeting about Ebony needing to wake up, about everyone needing to pull their own weight and about the pack needing to be more involved in the world, how could Kassander justify staying within his own borders and ignoring the other packs around them? Fear, that was all that kept him there. And it wasn't like he didn't leave Ebony for other things. He'd ventured out for herbs plenty of times. But the thought of leaving to go talk to other alphas was terrifying. Just the phrase "other alphas", counting himself among them, felt pretentious and... wrong. But he really believed the things he'd said about that meeting. He needed to do this. He could have visited his closest neighbors, but Kass knew himself well enough to know that if he started with the closest neighbors he might not ever actually go to any of the other packs at all. So he'd steeled himself to head north, south, and west before he returned home to the east. As far as he knew there were no packs on the southern continent so he wouldn't go so far down as that, but he did head to the two packs he knew were in the south of this continent. Standing on the border of the first pack, he could feel his ears trembling, but before he could rethink the whole trip and just take off again he raised his muzzle and called out. The howl cut short, and the boy felt he could just melt into the ground and he'd be happier, but he stayed put. He did sit despite the snow, the posture doing something to disguise the way his knees seemed to want to knock together. At least if his teeth started chattering it would look like he was just cold from sticking his butt in snow. ""

A howl that ended abruptly brought the brute at a lazy trot. He half expected to find a dead creature (one of Dione's things, maybe?) strung across his border, but upon reaching it, was pleased to see that his visitor was very much alive. Looking the stranger over, Valen was pleased with what he saw. He was young and strapping, very capable looking indeed. Dipping his head in greeting, he said, "Welcome to Imperium. My name is Valentine and I am the alpha here. What can I do for you?" He hoped the brute was looking to join. Imperium was always on the lookout for able bodies. "Talk" "You" Think

The appearance of the giant wasn't really sudden - he didn't appear out of no where like a ghost, but Kassander was focused on his nerves and his plans and hardly noticed the approach. The voice drew his attention, and Kassander leaped to his feet, and his gaze lifted... and lifted... and lifted... And his eyes widened as his muzzle continued to raise toward the sky until they finally met the so-very-blue eyes of the giant. "Oh," he said faintly, ears flopping down. Valentine was very... large. And pretty. Were his ears turning red? They sure felt like it. "I... I'm Kassander. I'm... uh... I'm the alpha of Ebony. Over in the east?" It felt really weird and arrogant to call himself a "king" when this giant had chosen the less ostentatious alpha title, so he stuck with that too. "I'm here to... get to know the other packs?" ""

The boy's reaction was a comical one, the kind that made him very aware of just how tall he was compared to most. He looked intimidated - something that amused Valentine greatly - and his insecurity leaked into his voice. "It's nice to meet you, Kassander," he boomed in response to the russet wolf's introduction. Ebony's alpha ended each statement with an upward curl that twisted his words into a question. The brute had half a mind to give him grief for it, but settled on a mix of pity and amusement. This mixture fueled the outward appearance of seriousness, as if he hadn't caught on to Kassander's nerves. "Ebony? I thought the alpha there was a fae. How came you by your title?" It was a fair question. "Talk" "You" Think

"Eh heh..." was Kass' initial reply to the handsome slate-colored male's polite words, before the Xanilov rallied enough to stop staring and actually answer. "Uhm... it's really nice to meet you too?" He winced. That hadn't been meant as a question. He needed to stop that irritating questioning lilt that kept sneaking in. It actually was nice to meet the other alpha, and not just because he was... er... a good looking dude. He was doing what he'd said he would, going out and doing stuff. Alpha stuff. Valentine asked about how he came to have Ebony, and Kass blinked a moment. Which female was he referring to exactly? Raisa? Katja? Val? A twitch of big-brother protectiveness narrowed his eyes at him. Better not have been even thinking about Val. "My sister inherited our pack but she abdicated and it passed to me." Short and simple but... maybe he shouldn't have mentioned Val. But at least it was clear that he didn't like... kill someone to get the pack, right? "I, uhm... I just wanted to get out and meet the other alphas and... get Ebony's name out..." He trailed off at the end, and he was repeating himself, but at least this time it didn't come out as a question. "Talk" "You" Think

He was so freakin' cute. That probably wasn't what you were supposed to think when meeting with a fellow alpha, but this Kassander guy was almost too adorable for words and that was hard to ignore. He stuttered through the rest of his greeting and Valentine dipped his head in acknowledgement of it, feigning seriousness for the benefit of the younger brute. Perhaps once he was a little more comfortable with his role this diplomacy thing would come easier to him. Ah, so he inherited. That made sense. Somehow Valen couldn't quite picture this fellow challenging someone for their rank. He was fairly certain he'd never met this sister of his or the fae who'd held the position before her, but that wasn't surprising considering how little he cared about getting to know his neighbors. Kassander stumbled over another statement and Valentine found himself nodding good-naturedly. "Ah, well, you've succeeded so far. Is that all you've come here for or can I help you with anything else?" "Talk" "You" Think