Hold the Torch Together [Gwenevere]

Gwen’s warnings didn’t fall upon deaf ears, and Aurielle nodded easily. ”Yeah, Da made sure I had that lesson drummed into my head, too. It’s why he suggested I focus more on moving quickly and less on brute force attacks. He said you’d be a good wolf to learn from for inspiration in ingenuity.” She added the last comment with a grin aimed at the woman.

At Gwen’s question regarding her plans, her head tipped to the side in thought. “Well, I’d like to revive some of the old times. Like from Cairo’s time. Great Grand-Mother Erani, when she refounded Valhalla after it was lost to a challenge, made sure it would be a message that we will never die, either the Adravendis or the pack he founded in the Old Land and led here when the mountain erupted. I’d like to try to bring in a few customs to help the pack bond. And festivals and gladiatorial events to encompass all packs and loners… Make it a championship sort of thing. I think some of our fighters will like that…”

Her eyes searched the sky, though not really looking for anything other than words to lay out her ideas with as she added, “I’m also fully certain that we’ll be doing away with Alpha assigned mentor-mentee pairs. It’ll be down to the pack-members to pay attention to each other and seek out apprentices on their own, then tell you or myself, and I can announce them at the next meeting.”

Her eyes flicked down to Gwen’s features, head cocked as she added, “It might help lessons run more smoothly if apprentices can have more control over whom they learn under, I hope…”

Then, she smiled at the older wolf, nodding affirmation as she answered, "And of course I'd still like to have you lead with me until things are fully running smoothly. You're experienced, level-headed, and diplomatic. That's the kind of face we want loners and wolves from other packs to see and attribute to this pack. That we're polite, diplomatic, but will pack one hell of a bite if they make trouble with us." Her features twitched in a faintly wicked grin at the last words.