Perfumed Nights

"Yes, I'd noticed," was all he said in reply to her comments about Sirius' children, though he didn't specify which part exactly. He kept his voice softly neutral, without any particular emphasis, and let the subject drop. He had told her all he intended to - he shouldn't need to make a specific warning for her to watch her back around the armada, because it was unlikely a fool would have made it so long as an alpha. And if a fool had, well, then Valhalla would suffer the consequences, not he.

A brow quirked in silent query at the start of her explanation. Raiding? Well, considering the mauling his pack had just had, he was wary of starting anything so soon, even if someone wanted to hire him to do so... but her continued proposal was intriguing. "Training raids," he mused aloud, a thread of interest feathering through his tone. "Yes, that would certainly benefit the skills of both Aerie and Valhalla." Of course, it would also make it more difficult for Aerie in the event that they were hired to work against Valhalla, because the Valhallans would know his wolves' strengths and weaknesses to an extent he wasn't particularly certain he was comfortable with.

He rubbed one paw over the other in thought, his blood-red gaze lingering on her opaquely. While he was chary of the possible outcomes of a long-term trade for raids back and forth between the packs, he couldn't deny the strong pull the idea had on him. It would give Aerie the opportunity for the sort of training that could only be gained in real world combat, without the long-term debilitating consequences that could come from a real raid... Aureus' maimed toes were proof enough of the danger even to a master fighter. It would be a safe opportunity to test his wolves, as fighters and as leaders, allowing others to lead raids without damage to anything but their pride. "I admit it is an intriguing proposal," he finally said aloud. "I would of course need more detail before I would be willing to lock my wolves into a Contract... we keep our word, when we've agreed to something, and I have no wish to agree to something that holds us to unspecified and unlimited possibilities." Now came the haggling, the details, the trade. In many ways negotiation was a bloodless battle, or rather a battle with the possibility of blood long deferred. It appealed to the warrior and the scholar in him, and he wondered suddenly and wistfully what his father had thought of it.