Not throwing away my shot [Pack claim!]

Eligos had been planning a trip to scout the current packs and see about getting a fair tally of the bands as well, when word reached him of stirrings in the still waters of pack politics. There was always an uneasy, deep void beneath those waters anyway, and any sort of ripple could awaken long held grudges. Something he felt he should observe for himself (#observe) and so he set out for the northern lands that had once held Winterfell and were more recently held by Incendium of which he knew very little.

On arriving he remained far back for a moment, watching the gathering-in of the chief participants, their supporters, and other observers like he himself. It didn't seem that the challenge was for Incendium as he had initially expected - rather that Incendium had disbanded, leaving a power vacuum that both the stranger and Sparrow each sought to fill. Were he a lesser man than he was, he might have supported the stranger just to oppose Sparrow and to tweak her nose for her generally annoying behavior, but he would then be visibly aligning himself with a wild card, an unknown, and he knew that would come back to bite him far more certainly than the possibility of ever truly being at odds with Sparrow. So when he finally approached he did so to sit alone, as equally far from either camp as he could manage it. Yes, it might be more interesting to sit beside the other alphas he knew well - Valhalla, Fireside, and Abaven - but this was better all around. He would not be distracted by the requirements a social setting created, and could instead best do what he'd set out to do (#observe). He caught a glimpse of Armando as he settled onto his haunches and was pleased to see the little red panda. It would be good to know there was a second set of eyes and a clever mind analyzing the crowd for Aerie's benefit.

His eyes swept the crowd, picking out those he knew, settling coldly on Sirius of Armada cozying up to the stranger's side before continuing to sweep over everyone. Hardly a surprise there, but Eligos made a mental note of it, as he did for the relative positions of the other pack alphas present. For all his bluster over Aerie being an unknown and therefore a target when first he and the Armada alpha met, Sirius certainly made no effort to treat other new, unknown packs the same. Didn't matter - what was done was done, and Eligos still burned deep inside with the rage born of that raid. Even if Sirius had chosen no side Eligos would have felt the same for him. He wondered though, where Sirius' wife was in all this; she'd seemed the more reasonable of the two of them.

Eligos finished his initial sweep and settled in to watch those he'd picked out more carefully.