WHEN THE PLANETS ALIGN

The woman steeled herself for the hopeful multitude that would probably arrive, making a mental note to make the pups exempt and seek out her own once more soon. Guilt lightly touched her mind at the thought but she shoved such emotion away--Ludicael was of utmost importance to her, especially since she now carried the wounds she had earned fighting for it. Deep breaths cycled through her lungs as she waited for her first arrivals.



A relative stranger was the first to make their appearance on the scene of the gathering place. Mercury stood, his hackles raising defensively, but Jupiter bumped him lightly with the side of her leg as the woman began to speak. An amused smile flickered across her features and she nodded to the gal. "Indeed, another one of Song's." There was just the lightest flicker of darkness in her eyes before it vanished, gone so quickly that it could have nearly been a figment of one's imagination. "I told her that her family was welcome to seek refuge here, and you are no exception. Welcome to Ludicael." Her tone was minutely hushed as she spoke directly to the woman, lips still upturned in a beam.



Jupiter's attention was about to flicker to Mercury to ensure that he had calmed, but it was then that more familiar faces arrived; first Aurora, then Kylar, and directly after, Dhiren. She couldn't quite suppress her light-hearted chuckle at his warm and infinitely polite greeting, and nodded to him. "Good afternoon, Dhiren. Don't worry, my good sir; you're perfectly on time." She watched as he meandered over to Novella, but drew her attention elsewhere as he began to speak, not wishing to eavesdrop.



Song, Novel, and another light-pelted wolf she didn't quite recognize made their presence known and she nodded to the first two, seeking the scent of the third as he approached and greeted her. Ludicaen fragrance drifted forth and only then was she satisfied, leaving him be. She watched as the youngest of the individuals, Novel, leaped upon Dhiren, and held the child's gaze when she glanced up at Jupiter. The woman winked at the young girl with a playful smirk upon her features.



Without quite realizing it, she shifted her weight to conceal her wounded paw a little more as Symphony made her appearance, smiling at her healer appreciatively as their condition and need for redressing was brushed upon. "I will not forget, thank you," she replied evenly, and was about to say more before what appeared to be the femme's new bird companion raised his wings to introduce himself.



Jupiter allowed for a deep rumble to echo from her chest, grinning at the companion and shaking her head humorously. "My, I've not been so flattered by a male of any species since I came of age," she responded affably. "It is a pleasure, Atlas."



Attentions fell upon a quietly-arriving Cherokee and a similarly-approaching pup--Canta, if Jupiter remembered from when she'd seen the pups when they were younger, and how they'd grown!--and she nodded to both of them. The final straggler appeared to be Haku and concern quickly crossed her countenance. The boy appeared to be in near-emaciated condition and she sought Symphony's gaze, jerking her head lightly towards him in a prompt and request for the healer to tend to his condition.



With most of the meet and greet over, she glanced about, taking a mental inventory of those missing and reminding herself to possibly seek them out at a later date. For now, though, she felt as if more important matters needed to be addressed. The woman cleared her throat and swept her gaze over those gathered once more before projecting her voice out to speak, her smile still lingering.



"As I'm certain most of you have discovered, Song and Cherokee are our relatively new Boreali. Along with their promotion, though, I now announce that I've decided to name Aurora as a Gravita, should she accept the rank." She paused briefly before continuing, seeking out the alabaster-pelted woman. Aurora had been present in Ludicael for quite a while and had caught her interest more than once.



"And of course, as you have seen, Ludicael was challenged for but it shall remain ours for hopefully quite some time longer." Eyes wandered to Song and Cherokee as she briefly pondered over giving them battle training when her own wounds were healed, but did not linger for too long on their forms or on the matter. Triumph was sweet everyone once in a while but had no place for staying for prolonged amounts of time.

"On a different note," she carried on, tone and expression sobering, "Our closest ally, Medusa, passed the throne of Amenti on to her beta. Soon after, the pack was challenged for and lost. Thus, she will be returning to the pack with her children, as well as our former secondary alpha, Deteste. I expect you all to treat them with respect." The lass hoped she wouldn't have to mention that Deteste's rank would not be restored to its former status as of now--she could merely pledge to clear it up should there be any confusion.



"This leads to the topic of war." She hesitated, allowing the concept to sink in for a moment. "Should any trouble arise soon and should a war break out, I'm here to inform you that I will personally not join the battle but in self-defense of Ludicael. The stance the pack will take should allies be under attack is up for you all, and is one of the things I am here to ask you all."




ooc: next posting round ends 10/25/13 at the same time as last time, just so we can make sure this gets moving and finished soon. PM me if you have conflicts with posting. People who haven't yet posted can join in but should they already be a member, they will be considered late and that will be taken into consideration. Better late than never, though~

"speech"