State of the Nation

Even though they didn't speak frequently about the pack's alliances or diplomatic relations around the pups, he knew his daughter was incredibly bright and very observant. He had no doubt that she would have picked up on some context clues and bits of information just from what she was exposed to. As he expected, she listed off The Hallows as one of their allies and he nodded to confirm that was correct. She also made some very good observations about how the mountain pack–which he believed was now called Hemlock–had not made any problems for them and how the pack to the north–The Syndicate–smelled like death. He hummed with agreement, frowning a little at the thought of the pack to the north of them. The fact that they had chosen lands that pressed up against their borders still did not sit well with him, but that wasn't the focus of today's lesson.

"You're right that The Hallows is our ally. The mountain pack you mentioned is called Hemlock and the other calls themselves The Syndicate. I agree that Hemlock has been a fairly good neighbor so far. The Syndicate... is quite smelly," he said with a bit of humor, leaning down to gently ruffle the fur on the top of her head with his nose. "We do have another ally. Valta. Their pack is just on the other side of the thicket south of where we are now. We used to have another ally called Ethne until very recently because the pack's alpha handed it over to their sibling. It's called Polaris now. Our first ally was, of course, Ashen which is where your mother grew up, but Ashen no longer exists." There were constant changes and shifts always happening with the numerous packs across Boreas and Auster and he had to admit that keeping up with it all had never been his strong suit, but he was quickly having to become proficient to prepare for his promotion. "Why do you think it's important for us to keep allies? Or keep up with the changes of other packs at all?" he mused, curious to see how Damira might interpret the idea of diplomacy and its importance.

"Deimos Mendacium"