The chaos simply continued unfettered, though none would attempt to lay hands upon the woman and the crippled child she protected. For a time Katja was content to simply allow it to swirl around her, to ignore the shouting and accusations thrown back and forth by the Olympians, as the adrenaline ebbed and weariness seeped in, the pain of her wounds creeping along with it. Her mouth still filled with blood from the wounds she'd taken on her tongue and lip, but she simply swallowed reflexively and ignored it. An unnaturally bright red yearling male attracted her attention momentarily when he approached seeking her judgement and wishing to be admitted to the pack. The way he'd been sitting the whole fight, practically in Virgil's gray daughter's lap, had made it clear why he wished to join. She regarded him a moment with suspicion before the edges softened slightly. She could hardly blame the twain for their young love, and it had caused many a wolf to do foolish things they later regretted when the shine wore off their pairing. She would not punish such even further by locking him into an agreement he didn't truly want. "We will discuss it later," she instead agreed simply, and left it at that.
A gray-toned female called out to her then, asking if the pack had room for someone like herself. "As I appear to have only one other full packmate at the moment," she replied dryly, gesturing to the gold-marked female locked in battle with her former alpha, "I have little doubt there would be room for both yourself and your protege if he desires. We shall speak of it later, perhaps?"
Her attention had wandered from the gray female back to the chaos around her; she ignored the young pup of Virgil's second litter screeching at her as insignificant, instead focusing on Helios who had snarled heated words at her when she spoke of Virgil's pups remaining with her. She tsk'd at him in vexation. "Do not make yourself more of a fool than you already appear, Olympian. The children are not my thralls - think you the Xanilovs would bear any love for it were I to enslave their adopted siblings for no cause? No - if they make no attempt to escape or sow sedition they will be treated as full members of the pack and subject to the same protections and comforts as - "
Her words cut off with a sharp abruptness, the weariness swept away in a rushing surge of hate at the sudden appearance of one very specific Olympian.
Virgil.
So the bitch had decided to show up after all, after her beloved pack had already been bled for and lost by another. Simply amazing how having one's children taken by another could put a spring in one's step regardless of how close to death they allegedly were. Within the silence that followed, the tinny buzzing of fury in her ears, came the plaintive words of Virgil's eldest daughter, and the shock was shattered. Katja's head raised high, her uninjured lip curling with disgust and contempt. Hate lubricated her words, gushing them forth in a torrent the stoic viking rarely indulged in. "Give them the choice? Like you gave their Xanilov siblings a choice when you stole them away from what they loved and then abandoned them? When you dropped them into an unknown place filled with strangers and then left them?"
A harsh laugh rattled her ribs. "Tell them the truth, Virgil. It's not your children you care about, it's your own pride. I admit my shortcomings, Olympian... but you? I do not seek to be a good person. You hide behind a veil of righteousness and claim you love these children and yet you abandon them with a madwoman and her weak husband who can't even protect them. You only came back because you couldn't bear for the world to see your family's shame displayed so obviously. Your successor coddles these pups until they are too weak to stand on their own four feet - your own heir whimpers like an unweaned pup and trembles at the thought of leaving her aunts and uncles to be with someone who has not even touched a hair on her pretty little head - yet this madwoman tried to kill her own child. Gods above, Virgil, not even I would stoop so low. And yet... she couldn't even do that properly. Is that what happened to your other child, Virgil? Did you succeed where your successor could not with her own child?"
A fierce grin bared every one of her bloodied fangs even as the blood continued to drip off her chin. "I will meet you in a week Virgil but I will not submit to your demand to release them. I will exercise my right as the new alpha of this pack to decide who stays within its ranks and I will not be frightened into backing down from my decision. Four of these youths are old enough to fight for their own freedom if they want it, assuming you and your blind old bat haven't ruined them. Perhaps the younger two can still be salvaged." She spat blood at the ground at the golden furred woman's paws, then turned contemptuously away from her to stalk away from the chaos. She would not go far - she had a pack member fighting that aforementioned blind bat and she would not put it past the Olympians to gang up on her and that gimp-legged youngling if Katja were not there to prevent the situation from degenerating further - if that were even possible.
OOC: Deleted my original comment because it was written in a way that would come across badly. Suffice to say I don't approve of a DM so now it's up to staff obviously.
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