Birna waited with both patience and excitement as the wolves of Fiori came to her, even little Ritselli. The blue-eyed femme could help but smile at the girl. Something about her bright spirit just made her grow on Birna and the older woman was starting to become rather attached. Birna chuckled and shook her head. "I'm afraid you're still to young to participate Ritselli, but you can watch us work and take notes, though you must stay hidden, still and very quiet" She hated to disappoint the girl but logic would win out. She was simply too young and easy to trample. The gathering was still small when her brother appeared, bringing a flower, one of the last of the season. She moved to lick his cheek. "Thank you, brother. How sweet." Birna leaned down and gently grasped the flower in her teeth before setting it at Ritselli's paws. "Ritselli, I have a important task for you, can you look after this flower for me til we return?"
Her attention returned to her brother and she smiled mischievously. "I don't know brother, we may be few but we are fierce." A few moments later more Fiorians joined the throng. Birna took a moment to dip her head in greeting to each new wolf that arrived, including the alpha. Well now, this was a much more sizable group! "We have a couple options. There's a bison herd moving through to the south of us and I've found some fresh elk droppings on the west side of the mangroves. The elk may make for easier prey, the bison are still strong and their calves have grown, I think waiting for winter snow to slow them down would make for safer hunting. We'll likely need to pick off an older elk or an injured one. Follow me!"
With a grin she started heading to the mangroves, nose to the ground until she recaptured the scent of the scat. Falling silent she continued walking until the dense trees parted to a small plain where the elk were gathered around the river, drinking. Hmm... this would be tricky. They needed to get the elk running to test them for weaknesses and there were three directions the animals could go, right across the river, down the bank or back into the mangrove forest. Both the river and mangrove would impede the movement of the elk though it would hinder the wolves as well. Now the soft river bank on the other hand, well that gentle earth was much more forgiving to paws than hooves. If they were lucky one of the elk might stumble but luck was a rare thing to come by.
Birna turned to the wolves and gestured for Ritselli to hide and watch, she lowered her voice, thankful for the gurgling river that might help mask their sound. She made a note to hold lessons later on developing soundless communication for hunting. She and Bjorn had their own gestures and body language to communicate hunting and battle strategies but it was unfair to assume the others might know what she meant. Birna really needed to get to know her pack more, so long it had only been her and her brother and developing a strategy for all of them was both nerve-wracking and exciting.
"Bacchus, Bjorn, Leo, Tiburtius, I want you four to run at the herd and get them going so we can look for potential targets. Bacchus and Bjorn, run along the edge of the mangroves to try and keep them from seeking shelter in the trees unless you deem it a reasonable strategy to let the target get caught in the brush. I'm hoping we can chase them down the bank and overtake the target in the loose soil. Leo, Tiburtius, try to get between some of the elk and the river. Arian, Epiphron and I will keep to the west of the herd and will help to drive them east. Epiphron, I leave to you to select the target. Once the target is selected we'll all move in to restrain the animal and leave the killing bite to our Queen. Any questions?"
"Speech"
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