Her eyes surveyed those who appeared beside her rock, and her gaze hardened. Oh, all of her vikings had appeared in short order as was expected of them. But there was one particular wolf who had taken the opportunity to slip away unnoticed - the yearling thrall she'd taken when he'd been fool enough to trespass. Very well. He was replaceable, if it came to that, and she wasn't going to waste her vikings on chasing him down right now, though... "If you should happen to find our thrall," she spoke in a low, almost conversational voice laced through with ice, "he is to be brought to me. It seems he does not care for his... accommodations." She passed her eyes over the group once again, dismissing the wayward thrall from her mind and she was pleased by their attentiveness though not, frankly, by their readiness. This would need remedying. Her voice changed, from the conversational tone to one of authority. "Yfir lays claim to this mountain, as well as a forest of redwoods and a circular gorge. The gorge has caves that will be useful for denning and storage - if you make your den elsewhere I must be informed of it that I may know of your whereabouts in an emergency. I marked the preliminary boundaries of our lands here to assist you in finding your way. The next season will be hard, no doubt of that. Winter in the north is never easy even for those who know her ways. But I have faith that we will prevail. Take this season to learn this land, her climate, her prey. We will strengthen our hold here and train our bodies and our minds, and when spring comes we will show the southern wolves what it really means to be a viking." No smile curved her muzzle, but a cool satisfaction dripped from her voice. "We will raid the southern packs, take for our own what they take for granted. They will know who we are and they will walk softly at the sound of our name. Yfir is destined for greatness, and I know that I can trust every wolf here to contribute their utmost. I will not call formal training - " there would not be time to spare for that, with settling a pack into a new territory and feeding it through the winter - "but I expect all of you to sharpen your own skills. Karls - I expect you to hunt together for the pack if you are physically able. Though everyone is capable of hunting small game for themselves, no wolf can survive on rabbits alone in the north. They bear too little fat, and that is something that is sorely needed in a northern diet. Medium and large sized game will be needed if we are to survive and thrive. There are deer, moose, and caribou within our lands - take warriors if you are going for the largest game. We are too small a pack to absorb unnecessary injuries from inexperienced wolves attempting too much, and it will be good battle practice for the warriors.
"Healers - feel free to range as far south as need be to find herbs but be wary. Other packs or mad loners may seek to capture or kill you thinking you are the weak link of our pack. Your skills are sorely needed and you are far too important to the health of the pack to risk on foolish bravado. Pair with another wolf if you go far afield. Keep close watch on the health of the pack, and on individual wolves. Not all are as quick to get care for their wounds as they should." She cast a reproving glance at Laufey.
"Warriors - I expect you to train together when you aren't hunting with the karls. Spars, mock raids, shadow-fighting. Yes, training can be a solo event but you will need to learn to work together and you will not learn if you do not train together. Patrol the borders, keep watch for intruders. Always be ready.
"I will expect anyone with other skills to assist their packmates in training as well, no matter what those skills are or how useless you may initially think them to be. Languages, star constellations, history - if you have a skill, share it with your packmates. You may be surprised at who may be interested in learning. Kapra and I are fluent in German and Norwegian, we will gladly share our family's history and lore. I know to navigate by the stars, to track, to know the weather. Think of what skills and stories you have learned in your lives. What better way for our knowledge and ways... for our loved ones who have passed on..." Her gaze lingered on Kassander, alone in his grief, to Hypnos - wolves that had lost much in their young lives, wolves whose soft culture ill equipped them to deal with loss. "...to survive than to share them with each other? With new generations to come? Seek out others who might learn what you have to teach."
She stood now upon the rock, clearly ending the formal portion of the meeting. "Learn your new home, wolves, and ready yourself. Spring will be upon us sooner than you expect." She leaped with silent grace to the ground amongst the gathered wolves.
OOC: Go forth and multiply. Er - well, go off and do some training. I want at least one more post from everyone in this thread by WEDNESDAY JUNE 17TH but also feel free to talk amongst yourselves to look for training partners or whatever. I'm not going to expect a big pack training or hunt thread but I do want everyone to participate in and complete at least one training thread with pack mates on your own. Whether that's Navigation, Intellect, Fighting, Healing, or Hunting I don't care but you need to be able to show me that you completed at least one training session with a packmate BEFORE JULY 1ST.
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