Her father's harsh tone made her jerk back in physical shock. His reprimand, his... demand... She went cold all the way to her toes. Ears went flat to the sides of her head, tail curved under her belly, and her lower lip quivered. Unforced, completely genuinely upset, tears sprang into her gold eyes. But He... Her daddy took the traitor's side over her? She'd been rejected. Her first instinct was to fling herself at her mother for comfort, but she had seen her mother and father together long enough to know that Cas would take Valen's side - again - so that wasn't even an option. Sit down, or leave. "You care more about her than you do about us," she said through the threatening tears, her words a venomous hiss that would not travel very far beyond her father's ears. She was hurt, and lashing out with that hurt, and already regretted the mean words as they tumbled out, and the regret unleashed the tears, as she turned and fled for the very back of the group to throw herself on the ground and cry silently. Her father's voice rolled over them, and she continued to sulk as he spoke with irritation to all of them and assigned them to people they had to patrol with. She was assigned to Sirius Armada, and normally would have been incredibly proud that they were being trusted to patrol without an adult, but was entirely too upset to care. Until he assigned mentors. And he assigned her to Rhythm Destruction. Numb shock spread from her muzzle to her toes. No. No, he could not be serious. She had to learn from Rhythm? But Rhythm was a traitor. She'd betrayed Abaven and she'd betrayed Imperium and now she was supposed to be Evangeline's mentor? She wasn't even a real healer! She was just dad's girlfriend, and just one of a bunch. She wasn't special, she wasn't... This wasn't fair! She lay frozen as the others drifted away in their pairs, tears forgotten as she glared down at her paws, shocked and hurt. This just wasn't fair... ""

SERAPHIM IMPERIALIS His (suspected) little brother seemed to react as well as could be expected for being ambushed, but before the younger boy could respond, their father's voice cracked out like a whip. Phim watched with wide eyes as Vana was reprimanded in front of the whole pack. He saw the pain in her eyes, he knew how much their father's opinion meant to her, to all of them! She retreated to the back of the crowd and a pang shot through Seraphim's heart. He turned back to Ashmedai, wrinkled up his nose in a forced smile, and whispered, "Catch ya later, little dude! Come explore with me sometime!" Phim pivoted on his hind paws and moved hot on Vana's trail. He settled himself close by her side, wanting to give her the comfort of his presence and praying to whoever would listen that she didn't turn on him instead. While Valen gave his pleasantries to the other pack members he mumbled under his breath, "Dad will forgive you, don't worry! He has to. You're like, the best daughter ever!" He kept close to Vana as the meeting went on, listening with as much attention as he could muster as Valentine announced their pairs. He would be patrolling with Rhythm, then? How awkward! Well, sort of anyways. He hoped the brown female didn't think all of Valentine's first litter thought poorly of her because Evangeline did. Phim knew she hadn't made the best choices, but he couldn't find it in himself to hate anyone his Daddy liked! He shot a weak smile in her direction and hoped she was paying attention. His other pair was Lysis, and he was pretty sure he'd never met her before, so scanning the crowd didn't do him much good, but he was optimistic! Anyone his Daddy liked was okay by him. "Talk" "You" Think

She smiled brightly at Valentine's greeting and sat beside him, but she knew very well she should be appropriate. She'd offered him such an affectionate greeting mostly because she had been the only other wolf in the clearing. She wouldn't touch him as she made herself comfortable and awaited the rest of the pack no matter how comfortable she would have been snuggled up under his chin. She'd try and keep herself from getting too distracted by him and wasn't being particularly mindful of the arrivals, but she'd return Birna's nod respectfully along with her name. "Rhythm Destruction." She could imagine she knew very well who Valen was. Revenge and Mercy were next and she'd try to smile at both, but as Mercy's gaze shifted from Valentine to herself the obvious displeasure was quite unexpected. Her ears would fall to her head and she'd watch Mercy to see if there might be an explanation, but she'd already shifted her attention. It didn't seem that any one else paid her any mind until Ash came up and addressed her by name. He'd first ask Valen where Cas was, and then herself. She shrugged, it was certainly not her job to keep track of Cascade and what she was going to do next. Sometimes she wished she knew however. The taller woman would take up her place beside Valentine, and Rhythm would smile politely towards her, not really expecting any kind of greeting. It seemed that Ash was very much satisfied with the answers he'd been given by his father and Cascade because he was soon off, only to be followed in by Evangeline. Rhythm might not have really noticed her if she hadn't come raging in at her. Blinking at the envenomated words Rhythm was at a loss before the girl went on, and Rhythm couldn't do anything but stare in shock. If she were coherent she might have said something about Valentine being incredibly forgiving, making bad decisions, and letting your emotions get the best of you but Valentine was much quicker to interfere. Vana would slink away and Rhythm would sink down to lay in the grasses at Valentine's feet. She knew very well that she'd made the second (maybe first, she couldn't decide) biggest mistake of her life, and somehow Valentine hadn't sent her on her way with a new shiny scar. She wouldn't notice the other arrivals, quite shaken by the young Imperialis's words she'd linger submissively by the Alpha's paws in the moments before he spoke. He'd calm slightly as he addressed them all, and she would slowly rise back to a seated position. This meeting did well to open her eyes to previously hidden hostility in her direction and as Valentine struck his decision she had no doubt she would get some visitors in the next few days. Until then, she would be enjoying patrols with Seraphim. Her bright blue and purple gaze would find him, sitting next to his sister, but he'd still seem to offer her a little bit of a smile, and she'd return the gesture. What she certainly hadn't expected was that Vana would be her mentor. Again blinking in surprise she'd glance to Valentine in case she heard wrong, but as her eyes shifted back to Phim and Vana she knew she hadn't. What was going on in that head of his then? She wouldn't doubt him, but would offer an obedient nod as she found her way to her feet. She'd leave the siblings be for now, later she'd collect Seraphim for their patrol and eventually Vana for what she hoped would be a first lesson. Finding herself giving Valen one more loving glance before she went her way the woman couldn't help but wonder how all of this might pan out. ""

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The rest of the pack would file in and Birna would offer a nod of greeting to each new face, working to place their scent in her memory. Another large female, equal to her in size was the next to appear and she seemed a fairly friendly wolf named Esti Kigu. Birna's sharp eyes did not miss the wink offered to the alpha nor the disbarring glance given to the earthen colored woman. Flirting so openly with a mated alpha? This pack had bizarre customs indeed. "Greetings Esti, my name is Birna Xanilov, it's a pleasure to meet you." The next few were a crop of younger wolves. The hyper one she quickly pinpointed to be Esti's son… and Valentine's son? Her head tilted slightly to the side. Had Esti been glaring at the earthen femme for taking her seat? Well if she was the alphess why didn't she just move the other woman aside? That seemed oddly passive. "Hello Ashmedai, it's nice to meet you." The boy continued on chatting and Birna picked up another odd snippet of news. Cascade? Rhythm had to be the earth-pelted fae. Now wait… what? Cascade was the alphess? Birna felt her stomach twisting. She hadn't some how managed to land herself in some strange love cult had she? Well… she'd have to have a little talk with the alpha to make sure there were no misunderstandings. While he was indeed a handsome man Birna had no desire to engage in any sort of romantic or sexual relationships with anyone. A young male with an unusual red mark upon his face was the next to enter. A fairly calm, level-headed lad and she found herself feeling a slight sense of relief. He did not appear to have any strong relation to anyone else present. Seemed he was rather put out though. More and more wolves trickled in, this was truly a large pack. She eyed the male with the skull on his head… interesting. Humming caught her attention and she watched a dark-pelted femme with bi-colored eyes came trotting into the meeting. What an interesting assortment of characters at this meeting so far. Another young woman entered making comment on the tense atmosphere followed by a young femme who then proceeded to rip into Rhythm. She appeared to be one of Valentine's kids… Valentine and perhaps that dark-pelted woman? The argument seemed to involve the spot next to Valentine as well as some incident with a slave? Birna took note of the information, she never knew what might be needed but for the most part this did not concern her and so she just listened. After the scolded girl took off the meeting got underway. The members that seemed to be more interested in procreating than serving the pack were also scolded, much to Birna's approval. Then they were sorted into mentor pairs and patrol pairs. Atreides Armada was to be her charge? Hmm… she might have to ask around as to who that was. The meeting was adjourned and one of the members asked to be tested in healing. Birna nodded. "If it is not too much trouble, as you were unable to test me upon joining I would like to prove my skills to you as a warrior. After the battle perhaps this woman, I apologize I don't know your name, perhaps she could tend to our injuries for her test?" "Speech"

As Esti marched over to the two and make a remark about having fun on her date with Revenge, she bristled and nearly growled at the femme. But instead she settled for tossing a dagger like glare at the back of the wenches head. Oh, if looks good kill, that would be one little dead whore. She hated that she had captured her brothers attention, he was hers and no one else could have him. Yes, she was a jealous, petty woman. But so be it! She could not change her habits. Esti got on her nerves, nearly getting Revenge to hump her outside the den that the siblings shared. Bitch. Snorting, she shook herself and set her attention to the others that slowly joined. It would seem that each wolf carried tension within them, eyeing Rhythm sitting where Cascade should be. While looks were exchanged, no one said anything until Vana showed up and absolutely lost it. Mercy's ears perked forward, and she felt like walking forward and giving the girl a hug for what she said. But that is when Valentine boomed at the girl, causing even Mercy to shrink back slightly. Ouch, that had got to hurt. Soon he started the meeting, and Mercy felt her ears pull lower and lower towards her skull. Shit. She was guilty of all the things that Valen was accusing the pack of -- she didn't trust everyone here. But she trusted Valen, and she had thought that it was enough that way. He was right though, and she knew it. Letting out a sigh, she only perked back up when she got matched with Angelus, Valentine's son and heir, as her border patrol partner, before he gave her Sirus to mentor. Her, a mentor? Mercy blinked, a nervous excitement pooling in her belly. She was unsure of how to start, and was sure that it was going to be awkward. Mercy eyed the gray boy then, nodding to him slightly if he even saw it. She would get started on that right away! Rising to her paws, she was going to leave until the large, pale woman asked Valentine about her spar to test her skills. Her whole body seemed to lift, any negative emotion washing away. She knew that Valen looked pretty drawn out after the meeting, and he had a feeling that he would probably want to speak to Vana. It would seem to her that there was something that needed to be handled there. Taking a deep breath, she rose to her paws and stepped forward. She might not be the highest ranking wolf, but she was looking for a way to redeem herself for not being active within the pack. "Valentine? I would be up for fighting with this woman," she paused, purple gaze flickering over to her, "sorry, I didn't catch your name. But I would be more than happy to step in for you. Perhaps a two in one test." Mercy said, the latter half of her sentence directed back at Valentine. She was very nervous, it was pretty obvious that the larger woman was a skilled fighter, and Mercy was very rusty. "Burn Baby Burn"

He asked for questions and questions he got. First came Renhett with a question of being tested and then Birna who voiced a similar question and offered a solution in regards to the testing of Renhett. "Birna, this is Renhett. That is a good idea," he said thoughtfully. Before he could continue the thought, Mercy spoke up and offered to test Birna. Perfect. "Renhett, Birna, this is Mercy, one of our Legionaries." After a moment's thought he dipped his head in a thoughtful nod and said, "Then it's settled. Begin whenever you are ready." To give the fighters room to move, Valentine began to move away. He intended to take a seat a short distance away to observe. "Renhett, if you'll come with me..." "Talk" "You" Think