Was it time for another meeting already? The time seemed to fly by so quickly, especially these last few seasons, that Leo's call took her by surprise. At least, this time, she wasn't feeling so.. guilty for not being involved. She'd stayed much closer to home lately and she'd interacted with more of her pack mates too. She had no reason to feel anxious about this gathering, but somewhere deep down she certainly did. Ara had never been comfortable around so many wolves at once. It had always helped when Novel had been at her side; to lean on and talk to instead of wondering where to stand and what to do. She didn't know why she felt so insecure. Usually she didn't care about such things. She moved slowly toward the gathering, not wanting to sit and wait and find someone to talk to, if anyone at all - but when she realized she was among the last few wolves to arrive she felt just as foolish. With a soft sigh, she found a spot near the edge of the group, though sat and directed her attention to Leo, only briefly letting her gaze scan the group curiously.

Roza hurried toward the meeting and she felt Abbey's weight leave her back as her friend fluttered up into the air with a sharp chirp. She knew she was bouncing her friend around a lot with her running, but she was in a hurry! She was going to be late! She had been napping and if it hadn't been for Abbey waking her up she might have missed her father's meeting entirely. She trotted into the clearing and tried to look like she wasn't out of breath from her run, giving her father a sweet, apologetic smile. She happened to come into the clearing on the side where her grandmother was sitting and she didn't want to cause more of a scene by walking all the way across to where Heather was so she settled down on her haunches next to Pip instead. She gave her grandmother a smile as well before she settled in and focused her attention back onto her father. She wondered what it might be about this time! "SPEAK"

Ah jeeze, what a time for Leo to call a meeting. He had been on his way toward the border of the falls with one paw outside the pack lands when he heard an echo of his uncle's howl. He couldn't be any farther from the meeting without being completely outside the pack's borders. He quickly turned and started making his way back to the mangroves as fast as he could without sending himself tumbling down the slope by the falls. When he finally got there he realized that he was very obviously the last one there. He ducked his head down to try and be less noticeable as he walked across the back of the crowd, but there was no way to hide his huge, blue-hued form. He sat down on his haunches behind Athena with a sigh, giving his family members an apologetic grin. Ah well, not everything in life was going to be convenient. At least he made it before the meeting began! "Talk" "You" Think

More wolves started to file into the meeting area while he finished reorienting himself after his spill into the snow. He watched Razor ask something of Amalia before his eyes went to Athena, a grin touching his lips as his sister in law joined in on scolding Ama. He watched the little girl that had been staying with Razor come in, followed by Jayne and a couple of Quelt and Bright Moon's pups. He gave Heather a warm smile as she walked in and gave Quelt a small nod. He really should take some time and meet each of the pups sometime. He loved children. He gave Lionel and Alfred the same happy smile when his sons came in, glad to see so many of his children on top of their attendance lately. There was no sign of Roza just yet, but he was sure she'd be here soon enough. He almost missed Ryka as she settled down with her head low. He gave her an encouraging smile. Maybe he should check in with her soon and make sure she's doing okay. He watched Vitus walk across to join his family and then his gaze caught Carletta's as she walked in. His smile grew a bit and his tail wagged gently behind him as he gave her a small nod. He was glad that she was out and about and participating in the pack stuff. He was quite fond of the gray woman already. He let his gaze slip away from Carletta as he looked over to see his mother join them - and then see Roza run into the clearing and sit next to his mother. He chuckled softly and gently shook his head at her. He glanced around and saw Ara and Tiburtius slipping in as well. There was still no sign of Bright Moon or Diana and if he wasn't mistaken one of Bright's pups was absent as well. He hummed to himself, making a note of it. He didn't want to keep everyone waiting any longer though so he cleared his throat and smiled as he addressed the crowd. "Hello, everyone! Thank you for coming. I do appreciate you taking time out of your day to come listen to me talk." He chuckled softly and continued, "As you can tell our pack has grown quite a bit recently! We have some brand new faces and some returning ones. First of all, I want to congratulate Quelt and Bright Moon on their recent additions and welcome all of you pups. Archelaus also rejoined Fiori recently as well as my nephew Jackson. As for the newer faces, we have Carletta, Ryka, Sabriel, and Faelyn!" He nodded to each one as he listed them, hoping that might help some of the others begin learning their names. "If you haven't gotten a chance to yet, please be sure to welcome them and make them feel at home here." "On a different but similar note, all these new wolves means even more mouths to feed. Jackson has been doing a wonderful job of hunting and getting a stockpile of food for us, but help him when you can. I'm sure Bright Moon will be back in action soon enough, but there are plenty of able-bodied wolves here that can be hunting for the pack as well. Winter is never an easy season as far as food is concerned and I don't expect this one to be any different." He made sure to give Jackson an appreciative smile before he moved on. "I also want to thank Athena for calling a training session for our fighters in training recently. Don't think that only our lead hunter, healer, and fighter are the only ones that can call hunts and training sessions! If you have skills to share make sure you are doing your part to help in our training." "Speaking of training, we have two students that are now two years old that will need to choose their next rank! Jayne, if you will please come let me know which rank you would like to pursue after the meeting I would appreciate that. I'll have to see about catching Diana at another time I guess. My children will also be two this coming season so our student rank will be empty for the time being once spring comes." It was crazy how quickly all of them were growing! "I recently met with Karabela, the alpha from a new pack called Ivory Ridge. We discussed the possibility of holding a large gathering so we could exchange knowledge and have a group training session. I'm hoping that we can make this happen this Spring so be on the lookout for that! I'm sure that we have a lot to learn from each other and it should be a fun time for all of us." Hm, was there anything he was forgetting? "If you have any ideas for things you would like the pack to do together please feel free to come tell me after we're done here! I would love to have more activities planned for us to spend more time as a pack. I know that can be a bit of a feat with how many wolves we have now, but I want to make sure that you all are getting a chance to get to know one another. Other than that I don't think I have anything else. If anyone needs to make an announcement of some kind they can. If not you're free to go!" "Talk" "You" Think