Chaos had watched Birna and Raba disappear into the canyons after their quarry, and wondered if he'd ever see either of them again. He had wanted to go racing after them and demand Raba take the pack back and he'd track down Magpie... but he knew it was something Raba had to do for herself, and besides... there was a rising excitement in him, to do this thing he'd never considered doing, and it wasn't like him to second guess and regret anything before he'd leaped in with all four feet. Why shouldn't he lead a pack, after all? Wasn't he his father's son for all he'd been given the Saxe name to carry on instead?

But if he was going to do this thing there were responsibilities he had to take care of. He went first to the den Dagmaer had been brought to, to find that Kassander and Qualm had done what they could with her and she was resting. He'd peeked in on her, but he hadn't wanted to disturb her so he'd quickly ducked out again. He wondered what she'd decide to do once she recovered - if she recovered. Would she go after her relatives and travel with them to find this... Aserlin? He'd be sure to speak with her when she was able and let her know where they'd gone.

For now though...

Somewhat subdued by the circumstances of his obtaining the pack, but with obvious energy he bounded to the center of a wide valley cupped within the Maw, and hopped up onto the boulder there. He surveyed the valley, spread out like a rocky amphitheater, and thought of his dad calling meetings. He wished Valentine were able to see him now. Chaos, the youngest, the oddity, an alpha.

He tried lifting his head in an approximation of Valentine's kingly bearing, but it just felt awkward and dumb, like a pup playing so he dropped it right away. The two owls dropped silently from the sky into a gnarled old tree a little ways away in the valley, hooting quietly to themselves a moment before swiveling their heads as one to watch him. He grinned at them, and decided that if he would be an alpha it would be on his own terms, not trying to imitate any of the fancy cultured packs that dotted Ardent. Nor would he borrow his father's militaristic ranks - it would be ill-fitting for a wolf as impulsive and freespirited as Chaos to try to be alpha to such a disciplined and ordered system.

Lifting his head he called the remnants of what had been Ivory Ridge together. He'd give them a choice to stay or go. He knew a lot of them had probably just been here to follow Raba, and with her gone they might not feel comfortable following him. If they left, Chaos figured it was just as well they did. He wasn't offended, and good riddance anyway. He wouldn't want to deal with the headache of constantly dealing with "but that's not the way Raba did it" and explain over and over again that Raba had wanted him to change everything. If they just didn't bother to show up though, that would really tick him off. That stank of disloyalty to Raba, who they all still thought was their alpha, and it made Chaos lift his lip in a half-snarl of disgust. He flopped down on his boulder to wait to see who'd bother to show up.

OOC: this is a mandatory meeting for all wolves in Ivory Ridge except Birna and Raba who are gone and Dag who is still poisoned. Everyone else is required to attend. Deadline is March 6. Sorry for the short notice but I do not want to be waiting on everyone to post so I can get things going.

The pack was in high stress at the moment. Daeg being poisoned and Raba off with the others to try and find the culprit. Thanks to Kassander though it seemed like she was going to be okay. However mysteriously Chaos had called a meeting - Qualm felt his heart drop in his chest. His paws carried him out and he narrowed his eyes for a moment. He would promise himself to keep a civil show though, his tail flicking for a moment as he gladly sat under Chaos. Waiting for the rest of the pack- he could see how much damage had happened to begin with. His tail curled around around his body. He was afraid, but he didn't let that show. The healer tried to breath to calm himself. Though his gut told him that his life would be changing again. Not that it was a problem - the world changed and shaped as it wanted. Qualm could not hold that against it. Just the way of nature was change in the first place. "Talk"

At some point Dagmær had managed to find peace. Thanks to Kassander and Qualm she was recovering swiftly from her poisoning though her body still felt weak and dehydrated and the pounding headache remained. She stirred slowly, an ear twitching, her tail shifting as she slowly roused herself from sleep. She needed to talk to Karabela, tell her what happened but her body resisted the idea of her getting to her feet and find her aunt. Well… if she was completely honest she knew that whatever had happened her family, her pack, was taking care of it. Even so, she felt like she should be involved and was still kicking herself for being so freaking stupid as to get poisoned in the first place! Dagmær shifted her legs under her body and shakily got to her feet. She still felt woozy and suddenly very thirsty having drained the water jars Kassander had left for her. She heard a howl and her ears perked at the sound and the tone of it. Chaos. He was calling a meeting. She felt her stomach drop and wondered if something had happened to Karabela. Leaning against the den wall she steeled herself and moved out into the light, moving slowly and very carefully to where Chaos had called the meeting. Thankfully it wasn't that far from her den. Her heart was pounding, her brow knitted together as she looked around at Chaos and also at Qualm. She didn't see Raba or Birna and it caused the dread in her stomach to grow. "Chaos? Chaos, where is my family?" ""

Kassander had been reluctant to leave Dagmaer, but he was hardly the only healer capable of keeping an eye on her, and he was only a howl away if her condition worsened. But for now she was sleeping, so he'd left her with some clay jars filled with water if she was thirsty, and had retreated to his den to remedy some of the mess from the necessarily rough treatment when Rommel dug through things to find the needed treatments. Bitter salts and charcoal were hardly the most well-used remedies, after all, so they'd been tucked away. As a result, many more commonly used herbs had been (carefully, so as to not ruin them) strewn across the hides that covered the sick-room floor in the fox's quest to find them. He had just finished righting the room and was puttering around fussing with things in an effort to keep himself busy when a howl summoned the pack together. It was Chaos, who had been accompanying Karabela and Birna on the trail of Dagmaer's poisoner.

His ears pricked at the sound, but when it sank in that it was Chaos, with not a peek from Karabela, his brows drew together in worry. Was something wrong with Karabela or Birna that the more junior warrior was calling the pack together? Was someone else hurt?

But Chaos' summons, while commanding, wasn't urgent, so Kassander pushed his fears down and trotted out of the cave towards the call. Getting there, he found Chaos on a rock, alone. Qualm was already there, and - so Kassander was worried to see - so was Dagmaer. With a gasp of faint censure, the auburn male hurried over to fuss over his patient. "You shouldn't be up yet, Dagmaer," he frowned at her, carefully lending her his strong shoulder to lean on since she was there anyway.

Chaos should have waited for the rest of the pack to gather, but there weren't many that he knew of to be in pack boundaries at this moment and frankly, he was impatient to begin things. Besides, Dagmaer deserved an explanation. He sat up again as Kassander started fussing over Dag. "Raba and Birna are ok," he assured them to start with. "We found Magpie but she escaped through somewhere too small for Birna and I to follow, so Raba tracked her down while we looked for a way around. She caught up with the bitch and broke her leg, but Magpie poisoned her somehow and got away. The poison wore off quick, so Raba decided she and Birna would be going after her. But..." he locked eyes with each of the three present wolves in turn. "She isn't coming back. Not for a while, anyway. If she can't find Magpie she plans on finding some relative of hers, Aserlin I think, and find out more about this feud Magpie seems to have with Raba and her family. She didn't want to put anyone else at risk, so she's not coming back. She's turning the pack over to me, and going where her being there isn't going to bring Magpie down on anyone in the pack."

A little rambling, maybe a tad repetitive, but Chaos had just had a very long journey and if he hadn't been so keyed up over everything he'd probably have fallen flat on his face, so maybe it was excusable. He cleared his throat. "Raba asked me to change everything about the pack. I'm not Raba, and even if she hadn't asked me to there's no way I'd be able to run Ivory Ridge like she did. We're just too different. I know a lot of you were just here for her, and that maybe it wouldn't be comfortable to stay here with everything changing and her gone. I'm not going to hold that against anyone. If you want to leave, just say so. You'll have time to pack what you want and leave the territory."

He sat, and waited, knowing that chances were good he'd not actually have any members in his pack by the end of the meeting. Oh well, his dad hadn't had anyone either, when he'd claimed Imperium. That all came later. He'd recruit heavily, and prove himself as a good alpha and then wolves would come flocking. It was the way things worked.


OOC: For anyone who hadn't had time to post, you aren't going to be considered late until the deadline but like Chaos I was very impatient and didn't want to wait. Feel free to post your character having come in time to hear the explanation and everything. Anyone wanting their character to leave, please actually post here saying they will be leaving or Chaos (and I) will assume they are staying.

The male's eyes would narrow to slits for a moment. He felt like his heart had just been prematurely ripped out of his chest. Though he tried not to let it get to him. This meant.... Raba was gone. There was a large possibility she would never be coming back. Qualm knew very well that his feelings probably would have been unrequited for the rest of his life but it didn't mean that they hadn't been there. His chest hurt, heart pounding against it as he cleared his throat. There was no uncertainty that Chaos would make a great alpha but Qualm knew as soon as he heard Raba was gone he had to go back to Abaven. "I'll be leaving, in the end I was here for Raba and I know my heart just wouldn't be loyal if I stayed. I wish you luck Chaos - I'll be collecting my herbs and going." he didn't know anyone here too well enough to give them a proper goodbye anyway. But the young male stood and gave Chaos a respectful bow. He would be on a mission now, if Bass accepted him back Qualm could spend more time with his sister(if she allowed that much) with delaney gone and Nah dead there really was nothing left for him here especially when his heart was in a bit of a turmoil. He turned around and headed to his den to collect his herbs and then be on his way. -Exit Qualm unless stopped- "Talk"