It was with catlike stealth and elegance that the ebony and gold woman slunk through the valley in the gilded rays of the sun as it hung low, barely remaining above the horizon. Shadows stretched and twisted their way along the ground and her partially mottled coat would be right at home in the contrasting natural colors around her. Her approach was quiet, paws rolling carefully, toe to pad in the noiseless manner of a coyote. Nose twitching as she neared the border, Razi set to work learning what she could as fast as possible.

Her journey here had been largely uneventful. It was interesting to spend time with Amon's daughter on the way here. She reminded Razi of Pyralis in a few ways, and she was surely very different from Razi herself. Hopefully the girl had enough of the right parts of Amon to be an asset in this mission. Time would tell. As she got to work, Razi kept an ear out for Astaroth nearby. It was easier for Razi's marking to stay fairly hard to spot this time of day, she wasn't so sure about her niece's natural camouflage though. Slinking low to the ground through the tall grasses, she stalked near the border and took in the scents carefully.

A fairly even mix of male and female scents, all adult from what she could tell. Maybe... eight to ten, give or take? There might be more who stayed away from the borders for the most part. Several scents were stronger than the rest, making Razi think they may very well be the leaders of this particular pack. Wait, what was this? A strange scent was faintly caught treading the borders here and there, a little faded for the most part but parts were stronger. "Looks like someone's expecting," she thought to herself as she took in the smell she now recognized as the unmistakable perfume of a soon-to-be mother.

Creeping several body-lengths back from the border - a distance she hoped was respectful enough - she searched for Astaroth and hummed, "Should we call and say hello now?" Words fell from her lips smooth as silk, with an unusually upbeat tone. Razi was no fool; if there were residents of this pack hanging around nearby she wasn't going to go hissing menacing things they might overhear and give them reason to see her as a threat. She wasn't one, anyways, diplomatic mission or not it wasn't her style to go in ready to attack.

He was running the borders once more, checking to ensure everything was in place and that no trespassers came by. He was also checking for scent trails, planning to go hunting later to bring some food in for the pack. The main hunter was down and out and the male felt the need to pick up the slack, especially with Jewell due any day now. It was nearing dark and the valley was growing quiet as the animals began to bed down for the night. It made things a bit eerie but the older male continued on. Long legs and large paws were careful to not make a noise as he moved, approaching the spot where the two outsiders were lingering close by. Nose to the ground and ears tall and alert he took in things around him They were far enough back that their presence wasn't directly known, until his ears caught the words from the one. They were quieter and silkier words, but his trained ears were able to catch it and his body stopped dead, head turning so his gaze could fixate on the direction they were. He kept his stance his and dominant, but his facial expressions were relaxed. As far as he knew these strangers were not danger, yet. "Welcome to the borders of Lirim," he called out summoning the two closer since it was getting dark. He was standing directly on the borders and waited until they got closer. "Talk" & 'Think"

Art by Kanvos

I'll show you how a heart can never fail

With Frost out on patrol, Rory had taken it upon himself to change up his evening schedule a bit. With most animals returning to their dens for the evening Rory figured it would be the most opportune time to go hunting. With Jewell expecting she'd gotten to the point where she waddled and he didn't like the idea of overexerting herself just to hunt so he figured he'd do his best to try and find her something so she could relax.

Well that'd been the plan anyways until a couple scents filtered his way on the breeze. He rose his head to get a better angle on the scent and it didn't take him long to recognize them as that of another pack. For a brief moment he thought it might be Sparrow with news of their joint session that they'd planned back in the winter, but then he realized that this pack scent was foreign. Was there a new pack he didn't know about?

He gave up on the idea of a hunt and instead hightailed it to the borders where he found Frost and two other wolves. He came to stand beside Frost and inspected the two females. The one was just slightly shorter than himself and was a pretty mixture of black and gold, but it was the other who had his full attention. He'd never seen a female quite that huge, but he supposed there was a first for everything. He glanced between the two before he offered a slight welcoming smile.

"Greetings, I'm Rory and this is Frost. How can we help you?" Normally when other pack wolves came to borders it was for pack relations, right? Either way Rory figured it would be good to make a decent first impression.

"Speech"

"Perhaps we should!" A grin quickly formed on Astaroth's lips. The more they knew of the mortal packs; the more they could dominate and rule over them. It would be simple, really, if they could befriend the majority of the packs. 'Befriend'. Truthfully, it was another word for use, but it's not like any of them would know that.

Astaroth was just about to send out a call when first one wolf appeared, and he stood directly on the border, calling out to them. Hmm, was that an invintation to come closer? Well, she'd take it, coming to a stop a couple feet away from Frost. "Greetings," she murmured, though she didn't get much a chance to say anything else before a second wolf appeared, and she turned her head to eye the smaller - though not much smaller - male. She dipped her head in greeting.

"I am Astaroth, and this is Razi. We are from a pack in Auster, and we've come up north to see, and learn about the fellow packs in this land, if you don't mind? I can already see one thing - you have a great border patrol. That alone is to be respected." That much was true; she wasn't lying in the least. To respond so quickly to wolves on the border without a call was a combination of luck and good patrolling. Luck, because the patrol could have been elsewhere, but eventually they would have been found had they not been planning on calling anyway.

Razi was eager to get to work once Astaroth replied, a howl ready to form on her lips- but there was no need for a man called out to them. Thank goodness she'd chosen her words carefully, it wouldn't do any good for the members of this pack to hear things they weren't meant to. Astaroth called a greeting, and Razi padded after her as she made her way over to the first one to call out. Another male approached, and Razi appreciated their timely response to someone at their borders. Of course they hadn't known the Abraxas women were lurking, but they sure were quick to take notice when they'd gotten close enough. That was good, she didn't like dealing with fools.

Astaroth took the lead, and Razi was happy to allow the younger woman to do so. It gave her a chance to be the observer and drink in everything the Lirim wolves did. She took note of their features, their builds, everything. Taking in their scents, she noticed they both smelled like they were in good physical health. No signs of illness, or other physical weaknesses. Nodding, Razi would add, "It's always refreshing to be greeted swiftly and pleasantly. Good to meet you two."

Glancing between them Razi eventually asked, "Have you had your pack long? Forgive my curiosity but you do seem pretty young, Rory." there was a warmth and charm to her voice that only appeared when she was really trying. It came off genuine, but surely those who knew the woman would not recognize this amiable tone when they heard it. She'd singled out Rory because... well, call it intuition, but she did sometimes have a knack for picking the leader out of a group. The way Rory took charge while the other man remained more stoic said all she needed to know.

Rory soon joined him to greet these two strangers at the border. It made the older male feel better that Rory was here They were evenly numbered now in case the two ladies did decide to be a threat of sorts. Neither of them seemed to be so far. The younger one spoke first mentioning that they were from Auster. He tried to think back when Iskra was here, was her pack from Auster too? He settled to his haunches curiously looking over the pair not sure how much information should be given to these two. Rory had already given them his name she he really didn't have much to say. He looked to Rory briefly before looking back at the two women curious to learn more about their pack. He was wondering if these may be the wolves they had warned about. The two women didn't seem to be a threat, but things could always change. He felt like Rory should have the lead on this one, but he couldn't help but be curious about them. He wanted to ask questions, but let Rory take the lead since he was the main alpha. "Talk" & 'Think"

Art by Kanvos

I'll show you how a heart can never fail

Rory's attention turned to the larger of the two females as she spoke for the both of them and he dipped his head politely in greeting to the both of them. He glanced sideways at Frost to see if he had anything else to say, but so far he seemed content to let him speak. He always tended to be rather quiet in these situations though and it made him wonder if maybe he should talk less - if only to let Frost get a few words in. They were both leaders of Lirim after all - it wouldn't be very courteous of him to completely overrun Frost by not letting him speak at all with any diplomatic situations.

"Well thank you. We like to keep up with our borders, it tends to help keep the occasional wanderer from thinking they can get away with crossing through the territory without repercussions." Pack wolves too really, but he'd never had a problem with that so far.

The slightly smaller female, Razi was speaking now, and Rory's attention flitted to her now as she questioned him on the duration he'd been leading the pack. Was it obvious he was that young? At least he could say he had some experience under his belt now.

"I've been in control of Lirim for a year now, but my mother was leader for a year before me." He answered confidently. He felt a little awkward now that that question had been popped. He didn't want to come off as incompetent to other pack wolves and he certainly didn't want to appear as though he was a fool. Not that he thought he was, but he didn't plan on being underestimated either just because of his age.

"What did you want to know about Lirim?" He left the question open to either of the females to answer. "Though I am more than a little curious about your pack as well, if you don't mind answering some questions in return."

"Speech"