Everyone had been assigned at least one task of some sort to get the wildberry grove ready for them to claim it as one of their territories, but she felt like there was a good amount of thought and preparation that needed to go into the idea of expanding their home to begin with. There were some obvious benefits, at least in her mind, but with that there would certainly be some cons. She and Artorias had already had an endless amount of discussion about the idea during their planning, but she wanted to solicit some feedback from the others as well and see if they had any thoughts about what they might need to focus on or be concerned about. There was bound to be something that she hadn't considered yet!

She tried to pick a good range of different wolves and she brought them out to the grove so that they could get a visual on things and brainstorm together. Serenity, Laeta, and Claire all came with her for various reasons. Serenity was always very attentive to the pack borders and had become their sentinel of sorts so she wanted her perspective on the security of things. Laeta was very intellectual and thoughtful and Briar felt like she would have a good handle on how the others might want to make use of the new space. Claire brought the unique perspective of being fresh to the pack and having the life living as a loaner that she at least had never had. With her small brain trust at the ready, she found a shaded spot in the grove and sat with them, giving them each a small smile. "Thank you all for taking the time to come discuss the expansion of the pack with me. I'd like to hear all of the benefits, concerns, and challenges you think we should be considering about branching out our lands and taking in this grove. I have some things to consider, but I want to hear from each of you first." She left the floor open for them then, glancing between them to see who would speak up first.

"Briar Carpathius"

Laeta felt quite honored to be invited by the Queen herself to come on this mission of sorts. Not so much mission as a brainstorming session - nonetheless, it was important for the pack and its expansion. The moment the older woman had heard the Hallows was consdering expanding the reach of their territory, she felt nothing but hope and excitement for the future of the place that had saved her life - in more ways than one. At this point, her recovery going smoothly, she felt ready to partake in the more physical aspect of traveling and thus made her way towards the luscious grove as Briar requested. She and two others were expected to meet and combine their ideas on how to make the grove accessible for the pack, as well as usable. After all, expending energy on land that would be of no use for the pack would be wasted effort. Laeta approached as quick as she could, which wasn’t very fast. The arthritis in her joints bothered her some days more than others - and this happened to be a sour day for her wrists and hips. Still, despite her chronic pain, she arrived with a skip in her step, Mel lumbering after her as per usual. She had heard Briar’s words, considering them carefully in her head the way one would gently examine a new artofact in their hands. Turning the ideas over and over until they resembled something of use to be said aloud. After some time pondering, as well as letting the sunlit grove soothe her bones with its fresh air and peaceful light, she glanced towards the antlered Queen and smile, a twinkle in her gaze giving away her eagerness to participate. "I do enjoy this grove and I believe it has many benefits for the pack. It’s plentiful in resources - not only in food such as birds, rabbits and deer, but it also has a plethora of medicinal herbs that naturally thrive here." She paused, then continuing as birds chirped overhead. "Although I speak as a Scholar, and not a hunter or fighter, I do see this land being used for everyone. Clearings can be made for sparring. Hunting trips can be made, for large or small parties to track prey. It provides a place of solace and quiet, above all, with plenty of room for different activities. The Hallows is known as a safe place for wolves to flourish and I believe this grove would be of great benefit for its members, physicall and mentally." She supposed it was a simple explanation, and many of it Briar might have already considered. Still, she aired her thoughts. What would everyone else say? She was so excited to hear them. ”Speech” ’Thought’

After the long night, Serenity had built a high anxiety about being anywhere but the castle but as time went on it subsided. So when they took the journey out to the grove, she wasn't so anxious as she would have been many months ago. It seemed like a thing of the past, or at least she hoped. She wasn't tweaking thinking something bad was around the corner anymore at least.

Joining beside the rest of the group, she perked an ear towards Briar as she asked for input and ideas about expanding into the grove here. Serenity quite liked the grove, it was a beautiful land here in Auster. Very fitting for her pack she thought. She waited as Laeta spoke, giving a good social point of view and finding good use in the expansion from different areas too. Serenity would think in a simialr way, at least wanting to chime in with other ideas rather than just border patrol. "I think building a new greenhouse in the plains would be a good project and transporting some of the plants from here to there would be beneficial." She took a look through the trees as she made a quick thought, "The Grove is the first place those traveling from Boraes to Auster will come across, we will also be sharing a close border with Fenmyre. I suggest we have patrollers walking the north and south ends at all times to escort wolves through or around."

"Serenity"

She had been surprised, honestly, when she had been requested to join the Queen and a couple of others for an important meeting regarding the pack's expansion. She was one of the newest members, so she hadn't expected to be asked for her input or opinion on much until she at least gained some more seniority. And considering the number of members in the pack, she assumed the input from them would have been requested. But when she was asked, she didn't hesitate to show up. She had never been asked for her input regarding pack things, and in fact, she had been rather quiet during her time in both Winterfell and Incendium. So this was a welcome surprise if she was being honest with herself. She arrived promptly, and once she did, she chose a seat among them and neatly wrapped her tail around her paws, the girl sitting tall and poised. For the first time, she noticed how big she was compared to the others. While she matched the brown and white fae in height, Claire was a little more heavy set though it was honestly mostly her Ancoran fur that made her look bigger than she was. She listened as Briar spoke, and then the two females she had yet to meet. She thought a few moments about what she could offer here, but...she did agree with them so far. She and Greed had passed through this area on their way to the Hallows, and if the pack planned on claiming it, she agreed with Serenity. "I agree with you," She nodded to Serenity, "This territory is the first that Greed and I passed through on our way to the Hallows. It is rich in food for prey animals, and the first time we passed through, we saw signs of bears. Black bears mostly, and while I've noticed they can be timid, a mother with cubs or one that feels like it needs to protect itself could be dangerous. Not to mention any rogue or passerby coming in from Boreas might see the berries as an easy treat and attempt to take what they can closer to the border at their leisure if they think they can get away with it." She grew thoughtful for a moment, thinking carefully about her words. She didn't want to sound stupid or embarrass herself, but so far...she was doing fine, right? "And another fair point was made as well. While I don't know much about the pack that borders these lands, we will be in closer proximity to one another. Are they friendly? Hostile? do they mind their own business? Would any of their members cause trouble for us when or if we decide to claim this land? As a former rogue, I'm aware of the difficulties of trying to navigate packs that are in close quarters to another. I think frequent patrols would be needed on that side more than anything. After all, it is often easier to deal with a rogue trespasser, but someone from another pack who willingly tries to cause trouble is another matter. Perhaps if they know that we are frequently watching and guarding our borders, they won't be tempted to test their luck." Was that too much? Like she mentioned before, she knew very little of the neighboring Fenmyre. Though Greed had scoped them out a bit before they came to the Hallows and decided the place wasn't suitable at all for them. Words often spread like wildfire, and all she knew was that they were in no way, shape, or form something she wanted to be associated with. "Additionally, we could potentially use some of the space here to set up something more geared towards healers and I suppose those interested in gardening. Hunters would also thrive here considering the abundant berries and plants that grow here would draw in prey, especially hungry ones that are traveling in from Boreas. As for fighters, I feel as long as some of these bushes are maintained, maybe manipulated or redirected to grow in a certain direction to divide some areas, we could perhaps use some of the space as spar grounds as well...though perhaps the castle courtyards are better suited for that...?" Damn...she was doing so well, too...but then another idea struck her. "Oh! What about if we decide to not do spar grounds here, we could perhaps grow crops? Either additional food for us or perhaps feed for livestock, or even additional livestock could be raised here for a time...?" She had seen some alpacas, but nothing else, really. Honestly, she probably wouldn't mind tending to some additional livestock. Maybe in the plains, but there was ample space here so it wouldn't hurt to throw the idea out there anyway, right? Maybe start young ones here and move them out to pasture when they were old enough to be moved to bigger pens... "Speak

As she invited them all to give their input on the grove they were sitting in for how they viewed the usefulness of this land and what they could use it for, Laeta spoke first with some well spoken observations about the plethora of resources that this portion of Auster provided as well as mentioning the physical and mental benefits for their wolves. Briar had heard that Laeta had an interest in the emotional and mental well being of wolves and that showed in her interests for the grove and Briar gave her a smile and nodded in agreement before Serenity began to speak and she turned her turquoise gaze toward her. She lifted her brows with interest at the idea of building a secondary greenhouse in the plains and transplanting some of the plants that grew abundantly here into the new structure. She did notice that the greenhouse that was currently built against the castle wall was over flowing with plants and certainly didn't offer room for larger plants if they wanted to cultivate that sort of thing. It had been built in the early days of the pack from her understanding so it made sense that they had outgrown it a bit. She hummed and nodded in agreement at the mention of this being one of the first points where wolves traveling from Boreas to Auster would reach and the possible need for more patrols this direction because of that and the fact that they would be moving their borders closer to Fenmyre. They were good ideas and points to take note of and she gave Serenity a nod as well. Claire said her piece then, speaking about the bears she and Greed had encountered here and the temptation of the berries that grew here that could draw wolves across the border. She also questioned the relationship between The Hallows and Fenmyre since they were understandably a point of concern and then gave her opinions on the many valuable uses for this space. None of the ideas were bad—that was one of the big benefits about this place was that it could be used for so many different things! The idea of growing crops or raising more livestock had come to mind for her as well, but not for the grove.

"These are all really good observations and I love all of these ideas," she told them with a smile, her braided tail brushing across the ground behind her. "To answer some of your concerns... Fenmyre and The Hallows are very close friends. We're probably about as close as we can be to being allied with another pack given our neutral stance in pack relations and Chimera, their leader, is a close personal friend of Artorias so I don't believe we need to be concerned with any threat from them. However, as your two pointed out," she said with a gesture to Claire and Serenity, "This is the first area of Auster you come across after crossing the bifrost. I certainly agree that we need to arrange some sort of patrols or guards for that border considering the frequency of other wolves passing by here." She thought back through some of the other points that were brought up and added, "We are definitely ware of the bears that frequent this area as well. Artorias, Rudyard, Fern and I chased off one just a couple of days ago. We have already begun making our presence known here and discouraging them from coming back—though undoubtedly we'll need to be careful of the predators regardless." She hummed softly with thought as she looked around the clearing. "Because of the bears and the proximity to the borders I'm not sure if I would want to have anything here that would bring our healers out here on their own. None of them are trained in fighting. I do really like the idea of building a green house and possibly even creating a space for crops and livestock in the plains. That would be a nice flat, open space for that sort of thing—though that's not really the focus of the topic today." She smiled and chuckled as she refocused her attention on them. "Perhaps if we left it a bit more wild as it is now we can mainly use it as a source of hunting and, as Laeta suggested, a peaceful spot for someone wanting to get away from the crowd of the pack for a while. We have only been steadily growing bigger as of late so it might be nice to have somewhere quiet to get away. It might be nice to create a space of some kind for that near the side of the grove that borders the plains... so that anyone resting out here would be further away from the bifrost facing border while still enjoying the shade of the grove. I also considered the possibility of building something like beehives out here to encourage the berry production out here since we can use the berries in our wine making as well."

"Briar Carpathius"

Laeta was quiet as Serenity and Claire offered their advice, nodding along to their viewpoints. She didn’t much know about other packs besides the Hallows - even Fenmyre, besides being aware that the respective alphas were on good terms and they both resided on Auster. She wasn’t heavily inclined on the political side of pack relations, often finding the, complicated if not stressful. Rather, as Briar correctly assumed, she was much more knowledgeable in the realm of therapeutic approaches for wolves, in relationships with others or with their own minds. Her points about the grove being a sanctuary for wolves needing to get away from the inevitable business of the main Hallows grounds stood firmly. It made much sense, as did Serenity and Claire’s input. She smiled at the thought of the pack’s alpacas being sble to thrive in such a plentiful land as well, or even at the notion of a greenhouse as Briar pointed out. "Beehives are a wonderful idea - bees can pollinate flowers and plants and promote more growth of various herbs and fruits." She knew the grove had multiple purposes - all of them vital for the Hallows, from wine making to alpaca raising to hunting and more. "Though, if bears are an issue, they might be tempted by the honey. Perhaps if we create some sort of mechanism that can be aversive to predators - something that makes a loud noise or something - it can keep them away from the hives. Maybe this can apply to perhaps raising other plants and such, too.’ That way, if anyone wished to grow a specific herb or flower or whatnot, they wouldn’t have to worry quite as much about a bear encounter, especially if the bear was chased off by something that made a loud noise or a harmless but foul-tasting plant. Heck, even thornbushes could sway soke creatures. ”Speech” ’Thought’

Serenity was much better at listening than offering advice really, but given the opportunity she wouldn't just sit there quiet. She liked to help the pack in anyway she could, any way that was asked of her. She was quiet though as the others spoke, and she'd wait until everyone had their own moments to say what was on their mind before she would go ahead.

Claire had a lot of different options to use the land for, but Serenity could agree that bringing the healers out here where predators were more liable to wander through wasn't the best layout for them. She was glad the thought of a newer greenhouse in the plains would stay in mind, and with that she was prepared to offer her own ideas for the bee hive farming. "We may be able to uproot some of the berry bushes here and regroup them in another part of the grove. We can put the bee hives out in those areas and maybe try to fence it off so it's more contained and at least easier to notice if there are any bears trying to take the resources we've made." Her paw motioned to Laeta for what she had mentioned, "And we can set some of those noise traps around the area and that should work to keep them away."

"Serenity"

She listened as the others put their input again. She nodded when Briar explained that Hallows and Fenmyre were friendly with each other pretty much, which was something she didn't know. Of course, she wouldn't, she had just joined and didn't know much about either pack other than what she learned here, and when she joined Hallows. As she listened to the rest of what Briar had to say, along with the other two wolves, she agreed with them. It would make sense to make hives here, and a greenhouse and other things in the plains. There was plenty of room there, and honestly, she was liking the idea of having a sort of... a wild oasis out here to get away from the hustle and bustle of it all. If there were no issues with the neighboring packs that bordered Hallows, she'd take their word for it. She was quite fond of the idea about the beehives and the other things that were suggested, and she nodded along as she listened. Setting traps or a system that would deter the bears was definitely an essential thing, and she had at least one more idea to contribute regarding that. "These are all wonderful suggestions. Er, may I add one more thing? It's mostly for bears, but...they don't seem to like the smell of pine oil very much. Perhaps we could integrate that around the perimeter to help keep them at bay...?" "Speak

Her attention was pulled to Laeta again as she supported the idea of creating beehives here—though rightly pointed out that the honey could attract bears as well. Briar hummed with thought at that and was already considering something like Laeta suggested of some way to keep the predators away or deter them from coming into this space. She grinned and nodded in agreement, trying to picture what they could set up to scare off a bear, but put the thought aside for now. Serenity built on the idea, suggesting that they move some of the berry bushes into a more contained garden that they could fence off and protect from the predators more readily with some of the previously mentioned sound makers. She liked that angle of things as well. A split between an area they used in a more utilitarian fashion and some area left more wild to enjoy nature just as it was. It seemed like a good compromise. Claire capped it all off with an incredibly helpful tip of using pine oil to help keep the bears away since they hated the smell of it. Her brows lifted with interest and she grinned, her braided tail swishing against the ground. "Do they really? I had no idea! That's super helpful. Between the noise makers and the pine oil we shouldn't have too much issue with the bears bothering our hives."

She was really happy with the ideas and discussion they had here today, but now they would need to put it all into action. It would take a good bit of work to turn this into what they were envisioning, but she was excited to see it come to fruition! "Would any of you like to volunteer to work on creating a noise making contraption of some kind? Serenity, I know you're very skilled at building and crafting... Perhaps you could, if you don't mind?" She was still amazed but he work Serenity had done on the arbor that had been used during their wedding ceremony so she couldn't imagine that would be too much of a problem for the handy woman. "Claire, do you happen to know a good way of harvesting the pine oil? Maybe you can teach me and some of the healers so we can work on getting a good supply of it to have on hand." She smiled at Claire and then turned her attention to Laeta, adding, "And Laeta, I'd love to have your input on what would make for a good get away spot out here and maybe we can set up some of the same deterrents there to keep the bears away from where we're trying to relax."

"Briar Carpathius"

Lae tilted her head thoughtfully as Serenity and Claire chipped in on the beehive idea. Deterrents were a great idea, they both concurred. Claire even mentioned the jse of pine oil, which bears apparently despised. She furrowed her brow as she tried to recall some method of dispersing the pine oil without damaging any plants in the process. As she remembered from experiences as a loner, pine oil was pretty potent in large amounts. But if they wished to keep such large predators at bay, potent was the way to go. Claire would surely find a way to make it happen, as eould Serenity with her ability to craft contraptions as noise deterrants. Finally, Briar’s delegations turned to her - inquring if she had ideas for implementing a safe space for wolves away from the other regions of the grove they planned to use for agricultural purposes. Allowing herself a few moments to think, rolling her shoulders with a resounding crunch in the joints, her soft smile and ruby eyes lifted towards the Queen at last. "A good get-away spot would require a segment of the grove that we would reserve just for wolves to retreat to - that means we should take care to spread out the beehives and other plants we might want to grow. Some wolves might be afraid of bees, or might have allergies - we should take care to ensure the space is open to any wolf to seek solace in." She paused, thinking again of a good spot within the grove. "Since a larger concentration of predators might be located coming in from the outskirts of the grove, perhaps we could integrate a safer space either closer to the direction of the castle, or situated in the center of the grove - lining the perimeter of the grove with pine oil as well." She figured the middle of the grove allowed for more peace and quiet, and it also made it less likely to encounter large animals. ”Speech” ’Thought’

With all the different ideas and ways to deter the bears from the area, Serenity nodded her head thoughtfully as she listened to what the others had to say. As Briar asked if she could work on making some noise contraptions for the area, she wouldn't refuse. "I'll help where ever I'm needed." she responded kindly while glancing over the others that were here with them. She was tuned with many different skills and honestly didn't have one that striked out for her. She was a knight for the Hallows but really she just did what was asked of her or what ever she could do to help. Otherwise she was in her reclusive nature on top the castle walls.

Looking to Briar, Laeta, and Claire she waited to be sure the group of them were done their conversation before heading back to the castle together. She'd have to brainstorm some ways to make the bear noise traps, but honestly she was more eager to start work on the green house instead. There were priorities though so she would start with the most important for her pack mates by ensuring the safety of the new land.

"Serenity"

She wagged her tail a bit as she listened to Briar, and the silver-hued woman couldn't help but feel excited. She was good at making traps, she and Greed had to make some while they wandered the rogue lands since it had just been the two of them out there. Pine oil had become especially handy whenever they ended up having to sleep in bear country. "Absolutely! Greed and I have used it on several occasions and it worked pretty well. We've also made noise traps, so if you need an extra paw for those, I'm happy to help!" She was excited to get started on the pine project and to teach those who wanted to learn, what she knew. She hadn't had this opportunity before, and she was eager to get started. "I'm also willing to help with the hives and doing whatever needs to be done." She was a part of a pack now, might as well try to help where she could, right? "Speak