She was now pregnant, it was a fact that hit her like if snow had fallen on her face. Arian had picked an odd day to go and visit this new northern pack, she was not looking for an alliance but neither was she looking to waste whoever was here's time. She just wanted to make sure her pack would be safe along with her future offspring until they were born of course. If anything got difficult, Avalon, Cypress and Amachi were all capable of leading them in times of need. Still though, the fact that another pack probably a stronger pack had appeared in the north made her need to check it out as her alphess duty anyhow. The lady stopped at the borders respectfully. Her head raising the cripple would let out a short and sweet howl. It was not one of urgency, if the alpha of these lands was busy Arian could leave and try another day. She sat down at the border, blue eyes scanning across. She felt she knew these wolves somehow, their scents individually she seemed to know. However names could not currently be plastered on them. "Talk"

The call that came from the border for her was one that was vaguely familiar. Had she heard it before? Warily the alpha approached the border to find that the caller indeed was a vaguely familiar one. She had seen that brown and white form in the past, had known of the crippled alpha Arian. She had refused an alliance with this wolf's pack - a pack that she had been certain had fallen apart not long after. How had she managed to regain a pack? Katja couldnt see the fawning crippled woman having taken one by force but it wouldnt do to be caught by surprise if it were so.

"Arian," she said simply as she came upon the border, her voice cool and clipped, and watched the other woman with an outward indifference awaiting what, if anything, she could possibly want.

The pregnant woman hadn't expected to see Katja here. Her crystal eyes blinked for a moment, well it was a pleasant surprise none the less. Katja was a woman Arian looked up to, if anything respected and trusted her. "Katja, I see you've claimed yourself a nice place here in the north." Arian would simply start. Never would the other be one who beat around the bush would she. "My pack is very close to here, I came to see where yours would stand. I would like to make sure Sonticus is safe until my children are born into this world." Arian would state simply. "It's also, nice to see you Katja." The woman was always happy to see an old face. With whatever she had been through, she had believed the gods hated her. The back of her mind was filled with doubt, but it was also a sense of where was she going to go next. What she wanted to do was to secure and protect her borders. Their own future depended on it. "Talk"

Arian seemed happy to see her, though Katja did not waver from her facade of cool indifference as the other alpha spoke. "Yfir grows strong in the north, as it was meant to be," she said in answer to the woman's first words, the obvious observation of Katja's claim here. As for the woman's explanation of why she was here - had she not learned in their last encounter? Had she taken something from Katja's refusal to ally with her first cringing, clinging pack that Katja had not intended? She stared up at the woman with something akin to a faint sneer of disappointment. "The north is dangerous, Arian. No one is safe here. That is why I chose it. If you wanted to be safe you should have moved your pack south from the start. Coddling your pack and your cubs will do naught but make them weak and useless." She cocked her head to the side and fixed the pregnant woman with a hard stare. She was not sure, not yet, if Arian had come seeking a peace accord from a dangerous pack, or an alliance with a dangerous pack that would fight her fights for her as she had sought when last they'd spoken. It was in Katja's nature to be upfront and blunt, but she chose to set that question aside to follow this particular line of discussion for a time."Why did you choose the north for your pack?" "Talk" "You" Think

Arian was far different than she had been upon first meeting Katja. The pregnant woman's skin crawled a bit. "When I say make sure they are safe, I also mean prepared." she would start after the ebony woman finished. Taking in a deep breath she soon realized it was here she could be herself. As opposed to being scared of the demon inside in front of her pack. "I chose the north because it is far from that luxurious life I first grew up in. No doubt my husband will try to coddle my pups but something will be made very clear to them. This world is ruthless and wolves can be just as cold as this snow." her crystal eyes shifted over the other for a moment. "Things are far different from our last encounter. I have been enslaved, abused, broken. The fact that I had the strength to pull out of it, never again will I let a wolf take my own freedom away." She smiled at Katja though, she simply had her own plans. Though because of their proximity Arian would have to show her kind times. "So I would just like to know, are you planning on attacking me so I can fortify my borders with my fighters? Or somehow gain your trust slowly, Sonticus is not weak they will fight for their home no matter the cost of blood. And I rather like you Katja I would like to try and become friends." Arian wanted to be careful not to make it a threat. She had no plans on attacking Yfir, however she would defend her borders and needed to know so that nothing snuck up on her. "Talk"

She listened silently, emotionless and expressionless, allowing Arian her moment in the spotlight. Why not? The girl clearly wanted it with her speeches and her politics and Katja did not. Arian would not coddle her children, Arian had been captured and enslaved, Arian believed that she was different now. Hmph. Auora had been captured when they were young by nordmann raiders. She had come out the stronger for it. But most of Katja's experience as a maurader and a mercenary told her that the very opposite was generally more true. Auora had not been broken. A tree, once broken, did not grow back stronger than before. It weakened, withered, and died, attracting diseases and parasites that spread to weaken the rest of the grove. Finally Arian concluded her monologue with questions, and Katja stirred from her disciplined stillness. "Don't be a fool, Arian," she spoke coldly. "Of course I plan to attack you." It wasn't, after all, in her to dissemble and lie. She took the opportunity to seat herself, tail curled around paws that merely perched upon the earth as though ready to throw herself into movement once more. Surveying the crippled woman, she kept her irritation and disgust with the necessity of politics hidden beneath a cool facade. What had she ever done in her time here that would make this woman think she wanted to make friends? "There is not a single pack in these lands I do not consider, do not plan for. Your proximity to us changes nothing except to make it easier." She tsk'd in faint annoyance. "So yes, fortify your borders as they should have been already. It means little to me how prepared you think you are." She shrugged, the gesture strange cloaked in the appearance of frozen indifference. "I explained to you a long time ago that I have no interest in allies. Nothing has changed. If you wish more friendly neighbors perhaps you would find your niche somewhere more... southern. There are good hunting lands in the west lying vacant." Though her tone was dismissive, she made no move to leave, instead remaining with a steely gaze locked to Arian's. Now, more than ever before, were the metaphorical teeth bared, and Arian's reaction to the clear threat was... of interest. "Talk" "You" Think

Her hormones would make quick work of her on the inside, wanting to bristle at her snap at the woman. How Arian believed fully that she was wrong, somehow Katja thinking she had an upper hand over Arian ticked her off. She knew that Vereux was in her pack, and some part of her wished that they could be friends. It made her think of Hajime and the stories he told, and she had always been well off enough not to judge a wolf until she had met them. However, the ebony in front of her she didn't want to respect at all. It wasn't that she was mad over Katja not wanting to make an alliance or over wanting to attack them. It was the attitude of all knowing, all powerful that set her off. Zakuro smite her for that, but she knew very well her members could hold their own as a unit if not they would die and that would be the end of it. "No....the south is not for me. I'd rather die trying to fight than curled up in some warm den." Arian wanted to laugh at the reaction Katja had given her a little bit. "I'll still wait and see what happens. Doesn't change the fact that this world is forever changing." she would turn herself away heading back home. Hopefully once she got there no one would be around. Although, she now knew clearly what she thought of katja and of the pack that she held. -exit arian- "Talk"