ooc: I know that the raid isn't quite over just yet but thought I'd get the meeting up anyway and we'd wing it from there. Frith to post first please! Deadline 17th August! A lot had happened between now and the last meeting, more than Novella could have really ever anticipated though it was about time that the pack were officially gathered and addressed once again. Spring had been a busy month for them it seemed, not exactly a good kind of busy either in some cases and she could only hope that the end of the season would lead way for a better Summer. In the mean time though, there were still matters that needed to be discussed with the pack and more steps for them to take to move forwards. With Frith at her side, the pair summoned the pack and waited for them to arrive.

Frith was recovering from his wounds in the recent raid but his pride was going to take longer to mend than his wounds. He'd spent a lot of time in the den, he'd been slacking on duties he'd been keeping up with pristinely and if he were gone for much longer it might start to break down. They would really need to start handing out more responsibility. With his injury and Novella's pregnancy they were not in their best condition. Still, he'd try and hold his head high despite his loss to Yfir's leader. As Novella lifted her head to call the pack he'd join her, not sure if he was looking forward to this meeting or not.

Ever since the raid Herne had been doubling up on all of his efforts to keep his herb stocks in check. He hadn't really been much help in the fighting aspects, but at least his obsession on collecting herbs and studying had come in handy to deal with the aftermath. When he heard his parents' call he was quick to hop to his paws and hurry toward the meeting. He was actually first to arrive for once and he trotted toward them with a small smile resting on his lips. "Are both of you feeling okay? Can I go get you anything?" If nothing else he was always a healer and overly-caring son before all else. Assuming neither of them requested some herbs he would go to sit where the rest of the pack would gather to wait for them to arrive. "Talk" "You" Think

Between her not being able to help during the raid at all and her talk with Aki she had honestly been questioning whether she should be in a pack at all. She clearly wasn't contributing anything to them. What kind of payment was that for giving her a home? Did she even really want to stay in one place all of the time? The idea of following Aki around really did have an appeal to it even though she wasn't really sure why. The thrill and adventure had a very strong appeal if nothing else. The call for the meeting went up and while she wasn't excited to go she wouldn't hesitate either. She was one of the first to arrive, if she judged the scents of those around her correctly. She settled on her haunches a fair distance away from the alphas and just waited for the meeting to being. Perhaps how this meeting went would help determine if she stayed or not. Speak

Another meeting had been promised for the Spring, a chance to see what progress the pack had made and whether any of them would be promoted or demoted. Although he now understood why he'd been made to stay behind, with that recent slump he'd been in, Aslan honestly wasn't sure whether he'd be joining Félicien with a promotion or not, he certainly didn't expect to rise swiftly through the ranks after his latest display anyway.

The call for that meeting finally rang out, for days now he had been waiting for it since the end of the raid and the mini meeting for the family. Aslan would make his way towards the meeting point without hesitation, a talk with his little sister and one with Lux recently had certainly helped him feel a little better though he now felt bad for the sour mood he'd been in for a while. He was prompt though, only his brother and Kalliope arriving ahead of him.

"Hello" He would greet softly as he came up beside the blind healer. "Don't be afraid to come a little closer." He encouraged, though of course there was a chance that she was a bit like Sorrel and merely didn't want to go anywhere close to the front. He would pause only a moment longer before continuing his own little journey towards the front, joining his brother before his parents and greeting the three of them.

The question constantly echoed in her mind as she made her way to the meeting, haunting her regardless of how many times she shoved the thought aside. Just thinking about it made her stomach churn, twisting it in many sickening knots. Oh, why were her expectations always raised so high? In the midst of her larger and more long-term ambitions, she yearned for a promotion, simply wanting to follow her cousin's lead. Had she worked hard enough in the past season remained undecided; and as much as she wanted to believe so, there was always the chance the Authors' opinions differed. Threar wasn't in much of a good shape as of recently, with the dreadful raid so fresh in her mind she shuddered at the thought of the event. Then there was another litter of siblings to look forward to - more  young minds to teach and sculpt in the pack's scholarly ways. To be honest, she admired her parents' determination to keep the pack in an orderly manner, despite the many stressful matters floating around the place. And so, upon her arrival, she tried to have her demeanour as optimistic as possible, hoping to spread the mood among her pack-mates. After greeting the crowd, she lumbered towards to her litter-brothers, seating herself and awaiting the final verdict. Would she rise through the ranks?   "Speech"

Damn Yfir. Damn them and everything they stood for. The raid had been hard on them all, and all Félicien would find himself still mentally kicking himself for not doing better. Sure he had bested not one, but two wolves... but there had been so many enemies. His wounds were still in the recovering stage himself, and he couldn't imagine how Frith might be feeling. He saw the older man as no less in his eyes for losing to the viking leader. He was a strong man, a bold man, who had stood by what was right. There just wasn't enough of the supporting side of Threar, making  Féli wonder what had happened. It also made him wonder if everyone was still alright... if there were members of their pack that were not well. Which made him think of Tac. A soft sigh left Félicien's lips as he arrived at the meeting, taking a seat near Varda. He would give her a gentle nudge and a smile, an encouraging one. She had been at the raid as well, and in his eyes had done well. He respected everyone who had shown up, whether they won or lost. But he couldn't help but wonder why more of their pack hadn't arrived. It kind of hurt him in wondering. He was worried, though he tried not to let that worry show, instead letting his attention focus on the meeting at hand. "Listen to me talk," 'but read my thoughts.'

Table by:: Eldarwen

Luck had been dreading this call, knowing it was coming but all too quickly for her liking. It wasn’t just her apprehension at being in such a big group especially one with a growing number of strangers but all of her recent doubts. Her talk with Aslan had helped a bit but she still couldn’t fight the feeling that she had disappointed her parents. She wasn’t exactly ambitious so the thought of a promotion held little sway for her but she knew a demotion would mean she had failed in her parent's and indeed the rest of her family’s eyes, and she didn’t know if she could handle that. The small Destruction padded slowly after her parent’s call and she noted she was among the early arrivals despite her own pace. Bright blues landed upon her cousin and father and she felt another wave of guilt sweep through her, gaze turned downwards and ear pulled back slightly. Settling herself with the main bulk of her family she turned around to anxiously watch for Fate’s arrival. "Speech"

Walk | Talk | Think Miksa limped carefully as he made his way toward the gathering his leader had called, his left foreleg suspended and his gait hobbled without its use. He was cautious of every movement he made, afraid of jostling his shoulder and awakening the ache that had become a rather constant companion to his injury, more so than the bite wound that marred the left side of his jaw. That only stung, and though any movements to speak or eat pulled at the healing wounds and made them uncomfortable they still did not compare to how his shoulder had felt. None of his injuries, however, prevented him from arriving on time. He was quiet as ever, perhaps even quieter due to the state of his jawline, but he had never been one for voicing opinions and speaking up anyway. With a timid glance toward Novella and Frith and another spared for those already in attendance, Miksa limped up toward the back of the group and eased himself into a seated position, gingerly placing his left forepaw on the ground as he awaited whatever news would be shared.

There was always a meeting around the corner for some reason or another, there was nothing that could be done to prevent them and even warnings of one wouldn't leave the healer feeling any more prepared or pleased for them when they finally arrived. It was with a heavy sigh that the wolf would make his way towards the meeting point, a steady pace, certainly not wanting to rush to arrive.

This meeting Sorrel had a feeling he knew the topics that would be covered, where they'd left off at the last; promotions and demotions, though neither of which he hoped for himself at the present moment. The raid too was bound to be covered, he hadn't been present himself, his fighting skills left much to be desired and he was better put to use patching up his pack mates at the end of such scuffles rather than breaking himself in the middle of one.

At last the Destruction-Gringoire boy arrived, not the last for once it seemed though far from being the first either. His twin once more had settled too close to the front for Sorrel's liking and so he wouldn't join Félicien for the meeting, instead settled towards the back of the group.

There was a silence about him. Anyone who knew the term would have called it selective mutism mixed with hints of misophonia, monsters lurking around the depths of his mind, but most shrugged it off as classic Fate who hid out in bushes, watching and waiting. He was beating himself up over his rather embarrassing loss at the raid, and wondering how the other woman had gotten past him and his keen eyes. His tongue slid over his lips as he heard the call come up for the entire pack. He would rise silently and start his march towards the meeting, a lack of emotion in his eyes. The first loss was always the hardest. It had felt like he hadn’t had the chance to put up a fight at all, which would undoubtedly force him into many spars to practice, begging the members of the pack to fight him like they were fighting an enemy. To sum it up? His desire to protect his pack was probably going to get him into trouble, which was something that hadn’t happened too often with him. He arrived and took his seat, looking towards his parents with hints of disappointment in himself in his eyes.

ooc: Deadline 24th August! One by one the wolves of Threar would begin to gather and what a sight they were. Novella would find herself disappointed and disheartened by the sorry state that many of them appeared to be in. The raid it seemed would need to be the first thing to be addressed, not for punishment for the most part but encouragement, particularly for those that had fought and lost their particular battles. Though not everyone had arrived, Novella felt that she had waited for long enough and now at last it was time to begin the meeting. "Welcome all, thank you for gathering, I know some of you would rather be resting right now." She spoke kindly for her words, a gaze cast briefly to those still bearing the wounds of their battles. "As I'm sure you're all aware our lands were invaded recently. I care little about the results right now, for those of you that rushed to fight well done, your efforts and loyalties were definitely noticed." Now her gaze lingered upon those that hadn't found themselves able to fight. "For those of you that remained behind don't be so hard on yourselves. Some of you aren't prepared and some of you are healers, utilise those skills, help the wounded." Luck of course was too young, lacking in any experience or confidence in herself. In many ways Novella would have preferred Fate to remain behind as well, though the bolder of the two there had been no stopping him. "Now, as I mentioned at the last meeting there were chances for promotions this season and I will move on to announce those now. Fate and Luck, the pair of you are now old enough to take the rank of Prologue. As for Aslan, Varda, Herne and Miksa, you have been moved up to the rank of Chapter. Congratulations to all of you." Now came the bad news. "I did warn you that there was the risk of demotions as well and sadly we have had to act upon that warning. Although it does not concern any of you here today I feel the need to remind you that this possibility still exists, keep up the good work that you have these past couple of months and Frith and I will gladly keep offering promotions instead." Though her words were serious she tried to lighten the mood slightly, many of these wolves were already beating themselves up, she didn't wish to add to their suffering. "I also wish to take this opportunity to address the fact that the pack will be growing again soon. Frith and I are expecting another litter. All the more reason for you all to keep working hard." Their children of course had been alerted of this already though it was good to let the rest of the pack know, and to end the meeting on a slightly lighter note, hope for the future rather than threats and knowledge of demotions. She would fall quiet now, allowing her mate to add anything she had missed and of course for the rest of the pack to ask any questions if they wished.

Ugh, the raid; what better way to start the meeting? Though her effort with having helped protect the pack despite having zero fighting experience was acknowledged, the pride in her eyes didn't gleam as it usually did. The outcome of the attack wasn't as successful as they would have preferred; and the feeling of not having done enough for the pack still lurked within her mind. What was she thinking? Propelling herself blindly into a teeth-and-claw situation? No, next time she'll be prepared, more organised than she currently is. On a lighter note, the promotion that she had been working towards had been awarded, joined alongside her brothers and Miksa who also rose up a rank. The position of Chapter suited her much better, and definitely satisfied her. However, this promotion didn't mean that she could lay back with her education now that she was at the next milestone. There were more ranks to rise through, and in order to achieve them she would have to continue her rigorous work or even accelerate the pace to ensure the opposite didn't befall her. Unfortunately, demotions had arrived and were here to stay, meaning she couldn't risk slacking with her learning. The thought of falling hung like a dark cloud over her head, beadily watching her and waiting to pounce upon her. She couldn't let it happen; there was so much she was capable of achieving. "Speech"

He tried to sit tall next to his wife, he really was proud of all of those that had participated in the raid but also thankful for those that had not come to fight. Greeting all of his wolves with a quick nod as they arrived (And a loud 'hello kalli' because of course she couldn't see him nod a greeting.) It didn't take very long for everyone to gather, and with little hesitation Novella started up. He sat proudly beside her, smiling in congratulations as she mentioned the well deserved promotions. However it was the very end of her speech that he really perked up. Though by now you could tell visually that they were expecting it felt good to know that everyone had been told officially. His excitement would show through as she finished and his head would be thrown back so he could howl joyfully to the world. They might have been down but they were nowhere near out.

Aslan needed no reminders about the raid though of course it was a topic that needed to be addressed. The results wouldn't be mentioned, not that it really affected Aslan himself though the loss would probably pain those that had fought to try and protect their lands from the intruders. If they had just asked nicely he was sure none of this would have really needed to happen at all though there was little that could be done about it and none of it had been his call to make.

Praise would still be given to those that had fought and even uplifting words for those who hadn't. He understood why he hadn't been able to of course, but perhaps it was simply the tension in the air and general bad feelings about the raid that had left Aslan in a rather sour mood about it all regardless. He was cheering up slightly as the days went by though and of course would remain silent and let the meeting progress now.

The promotions. He could of course recall the day his mother and father had announced that he, Varda and Herne would join the ranks as Prologues and felt both a strange sense of nostalgia and feeling his age (no matter how young that really was still) at the memory. Surprisingly then his own name would be mentioned in the next list of promotions. Now the leap was by no means as good as the one that Félicien had taken at the end of last year, though he would feel proud for it all the same and determined to keep up what his parents evidently felt was good work.

Demotions followed though. No names were given though there were of course only two wolves that Aslan could see were missing from the meeting. He didn't know either very well and clearly their contribution to the pack as a whole couldn't be much better than his sparse knowledge on them. He wouldn't dwell too heavily nor try to judge simply hoped never to find himself sinking into such a position.

Lastly it seemed came the news of the newest arrivals that would soon be joining the ranks of Threar. He and his siblings had already heard of their mother's latest pregnancy though he would join in with the cheer and the general lift of spirits all the same, accompanying his father in the howl. With no questions however as the chorus came to an end, Aslan would fall into silence once more waiting to see if the meeting held any other points at all for them.

Walk | Talk | Think It did not surprise him that the meeting started off talking about the raid. It was probably the biggest thing that had happened to them, or at least was to his recollection since he had joined. Not even the festivities the pack had been a part of during that period where he had become part of Threar rivaled the excitement of that night, though the excitement had not been the enjoyable kind. Miksa's yellow eyes lowered to his left leg at the mention of it, and though he had been entirely inexperienced during the battle, he still felt a small sense of pride for what he had done. He had helped defend his pack and learned a great deal in the process. It was a step in the right direction. The talk moved on to promotions, and absently the white wolf listened as names were called. Hearing his own name caught him off guard, and with his heart jumping into his throat Miksa quickly lifted his gaze to stare at Novella, nervous and then stunned as she labeled him and a few of her children Chapters in the pack. A promotion... He had gotten a promotion! It was so sudden, so unexpected, that he could not quite process it yet, and continued to stare somewhat blankly as the Author as she continued conducting their meeting. I'm a Chapter. It was even weird to think about, and he was sure it was going to take a while before he could truly accept that it was true. He was too far in shock to register the talk of demotions, but the news about the newest additions to the pack brought him back around to the conversation. Though it made the side of his face twinge uncomfortably, made his bite wound sting, he smiled, albeit painfully. That was happy news indeed, and he was glad for the alpha pair. They deserved that small happiness, and he suspected the rest of the pack would feel the same. He glanced around at them as if looking at them for the first time, feeling at last like he was a part of them.

Of course the raid would be the first point of discussion, Novella attempting to lift the downtrodden spirits. Sorrel hadn't joined them in the dampened emotions though, he'd done what he could to heal the team afterwards and that was good enough for him. So what they'd lost? They were all still here, a little battered perhaps but at least the peace and quiet had seemingly returned to them again.

Next came the promotions. Some moved through the ranks and others apparently moved down. Sorrel stayed exactly where he was, a fact that many might have thought disheartening or upsetting for the boy given his twin had received a rather high promotion in the last meeting though Sorrel was of course perfectly happy. He didn't fancy joining Félicien as a plot, the middle ranks suited him just fine, he could easily avoid attention there.

Last but not least, more kids for the pack. Although of course he had always loved his own siblings, he didn't envy any of Novella and Frith's kids at all. A brother and a sister was the perfect amount for him, he may have learnt to hide it now but he still missed Cerise and wished that she and their parents would return from wherever it was they'd ran off to.

Novella would watch as the faces lit up of the wolves that had been promoted and then again as they all shared in the joy of new additions to the pack though for the most part all would keep quiet. She would assume that there were no further questions at all or certainly none that anyone wanted to bring up now in front of everyone else. "Well that is all we have to say to you today." Novella informed them, glancing briefly to Frith as she spoke of the 'we'. "You're all free to leave the meeting now. If anyone has anything they'd like to speak to us about though, as always you're welcome to stay behind or come and find us at some point."