In Dire Straits

*Please allow Pawprint to post first*

Akutan, Rapture, and Beatrice arrived. Upon hearing that Inaria was having a party for the pups of themselves and their allies, the patriarch of the X Clan decided to take his little cousins to it. His uncle, Byakko, had recently passed on to the Afterworld. The pups' mother, his cousin Sarajevo, was still mourning the loss of her father. Akutan was still in mourning himself but he had to be strong for his family and decided to take it upon himself to show his young cousins a good time. Hopefully, they'd make some friends. Rapture stuck to his side like glue, just as her mother had told her to. Her bicolored eyes of blue and gold stared at the pretty purple trees. The pack had laid over in Inaria on the way back to the Old Forest but she and Akutan both agreed that Inaria was like a fairytale land, albeit on the surface.

The black, silver-socked wolf paused at the border. His pale green eyes roved the border for someone. Seeing no one, he decided to announce their arrival. "Friends, Akutan of Nardir has arrived!" he howled. He sat down to wait. Rapture followed his lead. "What now, Aku-Aku?" she asked. "We wait to be let in. It's only polite and it shouldn't be too long before someone comes." he replied. Truth be told, he was a ball of nerves. He had never gone to an allied pack on his own before and he was worried about making a good impression. He was representing Nardir, first and foremost. He smiled down at his cousins. "I hope you two have fun and make friends here. That's part of the reason I decided to bring you." he said. Rapture smiled shyly at him. Her face then dropped as she thought of her mother back home. "Will Momma be okay?" she asked. 

Akutan set a paw on her back. "She'll be fine, Rapture. She just needs some time to process your grandpa's death. I want you two to know that it's okay to feel sad so if either of you needs a break from this party, just tell me and I can see about a quiet spot so you can have a rest." he assured her. Rapture leaned against his side. She was determined to have fun. It was what Grandpa would've wanted. As long as Akutan was with her, she felt safe.

Beatrice was quiet.

Beatrice was rarely quiet.

Whem she saw the purple trees, she remembered Grampa and the time he said he loved her the way sje was, squeaks and all. The older pup was happy but sad with Grampa gone and the party happening. She hoped she could find the trees the family stayed under and find his scent. Maybe the wolves would let her keep the leaves and grass and sticks with his scent too!

*Yip yip yip!*

The sounds came out before she could think. She covered her face in embarrassment. She tried to apologise, but she squeaked it out as a mouse. She still spoke like prey rather than like everyone else. Would the other kids look at her weird or would they like it or think she was not a real wolf--

"*Squee-Aku Aku!" Talk wolf! "Who?" Were they waiting for? Was it the small grey wolf with the ouches on his body?* or woild someone else come?


(*That would be Kashmir.)

He was on the lookout for well anything and everything really as he usually did but he was aware that Inaria was to be expecting visitors from their allies to be arriving for a grand diplomatic gala and so was especially on the watch for any of their arrivals so when the call went ringing out he was already near the borders ready to respond. It was a rather simple matter to traverse what distance there was between them and upon emerging from the trees into the line of sight walked forwards towards the arrivals with the ease of one well familiar with borders, as well he should be given he was double ranked not only as a diplomat but as a Sentinel, and greeted the party thus. "Greetings honored guests from Nardir. I am Aeolus, your arrival has been expected". He would dip his head in polite welcome to the one who seemed to be in charge of things here. "Is there anything you require after your journey?". He would inquire as a precaution just in case any of their party needed any thing specific. It would be best to find out in the here and now rather than later which could be rather embarrassing for Inaria if it should happen.

Of course despite his familiarity with borders it was seldom he had chance to practice greeting foreign diplomats, usually his duties at the borders remained in the realm of a Sentinel which required asking questions to judge the suitability and worthiness of those wishing to gain entrance. That was not the case here though of course so he would have to mainly play by ear as it were. Still there were the basics, such as names of course and health after a long journey, especially where pups were concerned, and then once all of that was settled there would be the matter of lodging and other accommodations that would need to be addressed. All in all he supposed this affair here would be less intensive as his usual duties which would make for a rather nice change of pace.

((alright since as far as I know no other Nardir people are gonna be joining this I'll go ahead and get it going))