章 26: Pack Lands
Sylvia:
"Yes!" I said as I headed to the door, not waiting for them. As I walked through I felt the familiar brush of the doorway verifying my energy before I was quickly hit with the chill in the air. I took a slow deep breath in, letting the fresh air replace the overwhelming scent of fresh rain and morning dew that came from being so close to Silas and Sinlan. With it, my mind calmed down and refocused. I looked around and saw what must have been the holding cells not too far from us. I saw a pair of large, dirty hands holding onto the bars around the window for one of the cells. They had a prisoner now. What had he done to get put in there? Was he from their pack or a rogue who broke a rule of some kind? How long had he been there?
Sinlan motioned toward the cells, "Well, I see you already noticed the holding cells. They have a few people in them right now, although one is just waiting to be transferred back to Blood Moon. It was one of their prisoners who crossed pack lines and their transfer was put on hold for the meeting." I nodded, resisting the urge to send out energy and check if the prisoners read as the type of people who should be locked up. Either way, I doubt it would make me feel better about their conditions.
"Onto happier parts of the tour." Silas motioned for me to lead the way.
"If I'm getting the tour shouldn't one of you lead the way?"
"Not at all, you lead us where you want to see, we'll describe what it is while we go." I thought back to their quick outline from the night before. They had said the school and family homes were to the south. It would make sense if the other homes were scattered behind the packhouse heading in that direction or bridging the space between it and the farms in the northeast.
I turned and headed to the direction I thought the homes for the majority of the pack would be, the edge of the backlands behind the packhouse. "Well, if you use the packhouse as an early layer of defense I'd have to imagine homes are back this way. You did promise to show me where wolves were living and the school." It dawned on me that their plan for me to lead was also their way to test what I could figure out about the lands on my own. What I knew about pack lands in general or just from my quick scan the night before.
Silas smiled as he nodded for me to continue in the direction I was going. "That they are, and we also have a few basic supply shops and entertainment spots for the pack along the way." Silas was to my right with Sinlan to my left.
Sinlan pointed in the direction of a small plaza, it looked like it had about five or six stores. "We have a food, general house supply, hair and beauty spot, weapons for personal use, and clothing store right there." I noticed about five or six small-sized homes surrounding the plaza. "A few family-sized homes here, most single wolves stay in the apartments." A little more of a walk and the apartments were visible with another building behind it that I couldn't quite make out.
Silas answered my unspoken question, "That's the local bar and dance spot. It's usually pretty busy on the weekends and where the single wolves are allowed to let out some steam." I nodded, glad to hear they had a place for their members to just have some fun.
"That does sound fun!" I saw Sinlan's half-smirk, what was he thinking? "So, where are the training grounds?" They must have one.
"We are coming up to it now. It's placed between the adult housing and the school as a precaution. It also doubles as a safety hideout in case of emergencies for young pups."
I nodded in approval, that was a smart decision. As we neared the area they were talking about I heard an array of noises. Some metal clashing against metal, some thuds, and a few words I couldn't quite make out. As we got closer and the noises grew it became clear the words were instructions and feedback.
"We had our Omegas handle training today." We came into view and the shapes began to take clear form as people were being thrown around on one end of the large space. On the other, I saw the gleam of a blade moving back and forth.
When we came up to the area they were training a voice spoke out and called for their attention. The large group of roughly thirty people stopped mid-fights and turned to lower their heads to their Alpha and Beta. "At ease all." The wolves turned back to their opponents and picked up without any hesitation. Two people walked over, one I recognized and greeted with a smile as he put his hand out to mine.
"Good morning Daniel. I'm a bit surprised to see you out here. How's the training going?" I gave him a small charge of energy as we shook hands. He would need it to keep this group focused after we leave. They were all looking in our direction between each swing or hit they took.
"It is, we got a late start because morning duties were postponed a bit, but I felt energized and ready so figured I may as well run an optional training since we had permission to handle it today."
"It looks like it is going well, you can handle the next group as well. We have lunch plans, but Brine should be able to relieve you for the final shift before dinner time." Daniel nodded to Silas.
"Yes Alpha, thank you." He turned back to me, "Well, I better go focus on my group. See you around Sylvia." He said with a big smile as he ran back to the group working with weapons.
The other person in front of us was a woman who seemed very nervous, her energy was running wild. "Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you." I offered her my hand and when she took it I quickly pulled her energy into a quick grounding exercise. She relaxed a bit and smiled back at me. When I released her hand she was breathing much more evenly and seemed to have some of her confidence back at the front of her mind.
"I'm Lesta, it's an honor to meet you." Honor? They definitely all knew. Great. I smiled, not letting on that I was disappointed she knew why I was here.
"That's kind of you. Hope you aren't working too hard, although you seem to be doing well at it." Although she needed to make sure her trainees were resetting their feet after an attack or defensive move. Looking behind her I noticed a large number of them weren't resetting their feet, making for a quick round since they couldn't react quickly enough to their opponent's next action.
"Any advice for me? I'm still new to training, although I am eternally grateful to the Alpha and Beta for giving me this chance!" She gave them both a quick smile and lowered her head before turning back to me.
"Well, just a tip. Make sure they remember to reset their feet. See that man there?" I pointed to one in particular who wasn't setting his feet no matter which action he took first. "Watch his feet." His opponent made an attack and he quickly back peddled to move into a defensive position, but then he didn't reset his feet. The next attack was aimed right at his legs which had no foundation because of their placement so he went down. "There's a few who aren't resetting their foundation so they keep getting knocked down with the second move."
"Oh! I hadn't even noticed that. Thank you!" She turned to Silas, her face turning red, "My apologies Alpha, I'll do better."
Silas gave her a gentle smile, "I know you will. Get back to it Lesta." She lowered her head once again before running back and immediately making an announcement and demonstration about their footing.
"Nice pick up there. Most wouldn't have noticed at this distance." Sinlan had his head cocked to the side as he looked at me.
I shrugged, "Well, defense is one of my specialties. Resetting your foundation is a pretty critical step and one that most mess up." I remembered my father drilling my footwork into me day after day, telling me it was the most important part of any defense or offense.
"Well, shall we continue? The school is just ahead and then we can make our way to the lake." Sinlan's energy was easing toward me as his eyes pierced mine. Even as he spoke I knew his mind was trying to figure out why I noticed footwork out of all things going on in that situation.
"Sounds like a plan, and if you have a question you can ask it. No need for the energy reading. It wouldn't help anyways." Silas laughed, a loud and full-chest laugh. A lot of the eyes from the trainees turned to face him with their eyes wide in surprise.
"You can't get anything past her Sin." He shoved Sinlan who just shrugged his shoulders in response.
"Now where is the fun in that?" Sinlan's smirk was back on his face and it made my heart skip a beat. I took a slow breath as we turned and headed in the direction of the school. Just a bit more and I'd get to see the lake. It felt like it was calling me somehow. I felt my wolf stir, for the first time all morning she wasn't just calmly awake. She'd been aware all day, but only at the thought of the lake did she start to push. She wanted to get there sooner rather than later. What was at the lake?
We walked in the direction of the school. I saw it coming into view along with an array of small to medium-sized homes that seemed to line around it and across the small street from it. "Family homes I'm assuming. The school looks giant! You said it is for all students?"
"Technically, but it has two parts. An elementary and a secondary. Plus a small section that hides in the back for daycare of young wolves too young to be in the elementary level. We have homes here and ready, but occasionally we have a request to build a new one for a family that wants to be closer to the school." It was a Monday so she heard and picked up on the energy of all the young pups inside the building. It looked like a sturdy building, with lots of windows letting light in and even a large outside dining area that was currently filling up with younger aged kids who were all carrying plates of food. The playground was separated into two sections, clearly one for smaller and one for larger kids.
"It seems like a nice school." I said, my mind wondering what the inside was like.
"After the school hours end, we can take you inside, let you see how it is, and check out the classrooms." Sinlan, once again figuring out what I was thinking. I turned and saw a smirk on his face, he knew he had figured it out. "You care about pups in general probably more than anyone else I've met. It was only logical you'd want to know how we teach them." He turned and his green eyes pierced my own. I felt my cheeks flush as I tried not to smile.
"You may be more observant than I previously thought."
Silas chuckled on the other side of me, "Pretty sure that's true no matter how much you already thought. He's more observant than anyone I've ever met, before you."
Of course he was, the man trying to figure out my secret would be the most observant wolf in the entire pack, maybe in existence at all. That was just my luck. "Although you don't have to worry, he keeps what he learns from it to himself, usually." This time Silas gave me a side smirk before turning and heading in the direction of the lake.
Finally, we were heading to the place I was most anxious to see! My wolf began to pace in my mind just behind her barrier. How I wished I could speak with her to ask what she was so excited about. We had been around our mates all day and she'd been on her best behavior. The mention of the lake and she gets all excited. Was there something at the lake I needed to know about? Well, time to find out.
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