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Senka had realized while she was on scouting duty the other day that it was actually quite pleasant to walk the borders of her territory, and why should her mate have all the fun? Thinking that it might as well become another duty of the clan leader to walk the borders once in a while for the scouting group, Senka had decided that today's lessons would include scouting. When she had proposed this to her daughter Shadowfoot, the cub's eyes had gone wide. Usually lessons consisted of time in the den or nearby, so the idea of spending an entire day tramping around the outer territory was quite appealing to the cub, and for the elder as well. It got boring staying by the clan den, and while it was safer, it didn't seem all that dangerous to walk the borders either. There hadn't been any injuries due to rogue encounters since the time that Senka had taken the thrown, which had admittedly been many many seasons ago. Either the rogues had grown tamer, or there had never been all that much danger and her mother had simply been overly paranoid.

Catching the scent of a stranger, Senka looked down to her daughter who was at her side, "Shadow, do you smell that?"

Sniffing the air with a pointedly scrunched up nose, the cub nodded and then shook her head at the strange scent, "Yup! Tressapers mom!"

Laughing a bit, the adult nodded, and then thought of how to best handle the situation. She didn't want her daughter in danger, but it was important for her to learn how to handle outsiders as well, since she would be doing a lot of that as clan leader eventually. Spotting the very dark form a few lengths off, Senka looked to her daughter, "Stay a safe distance behind me so that you can run if things turn bad." Though Shadow tried to protest, the elder continued over her daughter's words, "But stay within hearing distance so that you can learn how to handle trespassers. We don't ever want to be overly hostile, so I will approach her confidently but kindly and offer her assistance." Shadow nodded, taking mental notes as always.

Senka turned and started towards the female, furrowing her brow slightly as the dark female's pelt came into view. From the looks of her, she could certainly have been descended from the Shadowhill clan, which made Senka even more interested in what the intruder was doing on their territory. As she came within speaking distance, the clan leader called out, "Hello there. May I assist you?"

Being a bit surprised by the dark smoke that appeared briefly near the dark female, Senka pushed away the odd explanations that popped into her mind and she wrote off the event as a trick of the light. The female had a very dark pelt after all, it was likely just an odd reflection on some dirt or dust in the air. Even though Senka knew that a dark coated individual was not necessarily a friend of the clan's, she couldn't help but feel slightly more comfortable, since there was always that chance that the individual had been drawn to the clan territory to rejoin their past, whether they knew it or not.... This female looked like she was only a few generations away from solid clan blood, and Senka desperately wanted to remain on good terms with a possible ally. There were rumors of other groups of Saighneian joining together to form clans and the leader didn't like the idea of any of those groups becoming large enough to outnumber the Shadowhills and becoming hostile....

Smiling at the dark female's response to Senka's greeting, she was a bit relieved that her first instinct of the individual not being overly hostile seemed correct. Nodding in response to the female's question, Senka responded, "Yes, I am Senka, clan leader of the Shadowhill Clan. This is our territory actually...." She kept her smile even, not wanting to appear too eager to speak with the female and wanting to see what the femme's reaction would be to that bit of information. It seemed obvious that she hadn't meant to trespass, but had been brought here through her wanderings, so it raised the question in Senka's mind if there was a deeper reason that the female wasn't telling her or didn't know herself....

Senka nodded her head, accepting the greeting that the female offered, and the apology. She had been about to start her duty of escorting the female off of the clan's territory when she spoke again and her words halted the leader's movement. This Desiree had heard of the clan in her youth? That was strange. While many Saighneian had knowledge of her clan, it was through adult experiences of wandering into the territory accidentally, or hearing the stories from those who had wandered. It wasn't something that cubs usually discovered unless they had some connection to the clan. And while Senka had been leading the clan for many turns of the seasons, they had been much less public about their existence "a long time ago" from this female's perspective. Her eyes narrowed slightly in sudden curiosity at this female's past and especially her bloodlines.

And then the adult in front of her gave her the opportunity she had been looking for. She smiled graciously and turned her head and called her daughter forward, "Yes, it can seem a bit strange to rogues that we continue to live together into adulthood but...." and she waited until Shadow had padded up to the two females and looked at first her mother and then the strange female curiously, "I find that it is a much more pleasant environment for cubs to be raised and it is much safer...." She smiled down at her daughter and looked briefly to the female once more before making introductions, "Shadowfoot, this is Desiree, Desiree, this is my eldest daughter, Shadowfoot."

Shadowfoot smiled brightly that her mother had decided to introduce her to the trespassing female. Taking the "adult" responsibility upon herself graciously, the little cub raised herself up and then attempted to bow in greeting, "It is wonderful to meet you miss Desiree." The formal tone seemed a bit ridiculous coming from a cub, but her cheerful smile soon broke through as she couldn't restrain her excitement.

Senka smiled warmly at her daughter's little performance. Despite the cub's unwillingness to sit still for the long periods of time that her lessons usually took, evidently at least some of it was sinking in. The elder female gave her daughter a small wink to show her approval, which made Shadow's grin even wider. The cub really did want to make her mother proud, even if she didn't always show it, and the other female's further compliments made the little one almost bounce around in her pride, but that wouldn't have been very dignified, she reminded herself, and so she held her excitement to the happy smile and straightened up a bit more.

Senka had nodded in acknowledgement of the compliment, but it was the dark female's next words that caught her attention sharply. Looking down to her daughter once more for the cub's opinion on the other female, a small nod from the little one confirmed Senka's instincts that this female could be trusted at least more than the average rogue. "Well, we certainly don't get rogues at our borders everyday that are trustworthy, but I would welcome you to accompany me back to my clan's den area to stay as a guest for a few days. If you wish that is." She nodded her head once more, this time to accompany her offer but show that she wasn't wanting to be pushy. There was something about this female that seemed very familiar, and it wasn't just her pelt color, though that certainly helped Senka's opinion. No, there was something else that the clan leader very much wanted to discover, and the best way to do that was many conversations over the course of several sunsets....

Senka's face visibly brightened as the other female accepted her offer. "Excellent, let's be off then." Looking towards the sun, the clan leader estimated they still had enough sunlight left to make it home at a comfortable speed. Looking back towards Desiree, the female's grey face became serious once more, "I must warn you out of duty that the Shadowhill clan is very secretive and once I bring you to our home, it would behoove you not to reveal its location to any other rogue you come across. Our home is for the clan leader to reveal to rogues, no one else." Her stern gaze traveled momentarily to her daughter, since it was also a good lesson to be repeated for the young heir, before touching back to Desiree to make sure her point was made clear. Not wanting to overly intimidate the other female, though, Senka turned without need for an answer and started off in the direction of home that she knew so well. Settling to a comfortable pace so that her daughter, whose legs were a bit smaller than the adults', could keep up, and so that the other female could easily catch up with her if she desired conversation.

Shadowfoot, however, was happy to entertain the unsuspecting female, and trotted cheerfully alongside Desiree, "She's not nearly as gruff as she pretends to be. She's just used to the old ways, and isn't very trusting of rogues...." With a slight glance from her mother, Shadow halted her train of thought from revealing the history that made her mother so unwilling to trust. That was a story best left for another time.