Once again a queen, Winter has a budding army and plenty to offer them to keep them loyal. Besides expanding her territory, she is using her forces to chase specific creatures for reasons nobody knows. None of them seem to be connected.
The changes...
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Rose cantered to a halt outside the Marketplace and dealt her fur a few licks after checking that she was no longer being pursued. She was standing on a well-beaten dirt road running parallel to the river for as far as the eye could see. Confirming its lack of Hyenars, she trotted off down it.
It didn't take long for her seventh sense—well-tuned by moons of travelling with Tornado—to pick up on a creature behind her. Rose knew she would see nothing if she turned around, so she stopped and trained her ears on the only relatively skilled spy. The creature halted when she did, but a slight shuffling of paws betrayed its position.
"If you're going to follow me, then at least do it on the path instead of skulking about," said Rose.
Only silence replied.
Rose cast an annoyed look over her shoulder. "I know you're under that bush. Come out and introduce yourself."
There was a pause, then the bush began to rustle loudly. A young, black-furred Coppertail extracted himself from the branches, sneezed and shook himself, then looked at her plaintively. "How did you know I was there?"
"Well, you weren't being exactly stealthy."
"Oh... but that was my best stalking crouch."
He looked positively downcast. Rose looked him over more closely. He was a Lowlander, maybe two moons younger than Tornado but at least twice Tornado's size. His paws were enormous. Well, that explained his deficiency in sneaking skill.
Rose swung out her tail and thumped him on the shoulder. "You were doing pretty well on the first part. Just practice that crouch of yours, and you'll be sneaking up on Hyenars in no time."
She was met with wide, brown eyes. "Hyenars?" gasped the Lowlander. "You—you really mean it? I can get that good?"
"Sure. All it takes is practice and a lot of patience. If you can manage that, you'll be a top-notch sneaking expert in no time at all."
Good grief, if this youngster got any happier he was going to float clean off the ground, paws and all. Bouncing in a circle, the Lowlander bounded to the path's side calling, "Beech! Beech, did you hear what the nice Highlander just said to me? She said I was going to be a top-notchsneaking expert if I just kept practicing my crouch!"
Rose stared in confusion, until the patch of grass the Lowlander was jabbering to twitched and a second Coppertail stepped out onto the pathway. Beech was a bright, sunny yellow that should have defied every attempt at effective sneaking. He too was a Lowlander, with a strong build and a handsome, boxy muzzle. He wasn't much larger than his companion... so, average size. He wasn't much younger than she.
