I quickly nodded back at my young pack member, and he and his companion quickly resumed their task of hauling dirt out of the den.

After a moment's thought, I briefly motioned for the pack to put down the meat they were hauling, and went to find Sybil. I was sure that she had come up with some plan involving a larder, so I figured it would be best for me to instruct the pack to follow those ideas from the beginning.

The general layout of the den hadn't changed much, but there had been general expansion and smoothing, leading to a better feeling area. Shemira wasn't anywhere to be found, at least at first glance. There were, however, several more workers here, each of differing dispositions. Bella and her little posse were the most obviously unhappy of the workers present, but they were being shunned by the workers around them, which came as somewhat of a surprise to me, given their generally "serve me or regret it" attitude. They all startled upon seeing me, and Bella approached me in the same languid manner that Shemira always did.

"Hello and welcome back Lord Alpha. How can I help you relax? I am somewhat experienced in serving a tired hunter, and I can assure you that--"

I cut her off. "I need Sybil. Where is she?"

"That wench is off bossing somebody else around, I--"

This time, I got up in her face, aggressive. "You do realize you're talking about my Gamma right now, don't you? You must be even dumber than I thought, if you think that you can badmouth one of my most trusted comrades right in front of me."

Bella quailed before me, looking to her two lackeys to mollify me. They looked away and groveled.

"I-I-I didn't mean that, of c-c-course, haha." Bella shook with her nervous laughter.

"That was your last chance. I hear that again, and you die, or worse."

Without waiting for a response, I pushed past her to another group of workers, that stood dumbfounded. One female in particular seemed so amazed by Bella's blatant stupidity that she couldn't stop blinking in confusion.

"Where's Sybil?"

The male who seemed to be the leader of this group came back to himself at my words. "Ah beleeve that shee's preparin' yer... chambers? Ah think shee called et that." He pointed vaguely down the hall that led to the juncture with Tieran's old den.

I nodded my thanks and went my way onward. It seemed like they were in the process of widening these halls, which, upon remembering what happened with the terrorbird corpse, I wasn't unhappy about. In fact, with so many changes to basic infrastructure here, I was amazed to think that Sybil had thought of, planned, and began to effectuate all this in so little time.

Finally, I was able to find Sybil, who was quietly, almost gently, talking with two males and a female from Shemira's pack while they all worked on creating a... plinth of sorts. It was raised above the rest of this chamber by about 10cm, and had an opening to go deeper within behind it.

"... And that's why you need to be sure to always listen to those who try to make you afraid. They do so with the intent to make you do something, or not do something. Instead, follow those who act. Actions show the true thoughts of the doer more than a day of talking." She smiled wryly at herself with those words.

It was strange, but when I came close, I felt a certain familiarity, or closeness, perhaps, with Sybil. Her words made almost too much sense, and, while I hadn't heard the buildup to her conclusion, the conclusion itself seemed sound.

[[System] user under influence of Skill: Convincing Logic. [System] has deemed it potentially harmful to user. Dispel effects?]

Yes please!

[Skill: Convincing Logic no longer exerting effects upon user.]

The feeling of closeness was instantly gone, but the reason and rationale to Sybil's words remained, and I still found myself agreeing with her words, regardless of how I felt about being caught in the accidental crossfire.

Sybil finally noticed my presence. "You three continue working, I have something to do with the Alpha." Then, turning to me, "Welcome home. I'm glad to see you safe and whole. Did you return with any spoils for the rest of us?"

After a brief pause, almost long enough to get suspicious, I responded. "Eh, yeah. I figured you would have thought of a larder location, so I was going to direct the pack to leave the hunt there."

"Alright then, Alpha, follow me." Sybil quickly turned and smiled back at the workers we were leaving behind, and I tried to follow suit. It felt a little strange, but I did fine, I guessed.

Once we were out of earshot, Sybil spoke up with a grin in her voice, "How am I doing, 'Lord Alpha'?"

I rolled my eyes. "Is that absolutely necessary?"

She got serious, "Absolutely. Hierarchy is absolute, and you need to remind the rest that you are their absolute ruler."

I had thought that I would have the politicking required for this position down pat, but I was immediately let down after that thought crossed my mind. I had been trained in certain types of politics in my last life, given that I had the possibility of becoming chief, but the philosophy here was quite different. Humans simply understand that, for the most part, there's not much you can do to change the leadership. Keelish, however, would constantly challenge the leader the second they thought they had even the slightest chance.

"So, how were they?" I asked.

"Well, it'll take some time, but my... whatever it is will be indispensable in our indoctrination. I think you were able to feel a little bit of its influence just now, right?"

I nodded, and we continued on our conversation as we saw the hunting pack and Sybil motioned for them to follow us back to where we had come from. Turns out, she had decided that the larder should be placed closest to my own quarters (which I hadn't seen for myself yet), so we went ahead and dropped our spoils in the larder, and I dismissed my hunters to do what they would, but suggested they help at least a little with the current expansion. They all wandered off.

"Oh, by the way, Bella tried to seduce me on my way in, and she badmouthed you while she was at it."

"Poor stupid girl. I already warned her about that." Sybil grinned with an inordinate amount of pleasure and purposefully stalked off. I was debating going after her when she returned, still smiling.

"So..." I hesitantly began, "what... what's the punishment?"

"Cleanup. Scraps of flesh, bones, pooling blood, and feces, just to name a few. Bella's two lackeys have been punished for her stupidity... I wonder if they're going to stick around her for long?" Sybil's smile was getting to me at this point.

She was, far and away, the scariest mind I had come in contact with, and I had decided to tie my fate to her and her ability to manage and micromanage. I... might be in for a scary long haul here...