I looked at Sybil for another moment. As I looked, I took in the injury in her tail. She must have really torn into herself, given how shredded the flesh seemed to be. Regardless, she initially looked on with confidence and a bit of bravado, but as I continued looking, lost in thought, I saw her begin to get nervous and question herself.

"... Did I do something wrong? I thought this was within the bounds of me being Gamma..." She looked disappointed, not in herself, but in me. I could see her begin to deflate, and something changed in her eyes. I quickly went to correct her misunderstanding.

"No no no. I was just wondering if I would have been able to cow these new additions quite so quickly and effectively as yourself." I wryly smiled at myself and continued, "Now that I've thought about it, no, I don't think that I could have. Thank you, and well done. I look forward to your future accomplishments, Gamma."

Sybil slowly straightened up, and smiled in a way that wasn't so loaded with sadistic pleasure as before. "Thank you for your trust, Alpha."

I couldn't help but shudder at her calling me that. "Just call me by my name, please."

"You just referred to me by a title, I just felt it prudent to do so in turn." Sybil's smile started to twist maliciously to a grin. Damn, I forgot she could shift mentalities quite so quickly.

"Well, I just did so to express my confidence in your abilities, and to attempt to help you feel at comfort with me."

She grinned wider. "And I simply wished to do the same. Do you wish to deny your subordinates the ability to and pleasure of expressing their adoration and support of you? That is a great way to lose support over time."

I simply shook my head in defeat and endeavored to change the subject. "So... say I would be able to experience explosive growth if I was able to 1. kill several of the younger yet still powerful of the wolfstags and 2. garner a total of 50 subordinates. Both in the next 17 days. How would you suggest I go about doing this?"

Sybil settled back on her haunches and looked at me curiously. "Disregarding a wholly mysterious and strangely specific information source, let's talk only the second point. Frankly speaking, the first point should be discussed with with Took once she returns. However, I've already heard a couple of things from Shemira's lot that may be of use to you on the second point.

"1. You'll never get any fully grown keelish to follow you, at least, not any you want to have follow you. Greel, for example--he's worthless in every way, and provides no benefit to have as a follower in any capacity. There definitely are others in the swarm who are worth incorporating, but there's no way they'll follow a spawnling who hasn't grown into his claws. No offense."

"None taken. Continue."

"2. I don't know the specifics, but I don't think that any of the pack have reached sexual maturity--" I coughed in surprise. Sybil smirked once again at me. "You're a pure little boy, aren't you?"

"No, I just wasn't expect... Whatever. You'll have the last word whatever I try anyways."

"You learn quickly." Her face returned to its previous serious look. "We can't reasonably hope for a sizable clutch to be laid by any of the females here soon. And I'm unsure as to how long it'll take until hatching, so that becomes a doubly impossible option.

"Here's where the hearsay comes into play. 3. Apparently, Shemira was told that in the next couple of days, there should be another clutch hatching, and that she could attempt to recruit whichever and however many she wanted from that clutch. There, I'm sure you could find plenty of potential subordinates, and even raise them from the egg. That would be sure to be useful to you in the long run."

It was strange for me to have a drawn out conversation with someone again. Oncli had talked incessantly, but he wasn't a great conversationalist, strange as that may seem. The rest of the pack hadn't tried overly hard to overcome my purposefully brusque demeanor, so I'd been mostly closed off to this until very recently. It was welcome, though, to have an involved, thoughtful conversation though, and I found myself subconsciously smiling as Sybil spoke.

She seemed to misunderstand my smile, and continued, "I'm sure I don't know why you need more followers when we're still implementing a pack larger than the core, but I'm glad my information may prove useful." Sybil then glanced around, and finished, "I have a dozen more things to do today before I can begin to consider myself happy with what I've done, so, if you'll excuse me," she winked, "my lord Alpha."

I could hear her chuckle as she walked away with her tail swishing back and forth in merriment. Damn sadist. Well, there were things that needed doing, and hands that needed something to keep busy, so I went to find my hunting pack to bring them under Sybil's commands.

...

It was only about an hour before Took returned with the rest of her pack in tow. There were a couple of injuries from a frog's bite, but nothing too serious. They did, however, have a serious stash of meat in their arms. Took herself carried two complete Toothy Bullfrog corpses in her mouth, and led her little battalion of hunters to me, where she proudly dropped her spoils.

"You're almost there. Let me show you to the larder." I spoke up and Took quickly followed and motioned for the rest of her pack to do the same.

I made sure to look at Shemira specifically as Took pulled the pack through the halls, and was delighted to see that she was quickly herded closer to Took whenever she began to show even the smallest desire to creep away.

It was always the little things that brought me the most joy.