This new space, the Sheer Pass, was foreign but homey to the keelish of the swarm, myself included. It was strange, as these mountains were different from those I had seen and ascended before, and even those had been no more than obstacles in the way of my continued progress. My home was, in both lives, the jungles dominated by burlraizes, a wet, mostly flat land with dense foliage and denser fauna, a land filled with the calls of birds, screeches of monkeys, croaking of frogs, and rushing of water.

The Sheer Pass was none of that. The Sheer Pass was a stretch of land between two mountain ranges, dry and warm, with only low, sparse scrub populating that empty space. The mountains were different from those I’d ever seen. Those had been covered by the greenery that surrounded them, and the moisture that surrounded them also ran freely down their slopes. Dense cloud cover hovered just overhead of those mountains, yet these ones were rocky, arid, and unwelcoming.

But… That prickly, unhappy nature that enveloped the Sheer Pass smelled lik home in a way that I’d never felt from any home before. I longed to rush up those slopes, to screech challenges from the peaks and let them echo in the valley that we were going to pass through. These mountains… were homey to us.

The spawnlings and the young pack that had taken charge of them were the most immediately and vocally happy to be here. Between the slowly merging groups, there were just over fifty individuals, and the youngest among the new spawnlings (survivors of a vicious culling that had taken place just days before my own arrival, I was told), couldn’t restrain themselves from running out and up the rocky slopes that irresistably called them. I didn’t have the heart to deny them the pleasure, and simply whistled and signed for Iituli and Ishtar to keep an eye on them. Isnanna stayed behind, teaching a couple of the more mature keelish a particular turn of phrase in the common tongue. She had become quite the linguist, and a better teacher than I was, notwithstanding my greater command of the foreign language.

“This… is strangely familiar to me. Do you know why?” Sybil’s voice was hesitant, but somewhat trusting. My initial reaction was to ask why she would think I would know that, but immediately thereafter I realized that most of the time, I did have answers to questions that I, by all rights, shouldn’t have known the answers to. I put the question to the [System], why would that be?

[The keelish Empire of old formed around their original home. The environment and climate of that home is very similar to that of this location.]

So, there was some sort of a predisposition towards it. Fair enough.

“Don’t really know. Sorry Syb, don’t know everything.”

“... I would prefer that you call me by my name.”

“Ahh, but wouldn’t a nickname be nice?” I couldn’t hide the teasing smile.

“Calling me by my name, title, or to your bed are all that I would like you to call me.” Sybil’s smirk answered me.

“You keep making these dirty jokes. You getting a bit pent up?”

“Maybe a little. But don’t think I didn’t see your reaction to Farahlia.” Sybil’s smile dampened somewhat. “I don’t mind if you decide to take another to sire your brood. In the interest of keeping yourself sane, I would suggest any other female than her. Took would be a great option, I’m sure your spawnlings would be formiddable.”

I stepped in front of Sybil, impetuous and somehow overbearingly prideful. I forced eye contact as I spoke, “Listen. You, Sybil, are my mate. I see no reason to extend my reach, especially seeing as we will not be able to incubate any eggs that result from rutting. Additionally, if I were to begin a harem, that would introduce any number of new issues in the swarm, to give Farahlia greater excuse to keep trying her luck with me, maybe get Shemira to begin trying that avenue of attack… No, it isn’t going to happen.” I found myself arguing vehemently about something I’d never thought consciously about, and realized, the more I talked, the more deeply I felt about the subject.

“Well, then, maybe later, when we’re settled? Wouldn’t a larger amount of your spawn be better for the swarm in the long run? Then you can mate with Took.” Sybil almost seemed desperate to push me into non-monogamy, but didn’t meet my eye.

“Sybil… I want to stay with you. You support me, you’re my friend, you’re my most trustworthy lieutenant, the mother of my children, and I plan on being exclusively with you. There are a variety of logistical and logical reasons for me to do that, but at the core of it all is this: I want to be your support as much as you have been mine, and I want to be with you.”

“... Ah… Okay then…” Sybil didn’t seem to know what to do about what I’d said, and, frankly speaking, neither was I. It had come out of nowhere for me, but it felt right, and as if I had been pondering the thought for a long while.

“Well. I guess let’s get moving forward. Ok?”

Sybil nodded, then began walking off, for once not immediately leaping into some form of delegation or action, but instead taking steps and actually looking back at me. Genuinely, not calculating or teasing or “teasing” as she did, but just looking at me. I didn’t know how I felt about that, so I issued the command to begin moving out, seeking to lose my nervous energy with the burning of the rest of my excess energy.

An hour of walking later, I was feeling no better. I sighed, and decided to try something new.

“Sybil, would you lend me your hounds for a hunt? I’d like to see what’s available for us to get in this new environment.”

“Yes, Alpha.” Her use of the title was a little jarring, but not unkind.

With a whistle, I rounded up the wolfstags and began a searching, ranging hunt for the new, exotic prey.