The eastern delegation arrived on a Thursday.

Three wolves, the same three who had observed the coalition council meeting in Bloodfang territory two weeks earlier. They came through the boundary stones with the specific quality Marina had come to associate with Vael's people, unhurried and attentive, the kind of presence that registered a room before entering it.

Their leader was a female wolf named Dessa. Mid-forties, silver-streaked dark hair, magic that ran at the eastern root frequency and carried the specific density of someone who had been practicing for a long time. She had been one of the three observers at the council meeting and had said nothing during the...