Chapter 91

The first year of the Continental Pack Federation was chaos dressed up as governance.

Arianna had known intellectually that building new political institutions would be messy, but the reality was far worse than her expectations. Every decision generated controversy. Every policy implementation revealed unforeseen complications. Every attempt at coordination exposed tensions between member packs that had been lurking beneath surface cooperation.

"We have seventeen disputes requiring federal mediation, twelve member packs threatening withdrawal over various grievances, and three traditional packs demanding admission while simultaneously arguing that federation authority is illegitimate," Thomas reported during what had become daily crisis briefings. "This is just this week's accumulation."

"What happened to...