Velvet & Others

Velvet was fully aware that they were being spied upon by the Shadow Haunters. She and her siblings had been part of the pack in their earlier days, and Dally was well known to them. The falcon that perched high above the basin, amongst the twisted, thorn-covered limbs of the locust trees, did not fool the wise lioness, even though she paid no attention to him and pretended not to notice his presence. Several days had passed since Sunburst had initially warned her that the Haunters were preparing to move, but as Kapp had later reported, a coup must have occurred within the walls of the Temple, because Greyfell had not been seen since, and the gathered pack did not move out to storm the Aspen Grove. And now, the Haunters had gotten wise, and finally sent a pair of eyes to watch over their enemies. Velvet smirked to herself.

Knowing that she could not move her army faster than Dally could fly back and report it, the Oracle had devised another plan. One by one, and in small groups, she had been sending some of the Nuova Alba out on their regular patrols and hunting rounds throughout the day. Only, not all of those that had left had came back. After spanning out from the Basin, many of them traveled in a maze of different trails, making it impossible for Dally or the watchful Erathi to track them all; and at first, neither of the falcons thought anything of the departures. But when Dally realized that almost half of the Nuova Alba were now gone, he began to grow suspicious. Where had they gone? Fearing that they were amassing an army elsewhere, he sent his daughter to locate the missing Nuova... but so far, Erathi had failed to find them, and had only come across a lone Nuova here or there, stalking through the mountainside in apparent search of food.

Velvet was padding idly through the Basin, as she had been done throughout the day, quietly and casually giving out orders to her pride members, but doing so at a slow rate so that Dally's suspicions would not be raised. From his view high in the branches, he could not hear what was being said, and the scene below looked like nothing more than casual conversation passing between the Oracle and those remaining in the Basin. At this hour, it was Caliana whom the lioness was approaching. "Caliana, can I have a word with you?" Nearby, a napping Callholm raised his head and gave a large yawn. He'd noticed that many of the big cats had left the Basin, and rumors of an attack were beginning to circulate amongst them. But so far, he hadn't been filled in yet.

NEmu

Nemu was curious about the Coup that supposidly had taken place in the haunters. She knew Senka had been second in command and she wondered what had come of her. She was the only one from the haunters Nemu cared about now. She had watched Velvet send random hunting parties out but thought nothing of it. She did eye the bird momentarily in the tree before watching Velvet again as she called another to her.

Plaque, Paranoia, Gargoyle and Bubonic all were grooming each other

Caliana

Caliana had spent much of her time of lately keeping a watchful eye out over her daughter and the younger ones of their group. Of course, most of these younger ones were probably old enough to begin defending themselves by this point in time but they would still be largely inexperienced. This is what led Caliana to watch over them. She knew that their strength and vitality might get them far with others of their experience level but it would be difficult for them to hold their own if they came up against a seasoned warrior. In that case, this black panther saw it as her duty to step in if that happened. She saw the younger ones as their future and thought them to be very important. Of course, she was not exactly old herself, but she knew that a time would come when it would be up to those younger to help defend her. It happened to the best of them.

She had been keeping a watchful eye over her own daughter when she heard movement. The place had been pretty empty of older felines of late and the heavier steps caused her to turn her head in the direction of the steps. When she did her eyes landed upon the approaching form of the lioness who acted as their leader here. The lioness continued to approach her and soon spoke her name, asking if she could have a word with her. She nodded her large head in agreement as she raised herself from her lounging position to a sitting one so that if Velvet wished to walk while they talked she could easily stand and fall into step with the other female. No words were spoken since the nod of her head would be enough to show that she agreed to the little chat.

Velvet & Others

The lioness chose to settle herself down next to Caliana, striking a pose of casual laziness as she stretched her front paws out before her and parted her jaws in a lengthy yawn. This was followed by a vigorous shake of her head before she began to speak, "We've received information recently on the movement of our enemies." Velvet's voice was low, even though Dally was too high in the towering branches bordering the top of the basin, and couldn't possibly hear her words anyway. "I'm sure you've noticed by now that many in the pride are gone; they are amassing for an assault within the next few days, possibly this evening." Who she had gotten the information from, Velvet didn't elaborate on that just yet. "There are some in the Basin who are too young and inexperienced to fight, and I need you to be among the adults staying here to defend them and our home."

Callholm hadn't been directly invited into the conversation, but curiosity had taken the cat. The black leopard had his rounded ears swiveled towards the Oracle and Caliana, wondering what exactly was going on.

Nemu

Nemu yawned and stretched and turned in a circle before lying down once again.