There was something to say for adding the coyotes to the Pack. Just east of the dooryard, maybe five hundred yards, was a broken hill. Sandstone, beneath a thin layer of black soil, had given way ages ago and tumbled down into a small clearing. A little spring burbled at the top, dropping lazily down one side of the shattered sandstone and wearing a small pond into it before vanishing into some underground waterway. It was here that Lucky escorted Clash’s pack.

Fourteen adults and a litter of five young ones, recently weaned, made up the pack. Clash was clearly in charge and while every coyote tended the young, they were definitely her brood. Her yellow eyes had taken in the broken hill and its soft mossy grasses with delight and she was smiling a lolling canine smile when she looked back at Lucky. “This is perfect.” She yapped, turning a tight excited circle, trying to take everything in at once.

“I’m glad you like it.” Lucky settled on his haunches off to one side as the coyotes sniffed over their new dennings.

Clash joined him, watching over her family with pride. “We’ll make it worth your while, taking us in like this.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Lucky shifted from one front paw to the other. “We could definitely use more patrols.”

“Peck and the others can definitely help with that, too.” She said. “You said your dam didn’t teach you crow-speech, but all of mine know it. The crows and the ravens are something like friends to us. We share meat more often than not. They’re an excellent help for patrols and such. I’m sure the local birds will gladly help protect the forest. I can help you learn to work with them.”

“That would be awesome.” Tail wagging with eagerness, Lucky congratulated himself for giving the coyotes a chance. “I’ll let you organize your pack’s patrols along the borders. I can take you on a quick tour, if you like, to show you the lines of our borders.”

“No need, I can check the scents as well as you. I’ve seen your borders.”

“Don’t forget to add your marks.” Lucky glanced up at the position of the sun. “I’ve got to see the council at sunset. Is there anything you need before then?”

“You said the squirrel and the foxes were off limits. Is there anything else?”

Lucky’s tail stopped wagging and he shifted his weight a little, sitting up straighter. He didn’t meet her eyes as he said. “I’m not sure, to be honest. It’s strange to think about. Have you gotten any skills from the Words yet?”

“Yes. I have the crow-speak language and a few others. Why?”

“I have one that lets me talk to everything that can talk.”

“Everything?”

“Everything.” He confirmed. “Quick, he has a voice and thoughts and I can talk to him. Ro, the fox, her too. I wonder, sometimes, if everything has a voice.” He chuffed a heavy breath out through his nose. “I grew up eating kibble, never really had much in the way of raw meat, but I know you and Ro both hunt. I know you both eat squirrels.”

“I do, so does the rest of my pack, but we won’t eat your squirrel.”

“I guess that’s my point, sort of?” His voice was uncertain. “If Quick can talk, can all squirrels talk? Can rabbits? Cows? If everything has a voice, thoughts, a spirit? What can we eat?”

Clash laughed at him and Lucky’s head dropped, ears drooping. “You’d have us starve because a squirrel can talk?” She laughed harder. “Oh, dog, you haven’t got a clue.” She gradually pulled herself together, her voice still holding amusement. “I may not be able to talk to them like you can, but I’ve never doubted that everything around us has a spirit. You can’t chase a rabbit and not understand that it’s thinking or that the chattering squirrel is teasing you. It isn’t a matter of malice, Lucky, it’s survival. They know and we know that hunter and hunted can’t thrive one without the other. Too many mice and the grain dies out.There’s a certain balance to it, but they know, and we know, the truth of life.”

“Do they though?” Lucky asked.

Those sly yellow eyes met his again and he could tell she was still laughing at him. “You could always ask.”

Lucky was on time to the sunset meeting, but only because the Pack hadn’t protested the addition of the coyotes. He had expected more arguments, more protests, but the Pack had followed him without question. With the sun sinking low to the west, casting dying light over the dooryard, the dog joined a council of five humans. Lobo’s Man was next to Man, flanked by a pair of women Lucky wasn’t familiar with. Last on the council was the broad shouldered and muscular Steel-Beard.

They had been waiting for him, not for long though. “Thanks for coming, Lucky.” Man began with a grin. “I know we have a lot of things to discuss with you, but first let’s get an idea of where we’re at with construction.

**DA-DING!! Trait Councilmember acquired!**

**DA-DING!! Your Territory has advanced to rank 2 and you have gained +2 Upgrade Points!!**

Lucky forced himself to focus on the meeting, there would be time to figure out what those words meant later.

“Mick, how about you get us started?” Man asked.

All eyes went to broad shouldered, Steel-Beard. “We’ve gotten off to a heck of a start. Crew one, with the electrical, has been setting up solar panels all day. With Gran’s well water and septic system, we’re nearly off grid to begin with. Adding the solar power, we’re going to be good to go for a long time. The fence around the Big House and its outbuildings is nearly finished, the last of the concrete should be set by morning. That’s Crew Two and they'll be starting on the fencing around the Hunting Camp tomorrow morning. We’ve got plenty of fencing. Crew Three is done framing out the southern watchtower and will be finishing it up in the next few days. We’ve laid in a lot of supplies, but we could do more. The City is more dangerous than being out here, more of those things, but I think we should send in a couple of small teams to pick up as much as we can before we lose the city entirely.”

“If teams do go into the city, they have to take dogs with them. It’ll help protect them.” Lucky said.

“Great point.” One of the women said. “But we shouldn’t rely too much on the dogs.”

Lucky’s copper brows drew together. “Why not?”

The woman, shorter with dark hair and eyes like slate, flashed a short dimpled grin. “Because we can’t be a constant drain on your Pack. The Flock, as I believe you called us, have to protect ourselves at least a little. More than that, though, we need to support you. You’ve brought us this far, the least we can do is make sure it’s easier to take us further.”

“To that end,” clipped the other woman, taller and more slender than the first. “I think we need to invest in more weapons.”

“I don’t suppose we’ve seen the last of those things,” Lobo’s Man said with a grimace.

“Probably not.” Man said. “So non-perishables and firearms, what else should we consider on our list for shopping?”

“Medicines.” Tall Woman said. Lucky frowned. “Something the matter?” She asked him.

“I don’t know what to call you. I’ll end up calling you Tall Woman in my head if I don’t ask.” There was a chuckle from the others as Tall Woman’s lips just barely hinted at a smile.

“Persephone. Call me Seph, if you like. Tall Woman is fine too, I’ve been called worse things.”

Lucky turned his attention to the shorter woman with the dimpled grin. “And you?”

“Rachel, Rae if you prefer.” She tilted her head to one side, dark hair swinging across her features. “Do you think of yourself as Lucky?”

Lucky shrugged. “It’s my name. Girl gave it to me when I was very small. Until I learned to understand you people, a few days ago, I didn’t understand that it’s not quite the same with dogs. I had no idea what Lucky meant before. I just knew that when she said it and I knew it was my word, she was talking to me and that was the kind of thing I lived for.” He shifted a little awkwardly from one paw to the other. “I still live for it, but there are a lot of other things I think about too. Now.”

A shiver ran up Lucky’s spine, sending his fur in wild directions as he shuddered. “Anyway, none of this has to do with why I’m here. While on patrol today I ran across a group that wanted to join itself to ours. I decided to bring them in, but I needed to talk to the council about them.”

He got to his feet, preparing for someone to challenge his decision. “Clash and her family are coyotes.” He said it simply, but he was prepared for lashback.

It almost took his legs out from under him when they all just looked at him, intently but not angrily. Lobo’s Man was the one who spoke. “You can talk to them too, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then as long as you think they’re a good addition, I have no protest.” Lobo’s Man said. “Anyone else.”

No objections were raised. Lucky was more than a little startled and it took a bit for him to get his thoughts together. “We’ll keep an eye on them as much as we can at first. I don’t distrust them but coyotes have a bad reputation and it may be true, but I want to give them a chance.”

“Good enough for me.” Man said. “Now, the next order of business is classes. Has anyone reported class offerings yet?”

“Not yet.” Lobo’s Man said, “I think there’s something we’re missing as far as a triggering event goes. We’ve been getting a lot of information on traits and skills. There is a vast variety, there are very few traits that have been repeated thus far and as far as skills go there’s a lot of strange specialities. The attributes themselves and how they interact with skills and resistances aren’t exactly clear yet either. We’ve got a spreadsheet going with all the information, backed up physically of course.”

**DA-DING!! Your territory has gained a [Fence]. You now have the ability to assign the attribute [Base] to one of your buildings!!**

Lucky’s head tilted to one side, a puzzled expression on his canine face. “This is probably a great time to mention the messages I’ve gotten today. Our territory has advanced to rank 2 and we have gained a [Fence] and can make a building a [Base]. Oh! And we have two upgrade points, whatever those are. Just a moment, let me see if I can get any more information.”

As soon as he focused in on the concept of territory, a new sky colored box appeared to him.

Territory

Granny Lachlan's Farm

Rank

2

Citizens

86/100

Upgrade Points

2

Citizen Titles

Assigned

Upgrades Available

Councilmember

5

Founder

Unique

Available

Guard

5

Quartermaster

1

Healer

2

Buildings

Available Building Traits

[Fence]

[Base]

He studied the screen for a long moment before he chuffed out a deep breath. “I wish I could show you this screen.”

Almost immediately Man’s eyes focused on something only he could see and an excited expression washed over his face. “You can. Can you share it with everyone else? We should probably discuss these things as a group.”

“Perhaps in detail tomorrow?” Lobo’s Man ventured. “It’s been a long, hard day of work for most of us and I wouldn’t say I’m ready for complicated thinking at the moment.”

Seph stifled a yawn behind one long fingered hand and nodded her agreement. “Updates are all well and good, but this seems like something we should give our full attention to.”

“No disagreement here.” Steel-Beard said.

“Besides,” Man said, “It smells like dinner is about ready.”

The meeting broke up shortly after that and Lucky certainly had more than a few things to think about over the night. He was padding toward the Big House to go inside and see about his own dinner when the evening’s quiet was shattered by a high pitched whirring sound that made his ears ache.