The next day Ares finished with his early morning routine and then went to meet with the black wolf. He had been thinking a great deal about how to entice the wolf to work with him.

He eventually settled on the tried and true, and the way that man had eventually subdued wolves into dogs, with meat.

When Ares approached the high area of the wolf village, he met with the various wolffolk, then noticed that there were a few others around that were oxfolk, and then also a handful of catfolk too. He even noticed Mala so he waved towards her before remembering his conversation with Rori, and then he swiftly made his way to the hill above where all the wolves rested.

“Ark, it’s good to see you.” Ares said with a smile, his eyes then quickly falling onto the hundreds of large wolves whom were all currently being fed large slabs of meat. Ares wondered where they were getting all this meat from, perhaps he’d have to ask Jin later.

“Ares-kin.” Ark saluted. “How may I be of assistance?”

“I’m just here to say hello.” Ares said as he motioned his head to the large black wolf that was currently tearing into a large pile of meat.

Ares walked over to her and then she quickly snapped her head up to look at him, her eyes staring into his. Ares raised a hand and then dropped down some meat ahead of her.

“I come bearing you gifts.” Ares said with a smile and then motioned to the meat. “Have fun.” He said and with that he turned and left the black wolf to eat.

That was all that he needed to do with the wolf for now, he’d come by tomorrow and then take another step closer to see if her head would poke up closer or further away.

Then Ares returned to the centre, looking around to see Torak with Runar on his shoulders. A sudden fit of jealousy took over Ares as he marched over as quickly as he could.

“Good morning, Torak. Are you well?” Ares asked as he reached up to Runar, who had been holding onto Torak’s horns.

Runar looked down at Ares and then his head before clutching Torak’s horns a little harder.

“I am doing well, Ares-kin. Did you have need of me?”

“Yeah, I want you to snap your horns off.” Ares said with his eyes narrowed, obviously annoyed.

Torak stared at him for a moment before Ares continued.

“You don’t have to add the suffix to my name when we’re all alone, it feels a little weird.”

“If that’s what you wish for.” Torak replied as Ares forced Runar off the oxfolk’s shoulders.

“I’m just kidding about the horns.” Ares said as he began to pepper his daughter with kisses and then started blowing raspberries against her neck and then stomach, causing her to writhe and giggle. “Has she been behaving?”

“She has been acting like a child.” Torak replied back and Ares nodded. The pair began to walk together.

“You know, I’ve been thinking… I don’t really know too much about this land. I don’t know the political situations, the various tribes, that kind of thing. I want to head West to go and see what it’s like, I’m going to need to conquer it eventually…”

“We know a few of those that hold some power within the region, though it was we Horns that were the largest within this area.”

“Well it’s good to know that…” Ares said as he scratched his cheek. ‘Meaning I’ve managed to deal with the most immediate threats…’ Ares sighed. “Still, there are tens of thousands of oxfolk still at our borders. I should probably go and speak with them to offer them more relations…” Ares thought for a short while before a stray thought snapped through his mind.

“Torak… I’ve been thinking about who should come with me when I head West and check out the world. Do you have anyone you’d recommend? I want to form a small, but power party of… around six?”

“You will take so little?”

“I want to be mobile and I don’t want to take too many resources with us. So myself and five others should probably do me good.”

Torak remained silent in thought. Ares thought about it too. He had wondered whether he should take Lana and Torak along, but decided it was best they remained here.

Lana knew of him well enough and her presence here would be beneficial. He wanted to keep those sympathetic to his wills around just in case there was a power vacuum caused, and he couldn’t possibly take her away from Emerli. Emerli had few friends as it was, and Lana would be able to protect her if anything happened.

Torak had already been assigned a position here, he was responsible for protecting his children, and that was far more important than taking a friend along to the West.

He had thought about perhaps taking his original party that had gone to slay the Viper, but he liked the fact that Salea cooked with Amal, and Roshe was also his contact with the crafters.

That left Korra, Koifon, her win Ronfan, and of course Kask. That was four, so he needed one more. That was only if they agreed… he had also thought about the wolffolk he had taken with him, and then recalled the death of Inta. He had yet to speak with them since, even now his chest swelled with a deep uneasiness that was ice cold.

Then he stopped. He was near the fountain and there was a singular person there, statue-still as she guarded the water. Her scales were a dark blue, nearly black, like the deep ocean. She held at her side a spear, though it didn’t seem to be made out of typical metal, it was made of bone, or at least that’s what it looked like.

“Saykkera.” Ares nodded towards her and then stared into her eyes. She stared back, though it seemed as though her eyes led into their own deep void. Ares furrowed his brows together. Asyllia had already made her own place here as the envoy between the fort and the capital. Perhaps he could take her along?

“…” Or perhaps he should ask the others first… still, Saykkera would be quite useful. Dragonfolk were strong, he was sure of that.

“At dinner you should make it known that you are looking for a party of five. Perhaps each race could send their best along with you?” Torak said.

Ares snapped his attention to Torak, furrowing his brows in thought. “Torak, you’re a damn genius.”