Asta couldn't help herself from blushing, her face turning a heated shade of pink as Molaki's friends pressed her with questions. She should have felt cornered, but she didn't. It was the first time she felt joy and comradery surrounding her since she had been captured.
Molaki put his arm around the waif of a doe, pulling his lips back ever so slightly to remind his packmates to keep their distance from his mate. None would dare attempt to take her from him, and he trusted every one of them who had gathered with his life. But nevertheless, he was the Alpha among them here, and needed to require some restraint from them.
They were all giddy and excited, wanting to investigate her and know more about her life before here, but the same actions that showed their interest and disarming friendliness - crowding, sniffing, touching, was going to make Asta uncomfortable and Molaki possessive. It was better he head it off before they got carried away.
The group of young pack members all walked around the outer edge of the Tri building, which was the span of about the average street block, rounding the bend into the food court. Pack members were of course always able to cook their own meals at home, or shift into their wolves and hunt. Predators could consume prey just like any wild animal, though they actually preferred not to, their human forms having found the taste for the finer things in life like seasoning, many generations ago. The other option for eating daily was the food court, which always had nourishment available. As pack animals that viewed the entire village as family, it was very common for most wolves to want to eat with the community. Further, the elderly, the injured, or those otherwise unable to supply their own meals never had to worry about going without.
Long wooden tables were laid out in rows, so close together that the stools on either side almost touched each other back to back. Many were nearly full with people, sitting over breads and stews, clustered in units of four or more, with a gap here and there between family groups. The logistics of getting the food, drink, and table settings to and away from each dining area were unclear to Asta, but it didn't seem that anyone was serving or subservient to anyone else. For the first time, she was relaxed enough to take a second to wonder how the pack even functioned, but her thoughts were forgotten when Molaki reached into the air to wave.
Following his gaze, Asta exhaled, seeing Prim hopping and waving, probably spotting him and flailing to get her brother's attention first. Next to her stood a tall man, more slender than many of the men walking about, but also more athletic, if it was possible. Something looked a little out of place about him, but Asta couldn't pin it right away, until Molaki and her had waded through the crowd to claim their spots next to Prim.
He didn't smell the same. And he didn't have his ears out - a choice of his own, except nobody else seemed to hide theirs. Not even Asta, even though she knew it drew attention to her, she felt deaf without her large spooned doe ears. With so many wolves in one spot, Asta hadn't even considered that the two mountain lion women didn't scent the same; they at least all smelled like predators. But this man didn't scent like a predator, though certainly wasn't a herbivore, or any plant eating species Asta had ever met.
"You're out!" Prim hummed along, in the way that she did, either pretending that nothing was weird about the situation or actually not thinking anything was weird, Asta could never tell.
Asta smiled and dipped her head in acknowledgement, eyes turning towards the stranger male. He had a hand on Prim's shoulder, his jet black hair just as messy as Molaki's. Unlike the rest of the dark haired men - the black furred wolves - his hair was legitimately a black barely ever seen in nature, inky and iridescent.
"Introduce her, don't be rude," Molaki teased, both Prim and the male rolling their eyes as her younger sibling.
"Asta, this is Keshel - my mate. We've been together since I was younger than Molaki and you, we met when we were... what, sixteen?" Prim put her hands on her hips, looking up at her spouse, who nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, we've been together twelve years," Keshel concluded, running his hand through his hair while he counted.
Molaki pulled a stool out, gesturing for Asta to sit, who did so, though she first looked over her shoulder, relived to see the the wolves they had their backs nearly touching were part of the young group that welcomed her.
Prim and Keshel also sat, on the opposite side of the table, but Molaki stayed standing.
"I'm going to go grab some food - I have to see what they have for her," he said absent mindedly to his sister, turning to leave while Prim simultaneously gripped the table edge, about to spring back up.
"You're fine with us," Prim cooed, leaning far over the table to hold onto Asta's hand. "Keshel can protect you better than my brat of a baby brother anyway."
Molaki growled, grumbling that getting up and fleeing wasn't protection, before squeezing his way over to the tables of dinner offerings.
Asta sat stiffly, avoiding eye contact and picking at her fingers while Prim held a nearly one sided conversation of small talk. Keshel was entirely at ease, but was not nearly as chatty as his spouse, agreeing, nodding, or adding just small bits of information about how things functioned in Lyko.
It felt like forty years, but in a matter of moments, Molaki was back with two large platters that only for the graces of his pack status, got all the way to the table, as he snapped at the other wolves to move out of his way and to not smash them out of his hands.
One platter stunk offensively to Asta, filled with pork sausages and a white breasted bird meat, though Molaki had taken great care to not bring back venison. The second platter however, had two different types of fresh breads, boiled and buttered potatoes, goats cheese, and a heaping mound of apple slices.
"We don't have a huge selection of.... food you're used to, but I'll try to get things together."
All three of them were sure that the doe was going to just politely pick at the bread, though she had cheese earlier today, but instead, Asta's eyed grew larger, if it was even possible, her jaw slack.
"All of this?"
Molaki made a lopsided face, nodding slowly.
"You don't understand - I mean it - they're going to starve," Asta stammered. "All this bread! Look at all this bread, and the potatoes, oh they keep for so long...." She shushed herself, flaring her nostrils and trying to straighten up.
'They' may as well be a million miles away from her.
Molaki sat down, explaining as briefly as possible to his sister what the issue was in the deer herd, though Asta had sputtered some of it during the Tri interrogation. A look of pity crossed over his sisters face as she shook her head while she picked at the meat and cheese.
"How many people did you live with?"
"Like how large is my herd?" Asta asked. "About three hundred."
Molaki stopped chewing, while Prim almost choked, Keshel lowering his brow like he didn't believe her and was about to launch an interrogation.
"You mean to tell me," the black haired male asked, sternly, "That the herd that won the war has been decimated to one fifth of Lyko's population?"