It took only another hour to reach Lyko's main walls. Asta gasped at the sight, her jaw slack as she saw structures the deer never dreamed of before.
The wolves had been in this location for thousands of years, while the deer had only stopped living a nomadic lifestyle a generation or so ago. Grand elders remembered living in quick mud huts, moving each season to find fresh food and warmth. But the younger generation had prioritized stability, and chosen as a clan to stay in one place. Their houses had become more permanent, but they never would have dreamed up the city she was gawking at.
The front walls were made of grey stone, as tall as a mid sized fir tree. Speaking of fir trees, the evergreens drew tall and strong on the inside of the wall, their tops peaking over the sides. Being carried through the iron gates, she expected to be met with more stark, ugly rock, but instead, she felt like she was back in the forest.
Pine trees and maples peppered all around her, the only stone besides the walls being the cobblestones under Molaki's feet. The houses weren't in neat rows, but log cabins scattered about.
With a grunt, Molaki gently let Asta down from his arms.
"Tidy yourself up," he whispered, gesturing to her hair as he hesitated, then wiped a dirt smudge off of her cheek. She nodded, wasting no time unraveling her emerald hair from the knotted braids and pulling it up into a bun.
"They don't value fear, they won't pity you looking weak. You can be submissive but don't roll over."
He whispered through gritted teeth as the residents started to peek out of their doors and warily stalk closer. It was just a reminder. Once they had settled with each other and established that there was something... different, between the pair, he methodically told her everything he could about the wolves in the time they had left before they reached the city walls. Molaki had become an open book, spilling everything he could that he thought would help her live.
Word had spread up to the Alpha's that Molaki had stuck his foot in something, but they had more or less kept it contained, Erest leaning on a tree and glaring at the younger Second.
'They can smell fear,' he had instructed the girl, who held her shoulders back, straightening her legs. She would have crossed her arms in front of her, unable to not want to curl up close and protect her stomach, but Molaki had grabbed one of her hands, clutching it so tight his knuckles were pale.
'You probably won't be able to stop yourself from smelling fearful, but they'll respect if you physically hold it together.'
'Don't make eye contact, but don't look down, look straight ahead. It'll show you aren't trying to dominate but you aren't ready to die.'
'Just follow me when we get there, just keep walking. They'll move out of the way for me, even if they crowd.'
That instruction was now being tested, the two of them surrounded. Some were in their wolves, sniffing, growling, circling. Others in their human forms were pacing the outskirts, looks of confusion plastered on their faces, gripping the hands of their pups.
A low growl puttered in Molaki's throat, flattening his ears as he lowered his chin, staring down the bodies in front of them. Asta shuddered at the sound, but corrected herself quickly, remembering the next instruction:
'I know this is sudden, and confusing, but you have to trust me. And you have to convince everyone that you do trust me, or I can't protect you.'
Like long grasses in a breeze, the wolves did part while Molaki walked, Asta trying to match his confident, long strides, but feeling more like a child keeping up with a parent. She took her opposite hand and reached over, placing it on top of Molaki's palm that was already holding onto her.
'If you're frightened, you have to trust me, you have to mean it. Even if you smell like you're terrified, if you put your faith in me, they won't touch you.'
As she gripped onto him, Molaki almost shuddered himself, sensing that in this time of fear - and she did stink of it - she truly was looking to him for safety.
So, he went for it. In one moment, he let go of her hand, startling her, but rolled his arm over her shoulders and pulled the doe tightly into his chest. As soon as she landed up against his body, she felt that warmth again, more than just his body heat, and she gripped her fingers into his opposite arm.
The walk to the Tri's meeting area wasn't terribly far, being front and center of Lyko's heart. Meeting of the best minds happened there, not just meetings of the Tri Alphas. Mourning for death, Celebrations for birth, anything the pack would want to gather for, happened within the massive wooden building. When the wolf and doe got to the steps, there was a gathering of nearly one hundred bodies in various forms behind them, though they stayed about eight feet behind them, Molaki giving them warning growls and glares every few feet.
The heavy door of this sacred building was stained blue, carvings laced in swirling abstract patterns. Molaki reached out to push the door open, but as he touched it, a woman pulled it back inwards by the large brass ring handle.
She was older, though Asta couldn't tell if her hair was grey from age, or simply because she was a wolf. The creases surrounding her piercing blue eyes gave away at least some of her wiseness, and her felted wool clothing was a breath of fresh air to the doe, who's nose was full of everyone else's' leather skin clothes. The woman was staring at the girl with a fierce intensity, wariness and question - but not anger or disgust like Erest had.
Asta felt Molaki's grip tighten around her waist as he whined quietly before speaking.
"Hi Mom."