Lena's POV
The council session the following morning had been called for territorial intelligence. It was Bastian's briefing: maps, movement reports, the current state of the packs bordering Stormridge's eastern and northern edges. I had attended every council session since my arrival. I had not been asked to and I had not announced my intention to. I had simply appeared and taken my seat and been present with my notebook and my clean attention, and no one had formally objected because objecting would have required acknowledging that they had wanted to.
I knew the information Bastian was presenting.
I had read several of the same reports independently, through the access that had been quietly extended to me after the engagement announcement, and I had been building my own understanding
