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With so many of the pups gone with Jaxx on his adventure, Saga was left in relative quiet. The den wasn't empty, but with mostly Magnolia gone, it was easier to get shit done! It was... strange, though. She didn't like it. She was glad she had grasped higher station for herself and the kids; it gave them an easier jump at life around here, but more than that, Saga thought she'd go mad sitting around this den doing nothing once they were gone. 'I don't want to live at the den and get fat laying around all my life, day after day,' she remembered telling Jaxx, and she'd been right. Now, even with their den only half-empty, Saga felt the ache of loneliness press down on her.
What the hell was she supposed to do, talk to Dulcie? Yeah, right. Even if the cunt had been around lately, she'd mostly given up hope of anything but existing in the same area. She didn't look at him, she didn't go near him, she openly pretended the little rat didn't even exist unless civility called for it. Easier, that way.
Maybe now that she was growing more useful, Jaxx would see what a burden the curly-tailed shit was on this family.

She trained with Nyra daily, gaining muscle she didn't know she could have, shedding weight she didn't know could slide off. Where once she had been thickly layered, she felt she was closer to average now! Her girlish figure was being replaced.
A womanly figure, strong and shapely.
Better late than never, right?
Saga patrolled daily, too. There was a vicious satisfaction about being allowed here now, about being able to put her scent down beside so many others and lay claim on the territory like every other Jakten member here. That's what she really was, now: not their Pet, their pack member. Perhaps not their friend, but their equal.

Perhaps she still stole some berries from Jaxx's stash, so what? She deserved a reward after working hard, after a long day of training, after the last months of bringing up whelps and hiding in a den.

It was getting harder to hunt, though, but Saga didn't think it was her fault. There just... wasn't much. What little there was, a less experienced hunter like the silver woman had little hopes of finding. That... was probably a decent factor in how quickly she was shedding pounds, but fuck it, right? The vicious sense of pride she felt well in her chest when she caught her reflection was unmatchable.

Today, she'd been... lucky enough, she supposed. Some small break in the blizzard had afforded her and other critters a chance to stretch their legs, and an unlucky groundhog had been sniffing about the foothills at the wrong time. Saga brought it back, proud that she'd only broken skin where she'd snapped it up by the spine; even those skills were refining, her kills less messy than they used to be.
Approaching the den, she wuffed, hoping for Frigi. It was nice to spend time with her son without Magnolia being overbearing, or Zeek trying to butt in to play on his own terms, or the swell of other pups that always wanted something.