Episode Two: Then Came Riven

A massive female meerkat sat at the edge of her burrow, surrounded by few, not the usual many.

Astrael's mob, Nebula, had not returned in full since the day before, when they were split by a hawk attack. Nobody was killed, but the mob was divided against itself. Now only remained her mate, Bone, Grace's son, Hawthorn, and the yearling sisters of Astrael's last litter of pups, Augusta, Idynn, and Greensleeves. Which meant the bulk of Nebula, it's low-standing members, were scattered. Whether they'd even return, only fate knew.

her's is the Nebula mob!
Astrael, the strict dominant female,
Bone, her feeble-minded mate,
Sequoia, our understated heroine,
Asiya, an unpredictable wanderer,
Grace, a female who sorely lacks her namesake,
Onestep, Sequoia's devious brother,
Many others,
and the Odessa mob, problem-posing opponents!
this...is the Story of Sequoia!

Eventually, Sequoia had banded up with her closest family; Asiya and Onestep, though no other traces of her mob revealed themselves. After spending the night together in a bolt hole, however, early on an unguided foraging trip, the three meerkats stumbled into a massive splinter of subordinates, poorly lead by Astrael's eldest daughter, Grace. Much more hesitant to reject a family member than Astrael, they were hasty to accept the three meerkats into their disorganised band.

Grace was terrified of Sequoia for reasons the young female meerkat couldn't understand, running away whenever she approached her and submitting physically whenever she couldn't flee. She could smell rover scent on the sub-subordinate; the presence of a mate in a group which leadership was unclear would quickly be cause for a promotion for a female meerkat. The other meerkats in this group weren't nearly so submitting to Sequoia but decided to follow her when she decided to finally head back to a enlarged bolt hole at sundown. The more experienced females knew it was unwise to take leadership when Astrael returned as it would be viewed as high treason and the younger females were too meek to take control despite whatever their aspirations may of been, used to a life of low rank. The general opinion of the splinter band owed to instinct; the leadership would most likely not last for more than a day, so there was no need to worry.

Sequoia herself seemed to share this feeling, and it quelled her slight bewilderment in the suddenly thrust role of dominant female. But she was inexperienced, and irresponsible, not ready to take tighter measures on the group. An uneventful week of foraging and cautious leadership into the splinter's group life, Sequoia was unconcerned when one of Astrael's older daughters, Quill, began showing visible signs of pregnancy. Not even when she had began domineering over her younger sisters and nieces.

* * *

Astrael was stressed. The relative comfort she had once lived in as dominant female of a large, stable mob had collapsed suddenly. Whereas the lowly ranked Sequoia had suddenly found power in the larger fraction of the splinter group, she was now struggling to keep a small band of her bewildered close family together and alive. She had recently had her pups and they were cared for by her inexperienced daughters and grandson in turns, while she, her mate, and those lucky enough to come along foraged. After searching for her missing subordinates she had lost track of their old, properly expanded burrow and their new, temporary home had poor foraging, tall, thick grasses taking up the futile ground, and many predators. The only advantage was that it was far away from the territories of the other largest mob in the region, Odessa.

* * *

The splinter group, on the other hand, was on the western most corners of Nebula's territory and settled much closer to the Odessa mob's borders than the mob had usually settled. The burrow, however, was the largest and best in the same area and they couldn't afford to leave it before they wore it out. Sequoia was sure to forage in safer, eastern patches, however, some of her apparent subordinates had different ideas.

Predictably enough, this subordinate was Quill, lately emboldened as she progressed through her pregnancy. She continued bullying the younger females of the group into submission, who then became more willing to follow their older subordinate than their present dominant female for fear of another beating. Specifically these were Asiya, in fact her littermate but traumatized into constant submission by other meerkats such as Astrael, younger sisters Ashia, Rain and Leaf, and her two nieces Flow and Dawn. She had gained and enforced her rule over these followers over the later half of the week, a small fraction of the splinter group but enough to worry over. Sequoia still continued to failed to enforce her dominance, actually merely as a subordinate who lead the foraging trips. When Quill began leading her followers away from the bulk of the splinter group, Sequoia did not stop her aunt but instead followed. The last thing she needed was for their group to splint further.

* * *

It was a mundane day for the Odessa mob.

They were unaware of the peril of their enemies, the Nebula mob, and were as alert as ever. However, no hawk or snake had came to put the mob in danger, so they were free to forage without a care. The greatest drama that presently haunted the group was a fight over a millipede, waged by dominant female Sonya and her yearling son and daughter, Oblast and Katia. Sonya won against her young children, and was alerted mid-meal by an alarm cry, coming from current sentry Aleksei.

The dominant female's head turned, and she saw a large group of meerkats wardancing towards their foraging patch. With the call, she and, eventually, all of her other meerkats came to action, and charged without a thought.

* * *

It was Quill who attacked Sonya head on, in fashion of a dominant meerkat, not Sequoia. She instead was forced into battle by an attack from a Odessa subordinate female, Tanya. As soon as she could drive Tanya away Sequoia pulled back, and cried out to indicate the other meerkats of the splinter group to pull back as well. Quill's followers even came; in fact, they were first to flee, naturally skittish and submissive. Sequoia ran as soon as a few other meerkats came to her side, and so did the rest, as soon as they could escape a fight. Sonya lead her mob after them for quite a distance until the Nebula splinter was well in to their own territory. Sequoia however continued to lead her splinter away, and decided to end the foraging trip for the day, bringing them back to their temporary borrow. Instinct prompted her to evict Quill from the splinter, but by the time they had reached the burrow, she was no where to be found.

* * *

She was wary, but was regardless met by a wardance. As soon as Astrael recognised the strange female as her daughter, however, she was accepted into her makeshift Nebula fraction. Quill would not be sleeping alone by eviction from her niece, but instead with her mother and close family.

The two fractions were closer together than they would suspect, but at their distance they would not stay apart for much longer. Just as Sequoia was easing into her powers, just as she was beginning to establish a considerably less stressful life as dominant female, without her aunt to challenge her role.

Though many would feel otherwise, their inevitable reunion would be terrible luck for Sequoia.

next time on, the Story of Sequoia, episode two: And Last Came Exile
Although Sequoia has finally found her natural place within the splinter group as dominant female, she will find that this luck will not last as Astrael reunites the Nebula mob..