The rabbit had been a fluke.  It had run out in front of the girl and,  in a flash, she had her claws in it. As she sunk her teeth into it, the rabbit released a blood curdling scream as only a rabbit can do.  It startled the girl and she lost her grip.  The rabbit took off,  but she had wounded it. The evidence of that was the trail of blood that led away from the territory that her family held. She wasn't supposed to go out of the boundaries,  but she couldn't just let it suffer.  Her dad had told her so. Reluctantly,  she left the pack lands and followed the dying lapine.

The trail of blood and stench led her to a strange grove of trees. Ears tucked, the tiny wolf used her knowledge of stealth to creep quietly between the trees. She kept her body lowered and tried to hide her cream and grey body as much as possible. There was no knowing what was lurking here. With all of the gnarled, overgrown trees, it was difficult to see past them. There were many hiding places. She couldn't be too careful.

He found the scent of her on his border patrol, and the point where she crossed from Armada into rogue was startlingly obvious. At first, he almost could not believe it, he would not. She would not break his trust so soon after he had given it. He would give her the world, any lessons she asked, all the play and love she could handle. He gave her truth, stark and bare, because he trusted her with it. He trusted her the most of the litter, for he felt deep in his bones that she was like him, and she would understand him as they did not.

But the evidence was there, and he could not ignore it, and so he was forced to face it, heart heavy, and bitterness on his tongue. He was not a happy wolf, and his possessive, angry streak began to show as his eyes darkened.

Sirius crossed the border just far enough to see Asla, and for her to see him. He found her by scent before eyes, for she had found a subtle place to crouch in. He stopped there, watching her. He said nothing, but the sheer disappointment on his expression was enough to fill sentences as he waited for her to see him.

Creeping along, the trail eventually went cold. As cold as the dead rabbit in front of her. The small creature had eventually died of its wounds. Aslatiel frowned hard as she stared down at the lifeless body. Ants had already claimed her kill and, with one last look of anger and disgust, she turned and prepared to walk back home. Ah... but she wasn't alone.

Her father stood there, staring hard down at her, his eyes dark with an emotion that she hadn't seen on his face yet. Instantly her tail curled against her grey belly and she lowered herself to the grass. "Papa..." She wasn't going to make excuses. She didn't even think about their previous conversation until she saw him standing there, looking at her angrily. She had been so intent on not letting the rabbit suffer that she had just followed it without thought. Already tears were filling up her big purple eyes. It hurt to disappoint him so.

He looked from her, to the dead creature she had stalked across the line. She said nothing, but the understanding between the two was rich enough that she didn’t have to. She was following their earlier lesson, that it was okay she had killed the chicken because it suffered. “No, Aslatiel” he said, voice angry, and rough with bitterness. No endearment fell from his lips “This side of the border is mine ” he pointed to the Armada, "and this side is not. On this side, I can not protect you if I am not here. I believe you will be strong and fierce and dangerous, but right now, you are not.” He knew she saw herself as a killer, and perhaps he had let her think she was invincible, raising her up to be her best as he had. To demonstrate he reached over, grabbing her roughly in his teeth and yanking her off the ground. Not enough to hurt her, but it would likely shake her a little.

He held her in his teeth for a moment, and then released her, letting her thud a small distance to the ground. Again, not enough to hurt her, but enough for her to understand how defenseless she was. “You will see the world for what it is, and not what you want it to be.” he snarled, mouth now free of her fur. “You are two months old, and that means that right now, every wolf is bigger than you. You will see this, and accept it. You will not put your siblings or this pack in danger for a fantasy in your head, am I understood?” he growled, his anger getting the best of him. Dammit, he had trusted her. “If the choice was that rabbit, or your family, are you telling me you would pick the rabbit?”

What had she done wrong? When she killed the chicken because it was hurt, he said that it was a good thing. Now he was telling her that killing the rabbit because it was hurt was a bad thing. The diminutive pup was so confused. It was hard to get things right when there were so many rules and mixed messages.

Suddenly, she was snatched off of the ground. The girl yelped and curled in on herself. What was papa doing? She didn't understand this at all. Fear struck her and a whimper pulled from her throat. A moment later, he dropped her back to the ground and she landed with a thud, a grunt sounding when she landed. Curling into a ball, the girls eyes were wide with fear. This wasn't her papa. This was one of the bad wolves that her papa had told her about.

Sirius snarled his words at her but they were lost on her ears. The girl had gone temporarily catatonic. The world moved in slow motion and all she could do was freeze and wait. Just as quickly as the world had slowed, it sped up. The last thing she heard was, 'A fantasy in your head' before she turned and ran as fast as her legs would carry her back towards Armada lands.

She needed her momma. Momma would save her from the bad wolf that looked like papa. Tears streamed from her eyes as she made her escape. She never looked back towards the wolf that had hurt her. She never wanted to see him again. Something happened within the girl that day. Her lesson was learned, but it came at a price. The joy that she found in the world would lessen. She would become more serious. Less childish. And she would always hold a fear of her father within her heart.

He watched her go, frustrated that she showed herself as a coward instead of manning up to her mistake. He had expected… well... perhaps he had started to see her too much as an adult, and not the very young child she truly was.

She would show nothing but fear, though he had not hurt her, only picked her up and jostled her a little. He did not know how much of the lesson would stick, he supposed only time would tell. He moved back to the border of the Armada, watching the area in which she had disappeared, and wished she would come back to him. He would have taken her hunting, and showed her the stars, his anger with her had only been fleeting, a point to be made. Instead, she was gone, and he would be alone along the border of the Armada, trying not to view the girl he had seen as powerful, as instead a coward.