Step Out Of The Shadows

He waited patiently until he saw her pale form approaching, his tail wagging slowly in response to her greeting. “Hey Little Moon.” He responded aloud, using the nickname he’d bequeathed her with shortly after her birth and ducking his head to swipe a sloppy, brotherly kiss on her cheek in return of the nose at his cheek. Her question brought a slow sigh to his jaws as he lowered his haunches to the ground.

“What’s going on,” he said, tone slightly stern, though his eyes held no direct reproach as he looked down at her. “Is that we all need to start being a family, and a pack, again. I’ve hardly seen any of my own siblings since the Challenge and Father’s death. That’s not right. Our parents would be deeply saddened by this if they could see us all right now.” His head cocked slightly, fathomless sapphire eyes searching her pale, rose and cherry blossom face.

“In other news, you’ve been our only Emissary for quite some time. Faite had good words to say about taking you along to visit other packs. I think after another circuit of the packs with me, you should be eligible for Harbinger. But you’ll need to work at it, Baine. We all need to work together. Would it be an honor to Mother’s memory if we just let the pack fall flat and break apart?” His words weren’t meant to berate his little sister. His tone was encouraging, no anger or disappointment to be found, and his face was earnest, ears pointed forward as he watched her.

Then a flash of remembered delight came over his features as he added, tone betraying the pleasure he felt at the announcement in no uncertain terms, “Oh! And Solveiga’s home. I accepted her back a few days ago.” He knew his sister and friend were at the very least acquainted with each other; knew Baine had gone with Solveiga to see her mother, only to find her mother was dead. Hopefully Baine would find this news as heartening as he did, although he didn’t realize that she wouldn’t find it heartening in the exact same way as he.