Feel The Thunder

“I promised the position of my second to my brother, without whom I could have never hoped to stand before you all as a would-be leader. Otherwise, my mother and my…” He faltered as he looked over his shoulder at Aranea. What was she now? She had followed him here, from Abaven where she had been living so comfortably, and the way he felt around her, weightless, and somehow as if there were a bird in his chest beating its wings furiously as it tried to escape from between his ribs.. “…My mate.” He said finally, the word slipping from him as if he hadn’t even known he had said it myself, then all at once everything returned to him, and he was standing in the middle of a storm regarding his followers.

“My mother and my mate will have to earn their rank just as anyone else; my mother will need to prove herself as a healer, just as Aranea will have to prove herself as a navigator.” He said firmly, the look of cold determination once again on his features as he spoke. “This is just as much a law for me as it is for all members of Dauntless.” He explained.

The hatred he had felt for Ashmendai was slowly beginning to dissipate and was slowly being replaced with respect. “It will not be me who decides which of you will be on my council, but yourselves. There will be a formal election, and it will be up to you, the people of Dauntless, to decide who is the strongest, who is the most responsible, and who is the wisest.” He said firmly. “If this sounds agreeable than follow me to the North! To Waterfall Peak! Where we shall thrive as one! As Dauntless!” He roared proudly, lightning crashing and illuminating his proud form in the darkness.

Without another word he leapt down from his perch, among his followers, and walked, boldly, northward.