Like Oleander

He felt his face flush slightly at the question, he hadn’t met too many wolves since arriving, but no one had bothered to ask where he had come from or what his homeland was like. No one it seemed even knew about his father, which was particularly distressing given the renown he had made for himself before he had been sired.

He glanced up at Célestin which only made matters worse. In spite of what the young male had said the wolves of Theodebes looked incredibly ordinary, unlike nearly every wolf he had seen since arriving. The tips of his ears burned and his mouth suddenly felt dry, he cleared his throat and began. “Well… I come from the kingdom of Aytepios in the nation of Theodebes. There are eight kingdoms; packs of sorts I suppose, only the kingdoms are vast; thousands of wolves live in Aytepios all living underthe laws of the king; my grandfather Odysseus, I suppose you could say he’s an alpha, but as a king he has the role of the senatari, advisors to the emperor of Theodebes: Asterion. The kingdoms all follow their kings but the kings follow the emperor, and the emperor follows the Senatari.” He paused to give him time to absorb what he had just said, feeling more and more embarrassed as he tried to explain the vastly different world he had come from in a way Célestin could understand.

“I’m a prince of Aytepios actually, but I stand little chance of inheriting the throne. It will pass to my uncle and his children, my mother is Odysseus’s oldest, but females can’t have seats on the Senatari.” His face grew hotter at that. It was an archaic law, one that his grandfather didn’t even approve of, which must have seemed barbaric in Boreas where males and females stood on equal footing.

speaking Thinking  you