With Careful Steps

"My brother laid claim to the volcano and the maw not far from here." His ears laid against his head as he frowned. "In my opinion, they're not the best territories to raise young. But he said it reminded him of home...not sure why he wanted to continue trying to replicate that when our birth pack was nothing but a nightmare." His gaze wandered again, unaware that he had continued rambling instead of just answering her question with the simplest of answers. Truth be told, the more he thought about where he had come from. About Elias. About his past...it only served to rankle him, which in turn caused his lip to curl slightly with hatred and disgust. He wanted nothing to do with that damned religion or uphold what he had been born and bred into. That life wasn't for him. He wasn't some heartless cur anymore. Never had been...why he even decided to continue believing in them after the things they'd done to him was a mystery to him.

But no more.

He turned to her then, appreciating her jokes as they seemed to distract him from his deeper thoughts. "I'm sure you do. I've seen crazy, after all, and you're certainly nowhere near that. Besides, crazy wolves don't make great leaders, and leaders like that don't last very long. I know you haven't led Abaven for very long, but I'm quite certain you'll go quite far." He nodded his head as if confirming to himself that that would be true. Shaye seemed quite capable, after all. Even if he didn't know her that well, it wasn't hard to spot a good leader when he saw one. "So...have you always been a member of Abaven before taking up leadership?" He was curious how she came to lead the pack. Had she been an heir? The daughter of the alpha? A former beta? He was always curious how some wolves came to lead a pack.