the sound of the men working on the chain gang

The yearling Abraxas held a stiff tension in his shoulders since Pyrrhic had stepped down from his place as Emperor. Iroh felt like he had lost all of his direction, and the connection he had with his family seemed broken. He felt broken, weak, lost, and most of all he was frustrated. He couldn’t see the once clear path of his future anymore. He didn’t know what to work towards and he was still uneasy with the way the pack would function from now on.

Of course he’d followed the pack north, they were his family even if he suddenly felt disconnected. Like the blow of Malleus loss had been delayed Iroh was laid low as he struggled to see the hope of the future when he no longer had his life goal. He tried to focus on the task in front of him, having a job was a decent distraction. With Sarabi’s frustration only feeding into his own the result wasn’t pretty.

Banshee encouraged the boy to get to know his cousin, something Iroh had been unintentionally avoiding. He was uncertain about Pyrrhic’s brother, the two were as different as himself and his own sibling. Pyrr obviously cared about him, they’d trained together since Iroh was a tiny boy and he felt a real bond with his cousin. He didn’t know Eligos, and though he wouldn’t admit it the unknown factor caused a bit of fear in the yearling. He’d lost much of his confidence with the huge amount of change in his life.

These thoughts coursed through his mind as Sarabi again tried to demonstrate, he would be further distracted at the sound of Eli’s voice. Blue and lavender eyes raised to find his cousin’s ruby stare. ”I..” his uncertainties crept into his vocals. ”I.. No.. I.. No, I don’t mind.” Stuttering was not one of his usual habits and he began to realize what state he was really in. He averted his eyes back to the antler points at his paws, ashamed at showing his insecurities so blatantly to the new leader.