No time to rewind

She waited as her father wiped off his paws and turned away from his task of skinning one of his kills, settling back onto her haunches and getting her thoughts in order. For so long it felt like she was just screaming into the void and not being heard and she was tired of it. She had to figure out a way to say how she was feeling that might actually sink in instead of just having him agree and immediately forget as soon as something else came up. She gave a little shake of her head when he asked if it was about Artorias. "No. It's not." With a soft sigh she realized he didn't really know the extent of what had happened or how Art was doing now so she added, "He's okay. He was in a really deadly fight with someone that had assaulted Gwynevere, but he made it back home and has mostly recovered now. His sister sent a bird to get me so I could be with him while he recovered and I stayed long enough for him to get back on his feet. He's also taken over as the primary alpha - Ulric is his second until the summer." Even though that wasn't her focus today she supposed he'd want to be kept up to date on what was happening with Artorias either way.

Moving on, she said, "Besides that... I came to talk to you because I am frustrated with how things have been and I'm tired of just living with it. It's making me angry just living here and since I doubt you'll let me leave any time soon I need to say something." Her ears flicked as she focused on keeping herself composed, holding herself with her shoulders back as she looked at her father. "There have been too many occasions where promises have been made and broken. Back in the summer after I came back from The Hallows after I hid there to get over you biting me you said we would do something for our birthdays toward the end of the season and that never happened. When I spoke to mom after she returned she promised that she would plan something and that she would talk to Artorias and get his help with it. Neither of those things happened though the entire fall. I don't even want the celebration any more. Having it now would just feel like it was out of obligation or guilt. It's just the fact that both of you promised to do something multiple times and never followed through that has bothered me.

Not only that, but you said we would work on diplomatic trips and trading together and that has yet to happen. I barely got any assistance when I was training to fight and had to figure most of it out on my own with a little help from Mortis and Artorias, but I thought maybe you might help me with how to lead a pack the way you did Artorias since you know I'm going to be leading The Hallows with him. Maybe you don't see it this way, but from where I'm sitting it feels like so much was given to my older siblings and it feels like me and my litter were never a priority of any kind and I'm tired of making excuses for you. I'm not the little girl that just wanted to comfort you because I knew how heart broken you were over mom being gone any more. I just kept brushing things under the rug for you. Even you biting me! You acted like I should just be able to be okay with it and never tried to apologize or make amends or anything. You could have killed me and I just forgave you because of the stress you were under. When mom came back I really hoped things would be different, but they're not and if anything that just makes it worse."

By the time she was done with the words that kept rolling off her chest, frustrated tears had collected in her eyes and she blinked them away with a huff. Her claws were gripping the frozen ground, but they were unnoticeable thanks to the snow collected around them. Dancing around the issue had gotten her no where and she didn't know if being more direct would help either, but at least now he knew how she was feeling. She looked away from him with a flick of her ears, adding, "I don't think there's anything to do or fix right now, but... I needed to at least tell you how I was feeling if I'm going to continue living here until the summer."

"Briar Fatalis"