To Be You

Even though Serenity seemed too nervous to meet his gaze, he let his eyes linger on her curiously with a little tip of his head, wondering what could possibly have her so on edge. Even when they were fighting the saber cat together she had seemed so certain of herself so seeing her like this was surprising. At first he was worried that something had happened and part of him wondered if he could handle another piece of bad news. Luckily, it seemed like that wasn't the case this time. She began uncertainly, mentioning how she wasn't always out and about around the others, but that she had never felt more like she belonged. A smile pulled at his lips at that and at hearing that Lillith and Ezra had made her feel welcomed into the pack and the family. If there was nothing else he could take pride in just knowing that he had managed to raise Lil and Ezra to be the way they were made him feel like he had accomplished something wonderful with his life. He hadn't been sure how they would react to Serenity's appearance in their lives, but they had welcomed her in without hesitation and he couldn't be more grateful. He knew he should have done more to incorporate her into their family himself, but with everything going on time had slipped away from him yet again and it felt like a nice gesture to tack him on at the end, but he knew he didn't deserve it.

Her request surprised him, but not because he hadn't expected her to want their family name. It was only surprising because he felt like it was something that didn't need to be asked. He blinked with surprise at first until his expression quickly softened into a warm smile. Without hesitation he leaned over to rest a paw on her shoulder, his tail wagging gently behind him. "Of course you can," he told her, "You're absolutely welcome to take my name... our name. You're family." Letting his paw fall away to rest on the floor again he thought about the journey his own name had taken. It was an identity he had struggled with and reshaped to fit what he was happiest with and because of that it honestly touched him more than she probably realized. He understood what it was like to chose his family and who he wanted to be associated with and it was an honor to be that for Serenity.

After a moment of silence he told her, "My name used to be Ulric Adravendi-Lore," he explained, his eyes shifting back to watching the fire. "My mother's name, your grandmother, was Roza Adravendi and your grandfather was Ganta Lore. Ganta... When I was very, very young he challenged someone to the death and lost. At the time he was the alpha of a pack and the pack went with him. It left my mother, sister, and I alone. To this day I still don't know why he did that, but I had to take care of my mother for a very long time and I tried to take care of my sister and eventually her children, but..." He trailed off, shaking his head with a sigh. He was already physically and mentally exhausted—he didn't have it in him to consider things in the past that he would prefer to leave in the past. "After a couple of years of being my mother's caretaker I decided to drop the Lore portion of my name and only keep my mother's family name. She was a wonderful woman and I strive all the time to be someone that she would be proud of." He paused and was quiet for a moment before he lifted his gaze to look at her again with another smile. "I'm glad you've decided to take the Adravendi name. It's something I'm quite proud of so I hope you will be as well. There are a lot of Adravendi wolves around—especially in Boreas—so you might run into them occasionally."

Ulric Adravendi