The old beaten paths

A proud grin crossed her lips when Sirius shared that Malik had found his way here and complimented how quickly he learned. "Good, I'm glad he took my advice. I wasn't sure if he was serious when he asked me about learning how to really fight, but I guess he meant it. I knew that if he was going to learn the basics from anyone but me I wanted it to be you." All of her sons had taken to fighting fairly well as pups except for Malik. He had shown so much of his father in him with his love for nature and hunting, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't happy that he came around on the idea of at least being able to defend himself well. It put her mind at ease a bit now that he was fully grown and out wandering the wilds without her. Hopefully he'd return home soon so she could see what all he learned.

She followed along beside Sirius as he began to lead her into the pack's territory and her gaze drifted across the mountainous landscape, taking it all in. It was such a drastic change from the open, grassy plains where she had known the Armada, but as they drew closer to the hub of what they had built here she began to see why this was a good move for them. Sirius had always been one for building and creating a home and these caves certainly made for a good medium to do just that. As they walked he admitted that this might be the last time she could visit him as a Warlord and her gaze immediately went back to him with genuine surprise. "Well... I never thought I'd see the day when Sirius Fatalis would retire," she teased with a chuckle. And it was true. She had been certain that Sirius would never actually retire and that he would hold onto his place in the pack until the day he passed. "I'm glad," she admitted after a moment. "You've been doing this a very long time and as good as you are at it I'm glad you're finally going to get some rest."

It occurred to her after a moment of processing this news that he had said his grandson would be taking over from him. Not his son or his daughter. She wasn't completely detached from the going ons of the Armada with Briar and Artorias occasionally keeping her informed or at least overhearing their conversations, but there was quite a distance between their packs so it wasn't as if every change or update reached them in Auster. Still, she was slightly surprised by the shift. "Which of your grandsons will be taking over then? Basilisk? I'm surprised to hear it's not Azure or Mortis." The two boys had been contenders for it back in her time with the Armada, but she knew that was a long time ago now. Things can certainly change and apparently they had.

Tamsyn Carpathius of the Valley