Know Your History

Ember listened to Iolaire's stories with rapt attention, blue eyes wide with wonder as her mind was filled with wondrous imaginings of a land faraway from the plains, the place where their family had come from. She imagined all these massive wolves with regal thick coats looking like gods as they reigned over their mountain dominion. Io's self-deprecating humor earned a small giggle from the girl, but otherwise Ember remained uncharacteristically silent as she listened with full attention and enthusiastic mind. The history of the title of Aegis passing from generation to generation through the Carpathian bloodline and how it became distorted felt almost like a dark fantasy story to the girl. The usurpation of Jyrric and Steera, the power struggles, the cloak and dagger influence of corruption, it was fascinating to the young pup! Eyes wide and mouth hung open, Ember leaned in closer, scarcely blinking, barely breathing, enthralled with the tale.

The story came to a cliffhanger as the two children of the usurper were poised to take the throne: Morro and Resin, the grandmother she had met in her dreams. When one of the other children went missing, Iolaire frustratingly left the story hang in the air. Ember groaned in frustration and flopped to her belly on the grass, pouting up at the older woman. "Awww, auntie Io! Don't stop now!" she whined. One by one, questions were asked by the rest of her family. She wasn't paying much attention to any of them—until she heard Dusk speak. Tiny ears perked up on her skull and her eyes darted to her dark-coated sibling. She knew of the mountains too...? Elowen's question was one Ember had as well. How did their family end up in Auster if they started so far away? "Did grandma Resin do something to get our family out to Auster?" she asked, then as Io began to address each question individually, Ember would rise to her paws and slip quietly over to Dusk, leaning against her older sister's forelegs as she glanced up at her and whispered, "The lake wasn't frozen when I saw it..." Yeah, she had seen the Carpathian Mountains too.

"Ember"