He was allowed to stay at the den all by himself now, at least for a little while. Ashmedai's momma, Esti, had decided to go out for a bit. She howled out a call for his daddy, Valentine, to come spend time with him while he waited for her to get back. He didn't need his dad, but he was excited all the same. His dad would come, right? Moma had said that daddy  was busy because he was a leader of the pack, which meant a lot of wolves. Ashmedai hadn't met a lot of wolves, but momma said that's because he was still a baby. He wasn't, but every time he said that, his momma would laugh and lick his head. Maybe his daddy would see that he was big enough to meet the pack. Besides, how would he be a leader of a pack like his daddy's if he didn't even know what one looked like!

Esti's call brought him at an easy lope. Life was slowly returning to normal--for him, anyway. He wasn't quite sure how Esti was handling motherhood, but he found the slight expansion of his brood to be relatively easy to manage. Explaining it to the older kids had been a bit hard, mostly because there was much he wasn't ready to discuss with them, but he'd been prepared for various reactions and that had made a difference. At his end, anyway. His relationship with his kids was one thing. His relationship with Esti and Cascade was a bit more complicated and Valentine still wasn't quite sure where they all stood. Approaching the den, Valen stuck his head inside in search of Ashmedai. "Ash?" He was looking forward to time with the boy now that he was old enough to explore. The day was his and within reason, Valentine was game for whatever Ash wanted to do. ""

He waited, not leaving the den. His momma told him to not leave the den if she or Daddy weren't there. She said that if he did he might get hurt. He understood because once he fell and bit his tongue and that really hurt. He didn't want that to happen again so Ashmedai sat in the back of the den and waited for his daddy, the leader of Imperium. Either his dad was taking a long time or he was really impatient because it seemed like he was sitting there forever! Eventually he settled onto his belly, staring at the entrance of the den, then he flopped to his side,still staring. Was his daddy ever coming? [i]"Ash?"[/s] The voice softly echoed in the den. Ashmedai shot up sloppily from his laying position, his claws scraping against the den floor, "Daddy!" he squeaked excitedly as he ambled towards the entrance of the den, his skinny tail lashing side to side. He shrunk as he came towards his dad, offering several little puppy kisses at his dad's chin in greeting. His tail beat against the ground with hearty thuds, "How are you? What's the pack up to? How's being a leader? Is there another leader? How many wolves make a pack?" He unloaded all the questions he had build up. He had asked his momma, but she said to ask his daddy, and now he did.

A tiny voice reached his ears and then Ash rushed towards him. The brute got down on his elbows so that when the boy moved to lick at his chin, Valentine could envelope him in a hug. Question after question assaulted his ears and the King leaned down to nuzzle the top of his son's head. "Hold up, hold up. One at a time now -slowly- so I can answer." Let's see... "I'm good. Lots of different things. It's kinda hard. Nope, just me. You need at least five to make a pack." He paused to decide if he'd missed any. Nah, that was all of them...hopefully. "How are you? What would you like to do today?" ""

Ashmedai's eyes shone brightly as his father answered his questions. His tail didn't stop thumping for a minute, his tongue lolling softly out of his maw as he listened.  Valentine asked Ashmedai how he was and what he wanted to do. The boy sprang up with a start, "I'm good, Daddy! And I wanna go be the leader today like you are!" The boy smiled at his dad, his icy eyes searching his father's. If he was being leader, he could probably travel really far from the den! With his daddy with him, he didn't have to be scared either!

Valentine leaned down to lick at Ashmedai's forehead, seeking to carefully smooth down his fur and brush off any pieces of grit that had collected on the boy while he was rattling around in the den waiting for his dad to get there. His little tail was kicking up quite a cloud, so it was likely that the King's efforts were in vain, but he found the action comforting. So he wanted to be the leader for today, huh? They could do that. "Yeah?" The brute aimed a playful nip at Ash's left ear. Genuinely curious about what his son thought an alpha did, he asked, "What does a leader do?" ""

Ashmedai leaned in as his dad licked the top of his head. The pup smiled loosely and edged in closer with small scoots, still in a half-sitting position. When Ash asked to be leader, his dad confirmed (maybe?) with a "yeah" but it sounded like a question, which the pup found a little confusing. His dad nipped at his ear, and Ashmedai pulled away with a giggle, his ear flicking back while the other stayed up right. His dad then asked what a leader did and the pup's face froze. He didn't really know for sure. His momma didn't make that all too clear either. Maybe that was one of the things he was supposed to ask his dad, but his dad had asked him first! Ashmedai's imagination started working and he rattled off what he thought a leader would do, "Uhh... a leader of a pack is a leader of a bunch of wolves. That's what a pack is. So a leader has to protect them and kill bad guys!" Ashmedai finished confidently, jumping back from his father and lowering his front half into a play-fight stance, "We gotta go hunt bad guys, Daddy!"

He could almost see the gears turning as Ashmedai briefly thought over his question. From his initial confusion to his light bulb moment, each step in his thought process was seen and noted with no small amount of amusement. The boy delivered his answer confidently and then dropped into a playful stance. "That sounds about right. Come on then," Valentine leaned in quickly to attempt to playfully poke the end of Ash's nose with his own before he jumped to his paws and spun to face the opposite direction. "Let's go find bad guys." Ah, he almost forgot that Ash was the alpha today. "How about you lead?" ""