The cooler weather of Autumn was amazing after the heat of the Summer. Of course the yearling still craved the snow and ice he had grown up in, his shaky first steps out of the den had been on that crisp powder of the North after all and the Summer sun had only left him dreaming of that cold. Of course perhaps most of that dreaming was simply because of the large amount of time he spent doing absolutely nothing.
Despite all that pride he had, Archelaus was hardly a fine example of what a capable young boy should actually be up to. Lessons? Who needed them? Archie didn't exactly care for them and so far hadn't bothered to turn up to any. A smug voice in the back of his mind informed him of the fact that he could do these things if he wanted to anyway, so what was the point in turning up? No one had picked up on this yet or if they had hadn't exactly confronted him about it. Perhaps he was still being cut slack, the adjustment to this place and pack had taken a while after all.
That being said today didn't differ all that much from any other day. He had woken, taken a slow walk around the lands until he found a spot that he liked and then it was time to stop again, sit or in this instance lie down, red eyes watching as a leaf had a far more exciting day than him, battling with the wind until finally the weather won and sent it spiralling to the ground a few feet from Archie's paw.
At times it seemed like she was both incredibly close to her boys and at the same time they seemed so far away. They were growing up so fast and it was hard for her to accept. She worried so often that she wasn't doing a good enough job at raising them and making sure they were learning everything they needed to live on their own. These thoughts weighed on her as she wandered through the Mangrove. She had left Ritselli with Ama so they could spend some time together and all of her sons had wandered off to spend their days as they typically did, which left her alone with her thoughts.
However, she caught Archy's scent and, curious, she made her way toward him. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to find him doing, but of course he was lounging around doing nothing. A soft sigh passed her lips and she frowned a little. Ever since they had arrived in Fiori she had been afraid to push her boys too hard. She knew they had already been through so much that she hated to bother them with anything... but maybe it was high time that she start. They were a year old now. They should be training and learning, not sleeping their lives away.
She padded over to him and settled herself on her haunches in front of him. "Archy, what are you doing?" she asked as peered down at him, her head tipping slightly to the side.
They weren't a bad bunch of boys, Athena and Amalia had certainly done well, they could have turned out a lot worse. Archie, perhaps the only one that really needed reminding it was time for him to grow up and do something with his life, was also the one that failed to really see anything wrong with his behaviour or anything to do with the family to be completely honest. Though he didn't know about his mother's time as an alpha and as far as he knew no Armada led a pack now, his head had somehow been filled with ideas of royalty and greatness. Surely he should have been more humble, and yet it seemed coming to Fiori had only made such illusions worse; not only were the Armadas powerful, the Adravendi family were too!
At least he didn't boast about this brilliance. For now anyway he had kept such pride filled thoughts to himself. It may have been too soon to point that fact out of for he was of course lacking people around that he could actually boast to and was too lazy it seemed to bother to search for someone less noble. He was quite content for now to spend his days doing very little at all, it kept him happy it seemed, all the peace and quiet and lazing around.
It wasn't typically disturbed though today it would be, the voice of his mother suddenly ringing through the air as she addressed him and questioned what he was doing. Well what did it look like he was doing? "Nothing. I was walking earlier and now I'm not." He pointed out to her. She hadn't gone mad again had she? He would have blamed it on the heat though she appeared to have adjusted to that now. To be fair, there was a strong possibility that Archie simply had used it as an excuse and exaggerated his own suffering.
Athena couldn't help but smirk a little and give an exasperated sigh at her son's response. Well of course she saw that he was doing nothing. She couldn't even be mad at him for his smart aleck response since it was the same sort of response she would have given at his age. She just shook her head a little and chuckled. She had to give her sons one thing: they each had plenty of personality. That was something she was happy about at least. They were each their own individuals. They really were good boys... but it didn't keep her from worrying about them on a daily basis. But isn't that what she had wanted to do in the very beginning? She had vowed to herself before they were born that she would never let her children fall through the cracks or feel abandoned like she had felt with her parents.
"No, I see that you're doing nothing, smarty pants," she replied with another soft chuckle. "What I mean is what are you doing in general? Not right this second, but just... with your life." Her expression sobered up a bit and she added, "Shouldn't you try out some spars or practice hunting or even let Ama teach you some stuff about healing? How will you know what you like doing if you don't give them a shot?"
To be completely honest Archie hadn't been attempting any sort of cheek or humour with his blunt answer, nor of course was he trying to be rude. He had genuinely assumed that his mother was curious about what he was up to right there and then for he hadn't thought about his future and didn't think that he was really meant to have done so at this point in his life. He was still young after all and frankly was quite content living in the moment even if that moment was as dull as lying down and doing nothing.
His mother would explain her point a little bit more, there was no way at all for Archie to misinterpret it this time though he preferred his previous assumption to this one. This was supposed to be serious matter he sensed though not one he really felt like dealing with nor one that he really thought was all that important at all. He'd be good at whatever he did after all, he was an Armada and had been raised by two talented parents. "Do I have to?" He enquired, the look on his face clearly not too impressed by the topic.
A frown crossed her features at Archelaus' answer. She sighed and her ears flicked back unhappily. She didn't understand how he could not even want to try training in anything. When she was growing up she was trying her hardest to train in everything as soon as she was big enough... Her first instinct was to blame herself. Her father, as absent as he had been, had always instilled the need to be a warrior in her that had forced her to work hard. But, the more she thought about it, she realized her other sons seemed to have some kind of drive that Archy didn't have.
"I'm not always going to be around to protect you, Archy," she said softly, the weight of the truth in that statement visibly resting on her shoulders. "Ama won't always be here to heal you. The pack won't always be here to feed you. Packs come and go so easily... We could be homeless tomorrow. You've seen it happen. We won't always have another pack to run to." She sighed heavily again and glanced away from him. "I just want to make sure you'll be okay if something happens to me or Ama." She looked back to him, her eyes searching his features. "Do you understand, Archy?"
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