When I hit the ground
The girls breathing was rigid - the night air filtering over herself as she pushed on. The ground underneath her was an ugly black, cracked beneath in every which way. Her pads could simply feel the cracks pointing upwards in irritation. Her lip raised in alarm as she watched the ground, but when she finally lifted her head there was a ghostly figure out in front of her. It looked like her, but it wasn't her. Heather stood there with her eyes furrowed. She went to call out, but she found her voice stolen - slowly herself turned away. The distance seemed to get farther as if a force was sucking her back. Gasping for air, Heather fell into darkness before her blue eyes shot open.
Heather tried to catch her breath as she saw the sun filtering through the tree's. The sound of the falls caught her ears giving her beating heart some comfort. It took her a minute to realize she had woken up from a nightmare. Leaving her feeling, less than average. No matter, now that it was over she stood and stretched herself. Letting her back leave a satisfied crack as she opened her mouth in a yawn. Luckily enough for her the sun wasn't too far into the sky for once she hadn't slept the day away. Concentrating on the world around her - her head automatically gestured towards finding her father.
While she knew she probably should have been trying to solve the issue of her lase in memory, she wanted to train. She wanted to indulge herself in the princess duties so that she could bury herself in it. Distract her from whatever.... she was. She smiled for a moment, taking in a deep breath she would start on a small walk and casually attempt to find her father without having to ring out a call for him.
![](https://orig14.deviantart.net/57bc/f/2017/194/5/a/heather_pixel_by_rivaxorusii-dbg5a2d.png)
![](https://img03.deviantart.net/83ad/i/2017/204/2/e/c___borkie_by_kxtpxws-dbhe1ig.png)
Leo as Heather's father is free to crash her threads as he see's fit. Lionel as her close brother is also allowed to do the same.
Leo's jaws stretched wide in a yawn as he began to make his way around the falls, giving his head a slight shake to wake himself. He had gotten up early that morning to do his patrol as he always did, but his sleep the night before had been uneasy. There was so much on his mind with thoughts of his family, his children, and the future. Soon enough winter would be here and he would be another year older. It was hard to believe that he would be seven with this upcoming season. Time felt so fleeting and and in a way it seemed like time had flown past him in a blur. The older he got the more he worried about the pack and what would come of it. He trusted that Heather would be a good leader for it when the time came, but was he really doing enough to prepare her for it? What if another challenger came to fight for the pack? Would he be as able to fight them off this time? He glanced up from the ground for a moment and saw Heather's form in the distance and he smiled softly. How well perfectly timed. He continued down the slope toward her, giving a quick bark to get her attention. It didn't take more than a few moments for him to get over to her and his smile widened a bit as he reached over to press his nose to her cheek affectionately. "Hello, sweetheart. What uncanny timing. I was just thinking about you." He settled onto his haunches for a moment while his expression grew more curious. "What do you have on your agenda today, hm? How are you feeling?" |
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![](http://i.imgur.com/3KTi82i.png)
"I'm fine." Heather found herself lying. While happier than she could have been - she worried for herself mainly for her position. She didn't think of the possibility of her father not being around. After all it didn't quiet register with her at all. Not even since they had lost Quelt, Bright Moon or even when Razor had passed away due to sickness. Did she, of all wolves within Fiori, have the capabailities of being a leader. Would wolves actually follow her, even if at times she was not sound of mind. She had to not think of this - after all this was why she was training.
"I was actually hoping to find you for a bit of mentoring. I feel like I'm a bit behind on training believe it or not." Heather said as she hummed softly. She enjoyed quality time with her father to begin with, but she really was brightly eager to learn what she needed to know about running Fiori. How did one go doing meetings, in cases of peace or war how did she need to react. After all she also valued the voices and lives of those within the pack itself.
![](https://orig14.deviantart.net/57bc/f/2017/194/5/a/heather_pixel_by_rivaxorusii-dbg5a2d.png)
![](https://img03.deviantart.net/83ad/i/2017/204/2/e/c___borkie_by_kxtpxws-dbhe1ig.png)
Leo as Heather's father is free to crash her threads as he see's fit. Lionel as her close brother is also allowed to do the same.
It seemed that they were on the same wavelength today. He chuckled softly and nodded with a guilty smile. "That's what I was afraid of. I was just wondering if I had done enough training with you. I'm sorry about that. With everything that's been going on lately I think I've let a lot of stuff fall through the cracks." He pulled a more sure smile onto his muzzle and added, "But we can fix that, can't we?" He began trying to think of all of the things that would be helpful for her to know as a leader as he said, "Let's go walk the border while we talk. I've always found it's easier to think while I'm moving." He got to his paws again and made his way around to the border at a leisurely pace. He had no reason to hurry after all. "First of all, what do you have questions about? That's as good a place to start as any." |
![](http://i.imgur.com/0qHuW9a.png)
![](http://i.imgur.com/3KTi82i.png)
"Hmmm... I guess I just don't know what it actually IS to be a queen. What if I mess up or do something wrong? Will everyone respect me like they do you? What is it that I'm supposed to do as a leader? I don't want to be the one running around telling wolves what they need to be doing and seeming like a tyrant. But I also would not like a pack that find themselves growing lazy." she spoke her thoughts out loud after mulling them into her head. So she basically just wanted a general lecture of what she was supposed to do. While she was afraid of running things differently from her fathers. What if wolves wanted change and they were not given it. She furrowed her brows - all this was confusing.
![](https://orig14.deviantart.net/57bc/f/2017/194/5/a/heather_pixel_by_rivaxorusii-dbg5a2d.png)
![](https://img03.deviantart.net/83ad/i/2017/204/2/e/c___borkie_by_kxtpxws-dbhe1ig.png)
Leo as Heather's father is free to crash her threads as he see's fit. Lionel as her close brother is also allowed to do the same.
Leo blinked as he listened to Heather rattle off a series of complicated questions. He chuckled and gave her a grin with a glance as he slowly padded along beside her. "Well, you really have a lot on your mind, don't you?" He mused over an answer to her questions for a moment before he replied. He wanted to give her the most well formed answer he could. She deserved to be as well prepared for this new adventure as she could be. He didn't want her to go into this without some kind of realistic expectations like he had. "First of all, everyone messes up from time to time. No one is perfect. I certainly haven't been a perfect leader. It's not the messing up you need to worry about. The good thing about this pack is that we have members who are generally agreeable and loyal. At least that's how it's always seemed to me. I've always believed that respect is something that is earned, but I believe the wolves here will give you respect as a leader unless proven otherwise. As long as you're doing your best everyone should play nice." He smiled a little and turned his path a bit to follow the edge of the pack lands. "Here is my main piece of advice for you as far as not being a tyrant and keeping everyone engaged. For a long time now I haven't had the higher ranks filled. I have you, Lionel, and Carletta filling several of the spots now, but even during the time when I was trying to look for your mother I was trying to take care of you kids and look for her and take care of the pack all on my own. With the way I structured the pack it's critical to have those higher ranking wolves and I just never got around to really trying to fill them. Of course you can run the pack however you see fit, but I deeply regret trying to do this all on my own. If I had found someone to be my secondary that could help me with the day to day pack stuff I could have spent more time with you and your siblings while you were growing up. And perhaps I wouldn't feel so old already." |
![](http://i.imgur.com/0qHuW9a.png)
![](http://i.imgur.com/3KTi82i.png)