Feeling more grim, more stressed, than he has in perhaps too long... he needs to make choices. Confronted with not just his own mortality, but the feelings of everyone he's ever loved getting old and slipping through his fingers all the same. Fuck. Fuck. Anticipatory grief piled atop the more standard fare, Víðarr knows he can't wait.

He can't wait for his own litters to come of age, hell, his grandchildren are barely old enough. It doesn't matter, time wasn't going to wait. Naming an heir wasn't a decision Víðarr could afford to take lightly, but it's one that's been fairly well cemented in his head for some time. Erik would be up for the winter as well, and between he and Delphi... Víðarr didn't have another choice. They're too young, but he's still here. It had to be fine.

Bidding Kanin to fetch her, Víðarr takes the momentary quiet to compose himself. To find the right words. Why did his chest ache so badly? For now, it's all he can do to push it down. She shouldn't be long now. They would meet on the low ledge, afternoon sun hanging half-mast. Looking out over the Maw, and the Steppe beyond it. Some real everything the light touches shit.

Kanin’s appearance is a surprise to the imp. Her eyes draw upward to the taller canine with a cant of her head. Vidarr was requesting her presence? After recent news, it worried Delphi immediately. She had picked up extra chores, done as much as she could to get rid of the slack where needed. It wasn’t ideal, but she would do her best to make sure no one else noticed. Though she understood they weren’t blind, she’d like to believe it helped Vidarr’s life just a little bit.

Following Kanin to a low ridge along Fenrir’s Maw that overlooks The Stone Steppe, Delphi’s heterochromatic gaze lingers on him for a moment before looking out over the valley. She can see her den from here where the large dot of Strai’s frame can be seen hauling in wood for the oncoming winter’s chill.

Coming to sit beside the Konungr, Delphi doesn’t speak for a few minutes. The pregnant pause between them isn’t awkward, but companionable. Watching the reindeer and the sheep, herd animals grazing before they turn in for the night. Other wolves making their way out to hunt or coming in to sleep. Life would still go on no matter what.

“Please save the pretty talk for someone else,” Delphi finally speaks, a smirk toying on her lips as she casts her gaze upward to Vidarr.

Delphi is quick to join him, and he figured... she knew why. Her silence hangs in the space between them, and it takes him a long while to gather the words. When she speaks at last, the viking king allows the faintest hint of a smile to tug at his greying muzzle. "No, there are pretty things you need to hear. Things like, I'm proud of you. I love you. You have turned into an incredible young woman. All true things." The words are gentle, fond.

He's quiet for a few more moments, putting together his thoughts. Watching the movement of the pack far below. They're still thriving, at least. "I would like to name you my heir, if you are willing. My own children aren't ready and..." he trailed off, a heavy sigh in his chest. The girl trained as healer, she could see the writing on the walls better than most. Tenshi's decline would only speed up his own. Víðarr had lived fast, and perhaps now that was catching up to him.

Looking down to the girl, searching for her reaction to the proposal. Hopeful, appreciative, and trying to drive back some of the worry. Some of the pain. The shadow king has to try as much.

Delphi lets out a snort, a quick shake of her head as Vidarr praises her. "I love you too old man, but it's not like you haven't told me before," she smiles cheekily at him before her gaze turns back to the pack. Somewhat thriving, doing their best to prepare for winter. Hunters bringing in ample amounts of meat, healers storing away plants in case of injury or sickness, everyone continuing to practice combat after the last raid. There was indeed some weak spots, Delphi could see that.

Vidarr's words suddenly pull her from her observation, eyes narrowed slightly as she assess his expression. Was he pulling her leg? She knew of Tenshi, knew of the hardship they were going through, none of it was easy. When was it ever easy? But the fact that he was picking her over Erik or Bjorn or Lumine or any of the other pups surprises her. Would he not name them heir until they are ready?

As the gears turn in her brain, she gets it. There is no waiting. Someone needed to be ready to take his place now, not later. Inhaling a deep breath, she nods slowly. "Of course, Vidarr, I will be your heir," she tries to smile, but it wavers. Fear, worry, the realization of how big of a job this would be are slowly filling her up as if she were car sinking into a lake.

But it would her chance to prove how capable she was...