In the early hours of the morning I had woken. This was a frequent occurrence, and one would have thought I would have adjusted to my father’s restless slumbers by now. But I hadn’t. Every time he called out in his sleep for my mother, every time his legs thrashed even for the shortest span of time it woke a deep concern in me. He ached for her, and even though he tried to cover it up in front of me, I knew it was tearing him apart from the inside. Alcide could not hide the dreams that caused him such strife. The sun had begun to rise as I rested quietly with my head on my paws, watching the slumbering form of my father. His side rose and fell steadily, and I was finally content to close my eyes and sleep once more when the sound of Godric at our door caused me to lift my head. Alcide, too, lifted his head and peered out towards his brother. He threw a smile in my direction before flicking his head to motion for me to go. As I passed him on my way out, I placed a loving lick on his cheek and then I was gone.

Greeting Godric, I pressed my shoulder against his side. I was half his height, my legs growing longer every day. But my uncle stood even taller than my father, and so even though I stood taller than most my age, I was dwarfed by his shadow. And then we were off. Godric moved through the deep snow with ease, cutting a path for me to follow. But he had said she needed to build up her strength. And what good would following a trail blazed for me do? My independent nature caused me to leap from Godric’s tracks and plunder through the fresh snow on my own. It was a difficult task, and I had to run to keep up with my uncle’s loping form. I could feel the strain I was putting on my legs, but this would make me stronger, and so I did not give up.

When a strange howl carried across the breeze and a foreign scent accompanied it, Godric declared that we would be the ones to greet her. All the better, it would allow father time to rest before he would go forth to defend our home later that day. The notion that yet another wolf had come forth and challenged for my father’s position, for what would one day be my throne, irritated me. But such was the way the world worked. I had good faith that my father would easily dispatch this secondary assailant just as he had with Tesseract. Godric put on a burst of speed and my eyes widened as I fell behind him. But I persevered and arrived at his side within seconds of his arrival before the unknown female. Smiling I came to a stop and nodded to her as my uncle introduced me. Beneath me my legs ached from the exertion of the run, but I showed no sign of fatigue, standing tall and proud beside Godric. “Hello,” I managed to say, “and what might we call you?” I asked. She now knew both of our names, would she proffer her own?