It has taken a long time, for those of the mountain to recover from all that had happened. A year of loss, unfounded rule, and desolation had done much damage to the morale of the pack. But in the aftermath of my reclaim of the throne things had slowly begun to return to a sense of normalcy. Many wolves of Spirane had gone through states of solemnity, my brother being one who had suffered the worst for all that had happened. But when he spoke of Natu I knew he had found in her a friend he could count on. I was slowly coming to that realization in kind. The way she had utterly bared all to me, in corroboration with her efforts towards becoming Spider and my initial impressions of her, made me confident that she was now and always would be an important member of this pack. I valued her for more than her abilities in the ways of whispering secrets of Moladion. Her reply to my proclamation that we had a power to make one another stronger made me smile before I turned and leapt up to the flat of the rock.

As I edged forward, paws dangling over the rock, I gazed down into her brilliant blue eyes, those which had conveyed such honesty to me. Though I have given her the opportunity to take her leave if she so desired, she refrains, continuing to rest in my company. I was glad for it, to know that she wished to perhaps get to know me better. I knew something extremely personal about her, and it would seem that it was now my turn to divulge a secret. She brought up Leonidas gently, but the sorrow that his memory inflicted upon me was something I did not attempt to mask. She had exposed herself to me, and I felt that I could entrust revealing a piece of myself to her as well.

“Leo,” I said softly, looking away into the trees where once he might have lingered, listening as my ever present shadow. But I knew he was not there, and my eyes fell once more to Natu. “Some part of me will always hope he will come home, but if I am being honest with myself…I think he may be gone for good this time.” Brows furrowed slightly, frustrated with this truth, one that I never spoke aloud. “I hurt him gravely, the night I returned from my battle with Skully. We’ve hurt each other, perhaps one too many times.” The warm mahogany of my eyes hardened, almost frosting over as I spoke of him. I loved Leonidas, and some part of me always would, but I had to find a way to let him go.