It was the turn of the season and everything about Despoina was a state of change. Spring was around the corner, she was about to be another year older. The winter coat she had grown was starting to blow, coming off in chunks to more accurately show the body that would one day be built for brawling. Her face, black mask over grey that turned to silver and white over her legs and tail. She was a gradient being, seeming to come in and out of existence.

She stepped heavily in the snow, internally enjoying the feeling of the melting ice between her pads. It was a comfort to feel the slight bite of cold, to know something for sure as opposed to the confusing state of flux that clouded her mind. There were things she knew, like the love of her siblings and the cold of the snow. But so much more had come to her mind as she grew. There had to be something in this for her but those clouds in her mind seemed to cover her eyes as well.

Her life had been chosen for her, taken out of her control by abandonment and the choices of others around her. Some choices she did not even know had been made had taken her life out of her control and thrown it into unknown confusion and mental chaos. She would not let that control slip again. She was the mistress of her fate.

The young woman paced just outside of the den she and her sister had started to stay in. She knew her frustration and anger confused her sister. Guilt piled on everything else at causing her sister discomfort. If Despoina lived for anything, it was to be there for her sister. Everything else in the world around her was confusion and uncertainty. With a very low growl, she turned away from the den to once again walk the territory. Less in anger this day, more in mere thoughtful padding.

She was not paying attention to her surroundings when she jumped onto a cliff that the Alphess had been using as a viewpoint. Despoina’s ears quirked for a moment as her mind registered who she had stumbled across. The victorious queen, the one they said was kind, wise, and loyal. Things that she had not yet witness.

”Queen.” Despoina greeted dryly. She did not bow her head to her leader, but neither did she show any signed of outward disrespect of distaste. She merely studied the woman with her steel blue eyes and an expression of hard curiousity.

The two year old sat with a small snort. ”They say you are a great leader.” Stretching, she laid on her belly, paws stretching out before her and she looked up again at her Alpha, head tilting slightly to the side. ”I do not know where I belong and brought here by happenstance.” Her eyes hardened. It was all she could do to keep herself from baring her teeth. ”Tell me, why should I follow you?”