He rose before dawn, as he had almost every day for the past eleven years of his life. Cobalt blue eyes looked upon the still curled forms of his children, who would likely still be asleep when he returned in a couple of hours' time. Though more and more frequently by the time he made it back to the den Israfel was already gone, scaling another of the multitude of peaks in the range or otherwise challenging himself. If the boy thought his trips to the free lands had gone unnoticed, then he had severely underestimated his father. Moonfeather was coming into herself more and more with each passing day, the kindness in her eyes still innocent, untainted by the cruelties of the world. He wished that he could keep her that way forever, guard her from the evil of the world, but to do so would be folly. If she was to fulfill the destiny she'd been born to he had to educate her on what she would face, though he could hardly be certain of it himself. Perhaps, soon, he would need to show her to the secret cave that his mother had kept. Sleekwing often speculated about how much the bird knew, what he could show her. For now, the two children slumbered on, and Sleekwing turned away from his duty as a father to his duty as the mountain's Castellan.

Samus, his niece, had shown interest in moving up to join the ranks of the Liege, and so she had been tasked like a few of the other aspiring yearlings to join a seasoned wolf on their rounds of border patrol. When she'd come to him he had of course agreed to take her out with him, but only if she could wake up early enough to meet him at the borders when the first ray of sunlight peeked above the horizon. Setting off at an even lope, Sleekwing made his way down the mountainside. He arrived at their meeting point and turned to stand facing back into the pack lands, awaiting the arrival of his niece. The first litter of MoonGlow and Alcide had been significantly older than their younger siblings, and had gone through much more in their formative years than could be expected, what with the skyfall and all. But Daenerys, Haven, and Idunn had faced their own trials when their parents had perished, the two youngest barely weaned when Purge had shaken the very core of the mountain wolves. Sleekwing, above all else, had laid his loyalties in the land. And so when Haven and Idunn were whisked off to the safety of Diveen, Sleekwing had remained to watch over the mountain. He'd never had the opportunity to grow close to his little sisters, but that did not mean the fierceness of his love for them was any less. Now, it seemed, he would be given the opportunity to get to know the daughter of one of his sisters instead.

Remaining alert and upon his feet, Sleekwing waited for the girl. When she arrived, he gave her a dip of his head before motioning for her to fall in step with him. And then he was off, jogging along the borderline in silence. For a while he let it hang, simply falling into the routine, even paced motions of his duty. It was only when he reached the north-westernmost point of their borders that he circled and slowed to a walk, looking down at Samus with a smile in his eyes. The pace would be easier from there on, but he had wanted to see if she could keep up. She was young, but it was never too young to start training, especially if one wanted to be a defender of the realm. "Border patrol is the first line of defense, the watchers on the verge, the shield that guards the mountain realm. Why do you want to join the Liege, Samus?" Her uncle perhaps had his suspicions for her reasoning, knowledgeable about the attack that had happened to her and her cousin Nymeria the previous year. Since then Sleekwing had doubled his shifts, picking up any slack, unwilling to allow such an event to repeat itself. The safety of the pack was his responsibility, and he'd let them all down when the purple eyed adolescent had slipped through the cracks. He would never let that happen again; and he would train Samus so that she could aid in upholding such security.