It is a strange thing, how history tends to repeat itself. As I moved through Diveen in search of one of my daughters, it is them that I worry for in this time. In these, their most formative of years, they have been forced out of their home, cast aside from their one true place in this world. The call of the mountains is something I feel in my blood, and I am most assured that each of my offspring feel it as well. Being forced to separate them from the grounds that were their birthright tore at my very soul, but there had never been a moment when I would have even considered remaining under a deceptive bastard’s banner, nor allow my daughters to be influenced by his style of ruling. And so it was as it had been many years ago – just as Taliesin had brought my baby sisters to the safety of Diveen, now he had helped me to bring all four of my own daughters here. And just as the mountain had floundered in silence, flopping back and forth between Purge and Snowshoe in desperate attempts to emulate even half the livelihood of what had once been under the reign of MoonGlow and Alcide, now the leadership had been fumbled by Roman into Tithe’s waiting jaws. It was only a matter of time before everything came full circle and I returned to take back what was mine. Or perhaps, the thought occurred to me, it would be one of my children to rise up, as it had been before.

The thought came and went, and as it did a single charcoal rimmed audit pivoted to the side to catch the sound of Visenya’s bark. Mahogany eyes turned to greet the approaching form of my daughter with a warm smile. I continued onward, further into Diveen as she jogged along at my side, and I wondered what the future held for my curious daughter. If she thought the scent of the mountains and her cousin upon her pelt had gone unnoticed after her visit to our homeland, she underestimated the power of an alpha’s nose, but I let her keep her foray to herself. If she wanted to tell me about why she’d gone back, she would. No harm had come to her, and that was all that mattered to me. As she pressed her muzzle into my neck I curled my head around and placed a loving lick upon her forehead, slowing to a walk as she spoke once more. My ever observant daughter acknowledged the hours of training her father and I had been putting in, and I could sense that a question was brewing in the back of her mind.

When it came, I looked deep into her golden-brown eyes, studying the starburst of orange that graced each orb. Being a parent came with many responsibilities that I had never fathomed in my youth; even though I had reigned as a Queen before I had ever given birth, and was always concerned about the health and happiness of each of my pack mates, nothing had prepared me for the constant anxiety of motherhood. I loved each of my children so much that if anything were to happen to them, I could not imagine going on in a world where they did not exist. It was for that very reason that I had brought them here, and why I would endeavor to someday bring them home. And yet, looking into Visenya’s eyes, I was reminded of a time when I stood in her place and worried for my father as he left our den to defend the mountain from challengers. I remembered the day that MoonGlow had answered such a challenge, after only having returned home weeks prior, and how that battle had ended her life. The worry that a child felt for their parent was just as true and deep as that which a parent felt for their child, only the parent had endured both experiences in their lifetime.

”It is for that very reason that I train, Visenya,” I answered, my voice soft but strong, attempting to reassure her. ”Your father has been helping me become stronger than I was when I lost, so that when fate allows me to fight for what is ours, I will be as well prepared as I can be.” I glanced out at the landscape of Diveen, the red dirt and the rocky terrain that was in a way familiar, and yet so completely foreign. This was a safe place, but it would never be home in the way the mountains were to our family. ”Many, many wolves lost their home that day, and not all of them wanted to come to Diveen. They’ve scattered throughout Moladion since then, and I miss each of them as if I were missing pieces of my very body. It is my duty to do everything in my power to take back what was lost, so that we can all be together again, as a family and pack. And if getting hurt again is the way to do that, then I will, if it means the pieces of my pack can all come together again and be whole.” I looked to my daughter, wondering if she felt the burning desire to take back what was ours as I had in the time that had followed my parents’ deaths. ”I train so that, no matter what, I can know in my heart that I did everything in my power to reunite our pack. Do you understand, Visenya?”