The day breaks from its atramentous veil of night. The sun’s fingertips slowly inching across the foggy moorland to wake it from its slumber. The heat of summer has left and instead ushers in a snap of chill for dewy mornings that gradually warm to a comfortable temperature throughout the day. Fog rests heavily on the dampened earth as a phantom child awakens in the royal den.

Her jaws open in the midst of a large yawn as a quietly shrill cry escapes. She was never much for mornings, but the once comfortable warmth of her family had become stifling to her fiery spirit. She slinks out from under someone’s draped leg and silently slips out of the den.

Her eyes adjust to the growing light that begins to engulf Iromar as she stands and listens for a long moment. Most of the pack is quiet at this hour; either still out from a questionable night or still sleeping away the sunrise in the safety of their den. She is not yet a year old, but she has learned how this pack works for the most part. There were times when Iromar worked with other packs to foster good relationships or initiate some type of kinship between the pack members, but things didn’t shift much from daily routine very often. It’s the type of mundane repetition that will gnaw at you until you nearly die of boredom.

And boredom wasn’t a good look on the princess.

The sound of birds waking in their nests one by one, singing their songs softly at first, gave her reason to make her leave. Others may take the sound as a sign to start their day. She remembered a time when she would threaten tattling on Apollyon for slipping away from the den alone, but they had grown up since then. She could certainly handle herself or anyone else for that matter.

Her small, white and russet figure fades into the thick fog of the moor as she puts distance between herself and the den. She goes further and further, passing places that she’s frequented often, until she no longer recognizes her surroundings - what little she could see. The slight edge of fear crept up in the back of her mind but it was paired with the excitement of venturing somewhere unknown. It was a thrilling and complex emotion to experience.

Being the brave, independent girl that she was she pushed onward, going further west through Iromar until it was clear that she was at the brink of its existence. Beyond her mother’s solidly marked border was a vast unknown. With the fog still hanging across the land, but becoming lighter, she figured it would be a chance worth taking.

She hesitates to take the first step, her red and white toes hovering over the border. That singular bit of fear holding her back for a moment. She takes a deep breath and makes a move, taking one step, two, three, and then into a full on run by the riverside.