It had always been hard for Atuaserk to understand his own feelings, even before he had met Eponine. He had simply done what felt right, following his mother and proceeding to be a steady soldier for her (as had his other three brothers). Unfortunately, he felt that it would likely only be him now. As Sitamat had disappeared and his other three brothers had yet to come with their mother, he seemed to be the only active participant. Now that he was here, however, he was beginning to see life in a completely different way.

Making friends with strangers, playing in uncontrollable laughter, chasing, tagging—he could not recall a time when he or his brothers ever succumbed to that sort of thing. They were always play fighting, discussing, training… but how he felt with Po, Lucero and quite honestly Fiora was completely different. His social skills were gaining as he was learning now that this was true happiness, especially being with Eponine.

Ataneq hoped that his answer to her question would be sufficient enough for her, even if he did know that her answer had been bit more detailed than his. Oh well. Once she asked another question he laughed and shook his head, “no. I was not born here.” If he had been born here he likely would have turned out completely different. The eldest son of Siku would have become more extroverted than introverted, more passionate than highly aggressive. “I was born in a place called Tartok, it was my mother’s creation. A strong pack that consisted of strong individuals, both intellectually and physically capable. Myself and three brothers were a blessing to my mother, and I assume to my father as well, but I never knew him.”

It truly was a shame that the family had had to relocate to another place, though the place they had first gone to had not been to Siku’s liking. They had left another wolf from Tartok in its location but Siku had wished to travel elsewhere, which at the moment the eldest son did not mind in the least. Without the stop here he would not have met any of the wolves here, which would certainly be a step backwards in progression he felt.

Perhaps not being here would have continued his training and gave him a rougher background, but Po had awakened some feral part of him that he had never come to understand. Only his brothers had brought out that kind of monster but even then he had been young and had always known it to be training, but he swore that just a day ago he would have made quite a mess of Po’s throat. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately) Ataneq had yet to understand how he had controlled himself.

“That’s a shame,” he answered as sympathetically as he possibly could though he was never too good at being an emotional sympathetic. It simply wasn’t in him because he didn’t understand the feeling of not his real parents, aside from his father. However, from the way that Siku had always talked about him Ataneq had expected nothing less than an honorable man. “My mother felt that it was getting too crowded within the Valley so she decided that a few of us were going to branch out and expand,”

Ataneq really didn’t know what to think, he would follow his mother anywhere he felt. Or, he used to believe that. Now, having made a few decent friends, he didn’t think he could. Not unless they followed him wherever they went but he doubted that. No one would want to follow him somewhere under the watchful eyes of his mother. He loved her, but some might see her as a little different. She always was to strangers because she was strong-willed and tough, but that was what made her so awesome. She held her own no matter what the circumstances which was likely where he got his fire.

“Pretty amazing,” he answered with a smirk, “we lived on a Mountain, Tartok it was called, and the members there were so cool. I just remember growing up and all of them pitched in to help my mother and my brothers, especially after my father died.” It was tragic, sure, but he didn’t remember anything about it other than that his mother had stayed amazingly strong and told them that their father, Kilgharrah, had been an amazing father that cared for them and the pack.

Atuaserk imagined that Siku had chosen his mate correctly just as he hoped that one day he would make the same decision. He would find a mate that was beautiful, strong-minded and perhaps for his satisfaction—a mouth on her. “What about you?” he asked in return, figuring it was the best direction to go in but he did figure they should head on back home… “tell me on the way back to the Glen?” The two then headed off, Po didn’t complain about the sudden departure but Ataneq had a few things he needed to finish up.