Viorel knew that his kids had been having a hard time lately. Oleander was the last left of his litter and now there would be new siblings, Eros was adjusting to some adult concepts. The father knew that Modesto being banished had not sat well with him, and then he had been reprimanded by Sharlee who was going through something of her own. Then of course there was the drought that had completely dried up the creek and the backwater.

All of that was to say, when the father had decided to take a trip to the falls, the closest source that still had water, he had asked Eros to tag along. It took a couple days to get there, and by the time they finally did the salt and pepper was parched. The second his yellow eyes landed on the falls he surged forward and lapped happily at the cool water. Just as his lips touched the water, the sky let out a few flakes of snow drifting gently towards the earth.

When he finally felt like his thirst had been quenched for the time being, he turned back to Eros. Smiling with chagrin about how quickly he gulped, he dove right into the conversation, ”Listen, Eros. I didn’t just ask you here to get some water, I’ve been meaning to speak with you.” He trailed off, waiting for some kind of response.

His normally chatty son had only a single word to say, okay. Viorel suddenly realized how critical what he was going to say was, there was so much that had already gone unspoken. He shifted on his paws once or twice before forcing himself still, he did not want to be seen as weak by his own son. But, he also wanted his child to know it was alright to be vulnerable and grow, it was a difficult line to walk.

There was nothing to do but start, ”I know that things have been tense recently, and a lot has been changing very quickly.” That was probably an understatement at this point, but he wanted to begin at the beginning…if that made sense. Viorel hated that he was even here second guessing the words he was going to say to his child.

He looked at the falls, and for a second was distracted by how they had only half their volume. How much longer could this continue? Then he snapped back to the task at hand, ”You’re always going to be my son, and I will protect you and your siblings from harm if it is the last thing I do. But, you’re all almost yearlings now, and that means you don’t have the excuses of being a child anymore.” He paused for a second, trying to sort out his thoughts. ”You will all be expected to follow the same rules as the rest of the pack, and when you break them, receive the same punishments as everyone else.” He could only hope that this was not going to cause another blow up.

The look of sadness and realization on Eros’ face broke Viorel’s heart, and he wanted to pull him into a warm embrace, tell him that could never happen. But, that was not entirely the truth was it? Silver eyebrows knit together on his forehead, ”Well yes I guess. But, I would only let that happen if you did something really terrible, like purposely injure another member of the pack, or try to. Or do something to try to break up the pack.” This was not going at all the way that he thought it was going to go.

Trying to force a smile he forged on, ”But, it’s not all bad being an adult. It means you also get a lot more freedom to explore, and start to get working towards earning a specific role if that’s what you want.” He could see his young son being a good scout, or even a healer if he took after either of the mothers. This time the smile reached his eyes, ”In fact, once your mother gives birth you and your brothers will be tasked with teaching your younger siblings as much as you can, but, before that I have a special task for you, if you’re interested.” Viorel had been planning on doing some scouting of his own, but with the lack of water and heavily pregnant wife, maybe it was better if Eros did it.

The father left the offer in the air, a tantalizing treat should his son take it.

Despite their recent upsets Viorel knew that his son was a good boy, and that he was young and trying to find himself in the world. He had already begun to learn that the world was not always a happy place, but the father wanted to shelter him still. But, coddling would do him no good in the long run. All he could do was be there to pick up the pieces and make things better when his son’s world hit a bump.

And for now that was still easy to do. The leader smiled as his son’s eyes brightened with excitement and a sense of relief washed over him. Glancing up towards the mountains he mused, ”Well, we need a scout to go check on both Sanguine Cove and Willow Ridge. Make sure that they’re doing alright despite the drought and announce that we will be having a new litter in the spring.” He spoke as if this was all a new idea, and not one that he had discussed thoroughly with Vanadis. Viorel was a smart man, he wasn’t sending his children off on a weeks long trip without his wife’s permission.

Glancing back at Eros he continued, ”I thought it might be something you would like to do, and maybe take Archer with you if you don’t want to go alone.” Viorel himself would feel better if they both went and could look out for each other, but he didn’t need his boy to know that.

His son beamed at him, and assured the father that not only would they get the job done, but that he could trust them. The last sentence caused Viorel to pause for a moment before answering, ”I know I can. I just hope you don’t rush into growing up.” He wasn’t even sure the first half of that statement was true, he knew he could trust Archer, Eros was another story these days.

As for not growing up too quickly, Viorel loved his family and what he and his cousin had built, but that didn’t mean he didn’t think about what could have been. What would life have been like if he had been able to be a teenager for real, grow up in a pack with adult guidance. These thoughts had only become more prevalent since Eros’ accusation, was it his fault everyone was leaving? Was he trying to do something that he wasn’t cut out for?

Maybe his son would make better decisions. The father could only hope that this was going to be the case. Turning away he took another drink, ”We can hang out here for a little while, but then we should get back.” He needed to get back to Vanadis.