Liraz Pack

SpoilerThe grave of Erebus still smelled sweet with the flowers left in offering. The sun was rising in the sky when Petra stepped out from the cave, blinking a few times as it cast it's rays on her direction. Her paws padded lightly as she crossed the space between her and the former leaders resting place. With a heavy heart and mind she dropped down beside it, muzzle on the overturned dirt. Her alpha had not been her father in genes but had been in her heart and his.

Petra has sat beside him as a pup and heard tales of glory and frivolity and when she got older, stores of leadership and the weight it placed on the shoulders of who accepted it. Erebus has been heavy hearted to ask her to bear it when he was gone but he had faith and trust in his young adopted child. She would serve the pack well and they in turn would serve her.

For a brief moment Petra closed her eyes and imagined what Erebus might have told her, what wisdom he might have shared to help her in grief and to become the leader he knew she could be. Her heart felt warm as she remembered the last conversation and what he told her

"Do not linger in despair when I am gone. What I started, you just continue and your heir will have to do the same. Be strong, be faithful and ...always be kind"

The words filled Petra's mind and she softly sighed against the dirt. It hasn't been enough time with him, it would have never been enough time. The sound of yipping and tumbling bodies made her lift her head as the pack pups ran by chasing each other and she smiled to herself.

Endings are painful but new beginnings bring hope.

There was so much that Lycus had to learn. When to stop running his mouth was one of them. He had never thought he would be a leader, when he was training with Par, he thought for sure that Petra was going to choose her. But when she called for him to join her in her cave, he had been surprised at the way the conversation had gone. He had tried to back out of it, say that not enough of them liked him and Petra had just smiled tiredly, and told them they would.

When Petra had passed just days later, they had all looked to him for guidance, and just like Petra had done for Erebus, he dug the hole in their graveyard, right beside her beloved brother Pello and the love she never admitted to, Zagreus, she would remain forever between the two wolves she had adored the most. Her daughters had come forward, dropping trinkets, herbs and other things, and the young pups she just had, they mourned and hid their faces in their older sisters fur. The pack had taken turns shifting dirt over her, and he had been the last, patting it down with his paws before he looked at the pack.

"I'm not Petra, I can't even pretend to be her. But she told me that all endings bring new hope, and that I should always strive to be kind, and be open to my pack. And I promise you all, that is exactly what I am going to do. I will be better for our past leaders, and I will be better for all of you, and our future generations."

He had conviction in his words and the others had talked quietly to themselves, and after a few more moments of quiet at the graves, he had gone to survey their territory, adding his strong scent to Petra's fading marks, and the even more faded scents of Erebus.