Rune Agate

Pretty but, kind of an asshole. I think he will get better when he grows up though?? We can only hope.

Thursday 19th of September

His parents, Gemsbock and Pebble weren't together anymore, ever since a moon or so. Iris Agate knew this well. He just couldn't understand why C.J would be so sad about it. Everything was still the same as before, as far as Iris was concerned; so what if they didn't sleep next to each other anymore? Plus, Pebble still loved him very much, except now she told him things about how hard it was for Pebble to be left all alone like that, how sad Gemsbock made her.

"But I'm still here, mum" he'd say

She nuzzled him lovingly.

"Yes, that's right, my Iris Agate"

Iris understood very well how mother must've felt, father barely spent any time with him. Not in the nursery and not when he and C.J became fledglings either. Always avoiding him, specifically him..as if Iris had some kind of disease. It felt so good to talk bad about him with mother, so good to be entrusted with what she was telling him.

One day after hunting practice with The Dark Mystery Crystals, he went to the cave where mother was, to have their usual talks. But then…he heard growling. His parents where indeed in the same nesting area again but-

"I should have left you after you named Iris Agate!" said his father in the middle of an argument before storming off

Iris did the same..He was immensely shocked. Did his father not love him? Was it actually his fault his parents aren't together..his fault mother was sad?

He layed his head down those next few days. Everybody noticed, to the point where even the ones he had critisized the most were nice to him, offering him a share of their prey or telling him to cheer up.

"If you ever feel like taking some days off of training, I can communicate that to Ilmenite" Bezel had told him

He would have usually been so excited to take such an opportunity. Now he only nodded and said thank you. Training offered a good distraction.

Gemsbock came up to him.

"So..I've noticed you've been feeling down lately, son.."

The greenish wolf stared back at him with raised hackles and bared teeth.

"Don't 'son' me, you never wanted me anyways…" Iris spat

Gemsbock tilted his head confusedly.

"Iris, I do want you as my son and I always have, ok? I'm not sure why you think I don't but i'll make it up to you"

"How can you possibly not know?! You never even spend time with me in the first place…And I don't know how else to interpret what you said to mother…Was my birth really so awful that it made you want to leave mother?!"

As his words tumbled out, his eyes turned glazed and watery. He sat and faced away from Gemsbock, he refused to let anyone see him like this.

His father paused, for what felt like a very long time.

"Iris…you're certainly right about me not seeing you enough. I was so wrapped up in my own problems, I didn't even realise. And well, there was another reason as well that had nothing to do with you. But that's no excuse!" Gemsbock said, his body in an apologetic crouch

"What other reason?" asked Iris, turning to look at his father again, his sadness replaced with curiosity

"When you were born, I was very excited" Gemsbock began

"I was excited about your brother too, of course, but; you looked almost exactly like me. I so wanted to name you after one of my own blood-ancestors, at least after one I remembered"

Iris stared at his father with great interest; with his father being adopted as a puppy, him and C.J had never even met anyone from his side of the family tree.

"What happened next? Why didn't you name me after one of them?" the greenish wolf asked curiously

"Your mother…she insisted on naming both of you. She took the opportunity to name you from me" Gemsbock continued

"So, I said that I should have left when she named you Iris Agate. Because to me, that was already a sign that I shouldn't be with her anymore. And..perhaps you became a reminder of how unfair she was, making me not want to see you as much... But you're so much more than some silly reminder. You're my son and I see now that it's time for me to act like a proper father. If you're interested, that is" he said again

Iris' head was spinning with all the new information.

No! No! That can't be right, can it…? Mother is good..father is the bad one..right?

The words reverberated in his head for seemingly a few seconds. Upon waking up, his eyes stung from the stench of mint being wafted in his face.

"Hey! Get off me!" he said, leaping up from the nest he was in.

"Take it easy! You passed out" said Crescent's monotone, somewhat frustrated voice, getting him in a lying down position again

Iris soon recognized that he was in the herbalism cave, with Crescent and Herbert. Gemsbock poked his head in.

"I'm really sorry, I think telling you all that was a huge shock" Gemsbock said

"It's alright" Iris Agate said simply

Then, Crescent checked him over and,he was cleared to go, as he seemed healthy enough.

In his nest that night, he wouldn't stop tossing and turning as all the thoughts swirled in his head once again:

Mother was…wrong about him? His mother was wrong about something?

He also reflected on his father, who wanted to name him, Iris Agate, after someone of his own side. To have the honour of that would have been glorious if it weren't for his mother…

Do I deserve that name? -his subconscious thought

Deep down, in his heart of hearts, perhaps he knew being rude and putting others down was dishonourable. He always justified it by saying that mother was like that, and she was good. Perhaps…she was not though.

Through the course of a few days, everyone noticed a change within him.

"Are you ok? Are you sick?" Harlequinn asked him for the tenth time that day

"For the last time, you chattering blueberry, I am not sick!"

Harlequinn's expression shifted to sadness

Iris blushed, realising his mistake

"I mean- I am doing well, please don't worry about me"

By the end of a quarter moon of being good, and spending more time with his father, he felt ready.

"Father" he said, facing Gemsbock

"Yes, Iris?"

"I know it's a little late but, please name me. And after, me and C.J can go ask Ilmenite for a naming ceremony, so everybody else knows as well"

"Won't you miss your old name?"

"Yes but I've been working on becoming a new wolf anyways. I would be honoured to receive the name you where going to give me"

"Your great grandfather was called Rune so..Rune" his father said

"Rune?"

"Wait- Rune Agate, so you still have a little bit of your old name"

Then they hugged. Rune Agate's heart swelled with pride, for he knew that he had made his father proud.