Backdated a little as I'd hoped to have this done when Corinth was a teen / Andraste still a pup!
Corinth stomped through the trees determinedly. This was the first time in his life that he'd really stood up for himself and even though the decision to leave now was mostly on the back of adolescent hormonal rushes, and the rage they inspired, he really did feel like he was making the right decision.
Moving from one pack to another wasn't that weird, anyway, right? His father's pack was pretty much based around helping those 'between packs' so it couldn't be such an uncommon occurrence? He shook his head. Who cares? He wanted to be a part of something better, stronger... somewhere he could be useful rather than see disappointment in the faces of everyone he cared for.
He had a bit of a romantic view of the Antianeira pack but, at the base of it, he found the idea that he could be useful appealing. He longed for it. That the imbalance was based around females and males didn't concern him - what did it matter if the orders were coming from a male or female? He would be part of a team - he wouldn't have to be the hunter of the pack, the shyest son who didn't live up to his father's expectations, the boy who was not in his correct place in his mother's eyes. He'd have wolves to protect him his whole life - not just as a pup, as he saw it.
Introspection couldn't feed his hungry belly, though. It grumbled plaintively at him - it hadn't been that long since he last ate but Corinth loved his food and snatched at any morsel he could get - often berries and roots, insects and the like between his parents bringing food in. He'd even chew on the bones of anyone else's leftovers and suck out the crunchy marrow. It was a little bit because he was unhappy, a little bit because he feared never being able to catch his own meals and a little because he just liked the feel of chewing on things but, no matter the reason, he had managed to become a little portly for a wolf who couldn't hunt well.
Thus, he huffed as he walked - getting out of breath. He wasn't just overweight, but despite his nervous scurrying back and forth, he hadn't built up the stamina his brothers had by their rough and tumble play, by actively playing hunting games.
Trudging on, he kept his eyes out for the borders - they couldn't be far now, right? Mother's pack was supposed to back onto YMCA's...
Another wolf who wasn't happy with their parents was surprisingly close by. The little she-wolf, much younger than Corinth, was already feeling the strain of living in a pack which forced all females into a warrior mould - one which she felt she did not fit. She tried hard, for Mama and Mama said she was doing good... but also always that she could do better. Her mother chided her often - telling her to look at how big the other girls were, look at how well trained they were and telling her that she must practice more if she ever wanted to be a great warrior. As is the way with many pups, she did want to please her mother, but the strain was beginning to show and Andraste had snuck out of the den for some time indulging in her current passion.
What Andraste did like was feathers. On her first day out of the den she'd spied a gaggle of other little female pups - all bedecked in feathery glory. She could only see them from a distance and had been too shy to go speak to them - they weren't just dazzling, feather-bedecked, beauties but also the alpha's young.
From then on she'd taken every opportunity to gather feathers - though they were surprisingly hard to find unless one could find a bird carcass. To date she had 5 and they were her pride and joy - especially the shimmery blue-black magpie one she'd found just lying on the ground. She hid them in a small nook in a tree she'd found as well as something which sparkled and had tingled in her mouth when she picked it up with the intent of later finding out or figuring out how she might make them stick to her fur like those other girls had.
She was rummaging through a particularly likely bush - she'd seen a wood-pidgeon stumble out of it into the sky. She had just spotted a really nice, long, pink-brown feather at the top of the bush when she heard twigs snapping nearby, branches parting and eventually footsteps. She shuffled her small body right into the bush, heart pounding and trying not to gasp breaths. It could be one of the sisters or, worse, her mother looking for her! The wolf she saw go past, though, was certainly not one of those she feared. A male - a young one - and a bit tubby. She'd never seen him around before. She dithered. Males were to be ordered around and that feather up there was out of her reach - on the other hand, if her mother ordered him to tell where she was... he'd tell her. Hmm.
She really did want that feather. Oh well, if he told on her she'd blame him for something worse and make it all his fault. Vaulting out of the bush before he got very far she shouted out "hey you!" and stomped towards him in a puppyish fashion, trying to imitate the actions of her elders when addressing a slave.
Corinth turned, nearly scared out of his wits by the sudden voice behind him - it didn't seem proportionate to the tiny body whose owner was now glaring at him. It was a pup, quite young, and female.
"Uh... yes?" he queried, not sure what else to say, standing awkwardly, shy of a slip of a girl who looked as though she'd been dragged through a hedge backward.
Andraste harrumphed. He wasn't being as deferential as she'd have liked. Slaves these days, huh? "You'll have to do" she eyed him critically, again in unconscious imitation of her elders and betters. "See that feather up there?" she waited for him to come forward a bit, squint and then nod in acknowledgement "get it down for me!". She didn't say please - why should she? Slaves were there to do what they were told - not to be asked to do it like she had to ask her mother to do anything SIGH.
Plucking the feather from his mouth she examined it, checking for any large gaps. She'd come to think that gaps weren't such a huge problem as at first - she'd thrown away a few ripped feathers before realising that sometimes, if you evenly ripped it on both sides then it could have a nice decorative effect. This one, though, was whole if a bit frizzy from the earlier drizzle of rain. She was going to pick it up again when she realised the male was still there.
Why bother carrying something yourself if you had someone to do it for you. "You! Come on, pick it up and follow me. And be QUIET!" she harrumphed, looking around theatrically once more to check noone else was nearby.
Corinth did as he was told - not sure why he was doing it but figuring that he had nothing better to do at the moment. He wondered if this pup was from Antianeira - she certainly acted like his little 'sister' - mothers favourite and doted-upon girl who was, it seemed, being brought up in the tradition of his mother's pack.
He followed her a ways until they reached a lightning struck tree. It had lived past the strike, but had a large split to one side, into which the little female put the feather after taking it from him. She wheeled on him now, as if viewing him more clearly in the moonlight.
"Yanno... I'm sure I've not seen you around before... are you new? You kinda look like a few of the other pups around but they're all younger'n you".
"Uhm, I'm not from here - wherever here is - I'm from the YMCA pack, a little south of here?" he admitted, looking everywhere but her face, as though she'd accuse him of some horror or treachery for not mentioning this piece of information heretofore.
"What!" she shrieked, and then remembered herself and brought her voice down to a whisper "what are you doing here, then, acting like a slave?" her brow and nose crinkled as she tried to figure out that one. She hadn't really thought about slaves much - certainly not about wanting to be one. She couldn't imagine males wanted to be slaves but she was at least sure that they deserved to be - all the other females in the pack thought so and her mother was very vocal on the subject of males being the scum of the earth.
"Well, you can be my slave" she said, liking the idea of that. It'd be handy to have someone taller than her and she'd seen some of the older wolves with 'personal' slaves who attended only to them. "We'll say I caught you, ok? I am a warrior-in-training you know" keeping it to herself that she wasn't the hugest fan of being just that, "and I could have caught you if I knew you weren't a properly trained slave before just now" she glared at him, awaiting his acceptance of this set of facts.
"I ah ur" he said, eloquently. I mean... it was what he had come for, right? Slave was just a word, afterall, and to him meant the submission of self for a greater purpose - but to be the personal attendant of a pup seemed a little undignified. He was pretty sure that he should be asking the, what, head slave? rather than this little ball of green-blue fluff.
Still, it could be worse, he supposed - he could have run into one of the warrior females and they might have roughed him up and sent him home in disgrace. Perhaps it was good fortune that he had been sent into this little one's path.
"Ok?" he said finally, figuring he'd find an adult when the pup had shown the way to the dens.
~oOo~
It was only after a good while that Corinth had realised the pup wasn't supposed to be out. At first he'd thought she'd been making a game of sneaking, hiding and being stealthy - much as his brothers and the other pups in the pack had when he was growing up. After a while, though, when she'd hissed to him to 'get down and shut up' about twenty times as though frightened of every shadow, he realised that she was afraid of being caught.
Made sense, he supposed - she was rather young to be out by herself and it was getting late... All sorts of carnivores could be prowling around. Come to think of it, he didn't like the idea of that himself. Tucking his tail in, the young male whimpered and scooted close to his confident little fried who, at the moment, was sniffing her way down the path.
"One of the sisters has been by here, recently. Oh, don't look so scared! That means she won't be back by this bit for a while, dummy" she was unimpressed so far by her personal slave. He had the right submissive look but on him it looked sorta weak. She suspected he'd not be the type of loyal slave who'd throw himself in front of a bear to save her life. She'd have to work on that.
They were almost back, the den was just a little past the copse of rowan which, at this time of year, was starting to loose its leaves. Her mother, for reasons unbeknownst to Andraste, had picked a den far out of the main thoroughfare. Andraste hated it as it meant she had to walk quite a bit even just to see other pups and by the time she did she was already getting tired and didn't want to train nevermind play.
As she scooted into the den, motioning for her new acquisition to follow, she didn't notice the shadow hovering nearby. It was only when she heard the yelp of her hapless companion that she realised anything was awry. Turning, all she could see silhouetted against the entrance by the moon was a large wolf shape. She knew right away it was her mother with that unerring instinct of the naughty child.
