Hideaway Strath the romans knew how to conquer land without fear

for @Hemlock! <3 i got distracted writing this so i'm sorry if it's crap/doesn't make sense, lol.

Roarke does not stray too far from the king sequoia — though the lotturos would not be long for it — if he turns his head to glimpse over his shoulder he can still see it where it rises like a titan from the earth. He can hear his siblings and his mother in the near distance but he does not venture back to them knowing that, likewise, he can be heard. He is unskilled, he does not know what he is doing. The winter’s bane feels his movements, tries to remember what works and what does not work when he is wrestling with Mallaidh. She is his favorite sibling to wrestle with but they are better matched and he still thinks of Eirlys as fragile despite that her health has greatly improved (not that he’s overly aware of any of that). He spars with a fallen log, hollow and soft from years of rot. Roarke does not realize that he needs proper instruction but he isn’t sure how to ask for it, or even if anyone can teach him. For now, it is just for fun, inspired by his father’s introduction to guardian though patrols and peeing on the borders is little more than boring to Roarke. He understands it’s necessity in it’s most simplest of forms but winter’s bane isn’t built for sentry duty. He wants to escort the ambassadors and other important wolves, he wants to be Teaghlaigh’s offense instead of it’s defense.

He bears his teeth at the fragile log, crumbling from where he has already launched himself at it. He uses the log as a palus though it is a poor substitute for an actual sparring partner. For now, it serves a purpose though as he launches himself at it with his little, quirky roar more of the softened log crumbles beneath his weight and he lands on the moss beneath it with a soft “Oof!” So, maybe, he thinks, this log isn’t really serving much of a purpose and he circles around it once he rises to his paws his tail lashing behind him like a whip as contemplates what he’s going to use instead. He wonders if maybe he can just …sneak up on an unsuspecting sibling and initiate a wrestle though that would mean leaving his little space that, for the moment, he has all to himself.