Redtail Rise tell me that i'm still breathing

Mind setting this before Saena's return?

Ever since his leader's absence from the pack, Arion found himself unable to sleep and when he did, it was only because of the poppy seeds. But even with the seeds help, he slept fitfully and more often than not, he found himself leaving his den and breathing in cool night air, watching the stars flicker on and off against the darkness of the midnight sky. Often, on those nights, he would sit on the top of the ridge and allow his thoughts to wander, allowed himself to drift away from present time and into the stress free warmth of his childhood. Those days that had gone pass in a blink of an eye, those days when he and his siblings did not have a care in the world, where pranks could be played and lessons were boring. But something would then shake the Acheron from his memories and dreams and he would once again live in the present world, where he was supposed to be an adult and things were expected of him.

That day, Arion had been awake long before the first rays of the sun touched the sky, what he had done to spend the time? Patrolling the borders. Dangers lurked beyond the pack's territory, dangers that had stopped Junior and Saena from returning to the pack and the ebony dusted male was determined to do his duty and keep the pack safe from harm. Eating, sleeping, nothing like that really mattered to the Greek nowadays, not when he was assigned to be a temporary leader and the safety of the pack, the responsibility of leading was a burden on his shoulders. A burden so heavy, the Acheron often compared it to the burden Atlas held, the burden which happened to be the sky. The literal sky. Atlas's job had been to keep the sky from falling to the earth. Now that he thought about it though, perhaps he had been a bit too extreme comparing his burden to Atlas's job.

Shaking his thoughts away, Arion allowed his honey gaze to scan the distant horizon, hoping, simply hoping to catch a glimpse of pale fur accompanied by exotic reds, touched with streaks of copper beneath deep indigo eyes, followed by a stub of a tail. But there was nothing except for the familiar sight of Dawnlark Plains in the distance. Lifting a hind leg, the stallion renewed the scent markers and continued forward, long legs carrying his form forwards. The scent of the unfamiliar caused his hackles to rise and bristle but a moment later he relaxed, for he knew who the scent belonged to, although he had to admit, it really wasn't the one he was hoping for.

The warrior continued patrolling the borders, diligently spraying his scent onto the markers as the smoky svelte form of the newcomer came into view. Pausing in his footsteps, calculating golden eyes analyzed the yearling slowly. Arion made sure his posture was one befitting of a high rank and a temporary leader. "Reek accepted you," the words slid from his tongue in his smooth baritone, his gaze fixed on the boy. "I don't think he introduced me though," the warrior continued, "typical." The Greek tilted his head slightly, "I would apologize for his...lack of manners if it was not necessary, unfortunately it was and I'm not a fan of manners anyways," he indirectly told the other wolf that he had been there on the day the newcomer had been accepted. "My name is Arion, temporary leader of the Rise alongside Reek."