Blackfeather Woods Farewell

Things are changing. His mind is developed enough to recognize this and he is old enough to witness it and know it has occurred, but Pietro isn't old enough to understand it. His gaze is fixed on the still body of his mother and the hunched form of his father as he stands, wavering ever-so-slightly, near Kendra in the dark of the den. His ears prick forth when Burke's voice fills the desolate air with a command that he dare not disobey. Pietro is an obedient boy by nature, but his father's tone is also different and compels him forward.

Mimicry is beginning to define the young Blackfeather pups and Pietro excels at it. "Aayyyeeeee," he says quietly to Meldresi in an attempt to copy Burke's words. She cannot hear him and cannot respond, which makes him feel weird. A day ago she was here, and now she was sleeping, forever. Burke confirms this by explaining that Meldresi has to sleep now, and Pietro nods mutely, though he doesn't really understand. He knows these words, but he doesn't comprehend their deeper meaning.

Come, says the father, and Pietro follows. His thin tail whips side to side. It's inappropriate for the event, but he doesn't know. He seeks Kendra with a nip that's almost playful, falters in the tunnel to look back—what about mother, his hesitance seems to ask—but then he follows along, and all of Burke's sorrow, the heaviness of moments before, is lost to him.

They struggle over a ledge, and then the tunnel lightens. A breath of fresh air hits him in the face and he works his nose furiously to take it in. He remains hidden in the tangle of Burke's legs, and only ventures forth with a surge of anxiousness when Kendra leads the way. She approaches Cicero, but Pietro hangs back behind her with baby blue eyes wide with both curiosity and uncertainty. The wolf who rushes past them into the den causes him to flinch away nervously, but Damien is gone in that next moment. The others who arrive received the same nervousness from the young prince.