Chimera Fields Two Ghosts

since mato's timeline is a mess and i'm not sure where anything falls in said messy timeline save for a few threads i'm going to say this takes place after they find king elk forest. edit. i wrote you a novel. no need to match the length. :0

“I know,” Mato assures Sebastian but in a manner that conveys his gratitude at the advice. He did not say that he thought he would be alright because the druid had no evidence to back such a claim up. He had no experience at leading, did not know if he would even truly be any good at it. The empyrean holds firm to the belief that a wolf is born to be a leader or that they are not. Anyone can claim a territory and declare themselves haran and bark out orders but it took a leader with that extra something to make it all work. Discovering if he, himself, has such a spark within him would be an adventure in and of itself. Seabreeze’s faith in him is enough to assuage the very worst of his doubts and fears leaving only the very minor, seized in a whimsical moment and leaving just as quickly to linger. Mato holds to his own belief that a leader that is constantly unsure of them-self has no place leading. They were meant to make the concise and the hard decisions and it couldn’t be done if doubt lurked at every corner.

In the end though Mato suspects he will be alright either way.

Mato is stirred from garrulous thoughts with a soft, almost kittenish noise as Sebastian speaks again, referencing that Burke might be able to offer him some advice because he’s had plenty of experience at leading. “I would enjoy that,” The druid expresses with a soft smile tugging upon moonlit kissed lips: it has been some time since he has spent time with his grandfather; and had they ever bonded over anything, truly? The empyrean cannot recall. “To the very edge of the Teekon Wilds, in the Tuktu Hinterlands. It is hardly populated at all save for one pack at it’s Northern edge.” And that was why Mato liked it. “We have been working to claim a territory called King Elk Forest.” Where he felt the convergence of earthly energies, where the earth’s voice was a soothing lullaby as it weaved through the ancient trees upon the wind: and then there was the king elk himself. It was precisely what the druid had been looking for without knowing what he’d been looking for.

Mato was never so glad for fur that hid the burst of heat upon his cheeks when Sebastian zeroed in upon his use of the word companion and then asked if Seabreeze and him were mates. Given that this is hardly the first time that the pair had been seen as having such a connection to one another it should have ceased to have caused such a reaction. In a very short period of time Mato has grown to care for Seabreeze and beyond that he is filled with feelings he does not understand. He knows they are there, he acknowledges them, and suspects that she may feel something similar; but there is nothing to (yet) define what they are to one another. “No, no not mates —” It is frustrating to the empyrean how quickly, how easily his eloquence is lost and he is resorted to a bumbling fool trying to grasp at words to best define them even when, perhaps, there is no words for the job. “it is …it is hard to define.” He settles for lamely, salmon pink tongue swiping across his muzzle. “She and I …I think it’s safe to say we’re still discovering the extent of what we are to one another.” There. That sounded better, if only just. It conveyed that there was potential for the endgame but that they were not quite near that point yet. It was a discovery process and Mato was in no hurry. He enjoyed unraveling the wolf that Seabreeze is and his cultivating feelings for her at a leisurely pace.