Heron Lake Plateau Steady hands just take the wheel

She realized her heart was beating pretty hard in her chest. Wildfire licked her lips and took a breath, trying to summon calm and patience while she waited. She managed to achieve some level of zen by the time her godparents arrived... at which point her heart rate accelerated again. Thinking thoughts was one thing but she was about to put them out there in the world. Was she really ready for that? Had she thought this through thoroughly enough?

She wasn't entirely sure, though as her chestnut eyes swept over their familiar grizzled features, Wildfire decided she was going through with it anyway. "Hey, thanks for coming," she said, sweeping from her haunches to her feet to tuck her smudged snout beneath each of their chins in a gesture of respectful greeting. Her black tail waved slowly behind her before she stepped back again. She meant to take a seat, yet her body hummed with such nervous energy that she decided to stay on all fours. She did motion for her godparents to make themselves comfortable if they liked.

"I wanted to talk to you two about this ridiculous idea I had, see if there's any merit to it whatsoever." Wildfire's eyes met her uncle's first, then her aunt's. She could tell she had their full attention. She drew in a steadying breath. "Okay, here goes..." She exhaled, then began. "I've talked to you both about some of this but I'll go over it again just to make sure I haven't forgotten to mention anything, starting with our plans to visit the caldera in the spring. I'd still like to keep those plans. But I want to come clean about something. I was thinking about not coming back after we visited. I was thinking of leaving the Teekon Wilds altogether, finally doing some traveling after all this time. I've spoken to the girls—Kiwi and Sequoia anyway—and they would come with me.

And, actually, when I brought it up to them, Kiwi inadvertently put an idea in my head. We were hanging out in the copse a little east of her when she told me she liked it there. And that made me think. It's not just that I'd like to travel, part of the reason I was thinking of leaving is because the plateau seems awfully crowded, especially with breeding season just around the corner. Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like it's going to become a madhouse in the next month. As much fun as it'd be to hang around and watch the flood of puppies, I do worry about the strain on resources and don't want to contribute to that strain.

And then there's Drageda," she continued, stopping to draw in another steadying breath as her heart thudded dully against her breastbone. "My eldest son came here and threatened to come back and kill us. I knew they'd be upset when we left, I wasn't actually expecting them to hunt us down as traitors. They know exactly where we are—I told them where we were going—and now I feel as if I've put a target on all of our backs here. I understand that you'd all likely go to bat for us and I appreciate that but I still don't want to put anyone in danger. You guys moved across the wilderness just to avoid war, I don't want to risk bringing another to you. And, quite frankly, it would be safer for us too if we went somewhere else.

So, to tie all of this together... Kiwi mentioned that she liked the copse. It's far enough away that we would be safer there but close enough that we could be allies. Actually," Wildfire confessed, chewing at her bottom lip and letting the next part out in a bit of breathless rush, "I was thinking we could be branches of the same pack, or sister packs at the very least. Then we'd all be safer, with more space and resources to spread out, all while being near enough to..." Why were the words "build an empire" suddenly flashing in her mind's eye?