Lost Creek Hollow To protect you

She tilted her head.  Okay, that wasn't what she was expecting to hear -- but then again, what was she?

To a certain point, Treason just didn't care.  Obviously part of the reason Merrick had been left here was because he was independent enough to manage... Right?  In Treason's eyes you wouldn't just leave some kid behind if they weren't at least going to kind of manage without parental guidance.  Sure, they had the safety of the pack, but they were big enough to not be fussed over too much.  Then again, maybe Laurel and Indra operated on a different logical orbit than Treason.  Either way, even if they lived in bizarro world, she was at least pleased that Merrick seemed to know the proper way to behave.  And it was much easier dealing with a verbal wolf than  trying to coordinate with Nunataq.

However, she was curious, And is there a specific thing you're planning to do to prove yourself or just generally doing reasonable being seen as an adult?  There was the secondary question of if he meant to earn the rank or be given it and just show he wouldn't drown.  They were obviously two slightly different things.