Duskfire Glacier and suddenly i'm someone that prays

"I'm not going to turn into my sister, if that's what you're worried about." 

"I'm not worried," Lane insisted. The lie hung rather awkwardly between them. 

How had he known she was worried, and exactly what she was worried about? She'd thought she'd phrased her question carefully. She doubted that Veteran or Wayfarer would have picked up on whatever subtle subtext that had clued-in Arius, and so it was all the more worrying that the self-styled heir was capable of such penetrating insight. It was eerie and uncanny, that he seemed able to read her mind and identify her feelings so accurately. Lane suppressed a shiver. 

Arius had always seemed to her a rather cold, distant, watchful child... like his father. It now occurred to Lane that all of his watching might have revealed to him secrets that he should not yet be of an age to know. 

Speaking of such secrets, Arius went on to insist that his parentage was what, he believed, made him superior to the other Duskfire pups. But his parentage could not be certain, could it? Tzila had admitted to Lane her dalliance with Rye, and Tzila's indiscretion had effectively tainted her children's indisputable claim to Wintersbane's legacy. Arius, Ensio and Makatza were just as likely to have been conceived through Rye. By this child's logic then, Lane's own pups-- Wayfarer and Veteran-- would have the stronger claim to leadership, given that they were undeniably sired by Wintersbane. 

Lane opened her mouth to speak, fully intending to set the boy straight, but before she could get the words out, she decided against it. She closed her mouth without a word. Arius would need to be informed of his sullied lineage someday, but today was not the day. He was grieving, and despite her fears and misgivings, Lane would not tarnish the memory of Tzila for Arius while the boy was in the middle of mourning her. 

"All the children of Duskfire will inherit the pack someday," Lane confirmed. On this point they could agree. "And you are all being trained with skills that will aid the pack, no matter who eventually steps into leadership. A medic can also be a leader," she reminded the boy, a bit wryly. Lane herself was evidence enough of that. 

"Your interest is noted, Arius," she assured him. "My advice to you would be to cultivate a trade and seek to master it. Any trade will do, even medicine." She paused thoughtfully. If Arius wished to apprentice himself to her, would she take him? Given her newfound distrust of him? 

She concluded, "Duskfire Glacier is not a monarchy, and leadership is not awarded by birth or blood. Leadership is awarded according to respect, which must be earned." It was not a belief that she realized she held until she spoke it, but as soon as the words were out there, she knew them to be true.