Phoenix Maplewood graphite

Wealda could not relate.  She was strong and did not doubt her pack.  There was no alternative for her against the path she walked.  She was Wealda and this meant she led without fear.

Redd felt the words like a familiar chorus.  All of them had echoed, at one point or another, within her own mind.  Her sister's suitability and her own perceived shortcomings.  Her inability to truly unify disparate factions within her own family.  The belief that she would never truly measure up.

How could anyone else ever be Wealda?

These were weaknesses she could not show her pack.  They were truths she could not reveal to anyone who might upset the peace of the Rise, even if their intentions were for the benefit of those involved. She had hidden these thoughts from Masquerade, from Mountain Boulder, from Mulherin, and even Gavrel.

This stranger posed no threat. Neither Redd nor Wealda feared rivalry here.

Wealda's duty is to be a mother. I failed this. The words came like acid after being withheld so long. The release she felt in voicing them was stark, and for the first time, she understood some of what language was. My sister was heir. Now she leads with children in another place. I did not know why she named me Wealda and then changed her mind. Redd looked away, her expression calm despite the tenor of the words. Now I do.

Masquerade had seen in her what the others failed to. Redd did not know how to be a mother. She did not know if these desires belong to Redd or to Wealda, and if only the latter, how were they right when she was unworthy of the name?

A mate was not enough. I am Wealda because no one challenges. It will not stay. And who would support her over one more suited? Not even she would expect it. Like her they would know the pack came first, and a Wealda who could not build the strength of the Rise was not fit to command her slopes.

She hadn't known she carried so many words within her. A part of her had forgotten she was speaking aloud at all.