Rising Sun Valley the family

The trip would be a long one, but one that Paarthurnax was more than willing to make. She'd loved Swiftcurrent Creek wholly and fully, but had always firmly believed that home did not mean the land on which they lived, but the family that occupied it. Home was where Scimitar and Bazi went. Home was wherever she took her children. Home was with the pack she'd made herself part of.

A fresh start was tempting, but not without its heartaches. The wolves moved together toward their new destination, absent one that meant most to her. In her absence, Shadow had sought to spirit her pups away despite her wishes that they remain with their birth pack. Relonikiv and Julius had withstood, declaring their wish not to make their home in the Bypass, but it was the mysterious Traianus who opted to follow his sire. Losing her children to Shadow was something Paarthurnax had feared from the very beginning, even if she was a firm believer in freedom of choice. But she did not think that it would come quite as soon. Her brood were so young; how could they be expected to make such a life-changing decision at such a tender age?

She felt Trajan's absence sorely, but could not find it in her to blame Scimitar or Bazi for letting him go. Shadow was rightfully his father, after all; the idea of having her litter separated just rubbed her the wrong way. When things were settled at Nova Peak, Paarthurnax would go to her boy and see to him, show him that she was still in one piece, and let him weigh his options. She loved him - always would - and, sometimes, the best way to show that love was to make sacrifices.

Paarthurnax, drained from her chase to retrieve Durnehviir, remained mostly in the background as the pack traveled up ahead. She observed in silence as the Alpha duo slowed their pace, and acknowledged them with a brief smile and swish of her tail as she hunched her shoulders and pressed on. They desired privacy, obviously, and she was not one to eavesdrop.