Heron Lake Plateau Ka-tet.

I will prioritize this thread, but feel free to skip me if I don’t move quickly enough.

Quixote and Raven’s thirdborn had faded into the background of pack life for a time, learning to manage her condition while nursing her unrequited (and unconfessed) crush on Eljay. At six months of age, she still had no inkling of what she wanted to do with her life or who she wanted to become. She was happy just spending time with her family; they made her feel safe and secure and stable. Thus, when a failed fishing attempt aggravated the familiar pangs of self-doubt, she immediately sought out the company of her parents. According to her first-class sniffer, Aunt Towhee was here to visit, but that only quickened Kite’s jittering steps; the beta’s resilience was an inspiration to the fledging. She paused at the sound of voices. Raven and Quixote were unfailingly supportive and always had time to spend on their rowdy brood, but Kite didn’t want to intrude upon official business.

“…as their leader again?”

Eavesdropping was a nasty habit, but nobody had ever told Kite that. She didn’t even know that what she was doing had a name; to her, she was just listening to other people talking. She wasn’t even being sneaky about it — she was just standing very still, her head cocked and her muzzle slightly parted. It was easy to hear Towhee, even at a distance, but the concepts she introduced were foreign and unfamiliar. Some of the vocabulary, too, had yet to make an appearance in the young wolf’s personal lexicon. What was a progeny? A birthright? Unable to stifle her curiosity any longer, she continued the rest of the way to her parents’ sleeping place. “Mom, you’re gonna be alpha again?” she asked innocently, without trepidation or reluctance, aiming her mouth toward Towhee and signing the words she knew to keep her aunt in the loop. Then, more doubtfully, “Am I a progeny, too?” She didn’t think she really wanted to be a progeny if they couldn’t all be progenies.