ELRETH

She and her mother had been back at the cave and talking for twenty minutes before Elreth registered what her mother was doing.

She’d made them each a warm tea when they arrived, but rather than sitting at the dining table as they usually would while they spoke, her mother had walked into the bedroom and pulled out a large bag… and begun packing?

At first, Elreth was so consumed with her angst over the fight with her father and what she now faced as a dominant Queen, she hadn’t thought about it. But halfway through a rant about how the male elders were going to try and dominate her choices, Elreth cut off.

“—wait, what are you doing?” she said suddenly. She sat on her parents sleeping platform, plush with layers of fur. But her mother had changed into leathers and a linen blouse, and was stuffing clothing into the large drawstring bag she usually only used when they were travelling.

Her mother glanced at her over her shoulder and smiled. “I’m packing.”

“What for?”

Elia frowned and shook her head. “We will be moving out today, Elreth. This is the royal cave. It’s yours now.”

“Wait, what?!” Elreth leapt up from the sleeping platform. “Don’t be stupid, Mom. This is your home!”

“Elreth, calm down. We won’t go far. We’ll take your tree if you’re comfortable with that. Otherwise I’m sure we can find somewhere a little further away—”

“No! Mom! You don’t—I’m not kicking you and Dad out of this place! It’s yours!”

Elia took a deep breath as she pulled another armful of cloths out of the closet in the corner, put them into the bag, then turned to face her daughter, hands on her hips.

She was still a beautiful woman, Elreth realized. She didn’t ever really look at her mother. She was just… mother. She was small compared to the true Anima, but she’d been adopted by the Leonine twenty years earlier and since lived up to the tribe in more ways than one.

Elreth always stepped warily when her mother looked firm like that.

“El, you are not a child, please do not act like one. You know as well as I do that appearances are important for the sake of the people. The people will expect you to be here, you will be here. And we will still be close if you need us. But we are not the rulers anymore. Do not fight what you cannot change.”

Elreth gaped at her as her mother turned back to the clothing and began to pack again while she spoke. “You are a woman now—and the ruler. It’s right for you to have your own space. You’ll need it for meetings and… perhaps… for mating,” she said carefully.

Elreth’s mouth snapped shut and her eyes went wide. “I’m not… I mean… that isn’t even… I only just took dominance!”

Elia nodded without turning around to face her. “Yes, but you know the people will expect to see you mated soon. And having a family if it’s possible for you. Raising your own heir.”

“Can I choose my Cohorts first? Geez, Mom!”

“Stop being childish. I didn’t mean tomorrow, Elreth.” She swung around again, her brow furrowed. “I have to admit, you are surprising me, Elreth, and not in the good way. I would not have expected you to react with so much fear. I thought you’d dreamed of this?”

“I did!”

“Then why are you acting like a child whose ice cream fell in the dirt?”

Elreth blinked. It took her a moment to remember what ice cream was—some kind of frozen milk? Her mother’s human past still came out in many of the things she said. This one had been explained before, but it had been a while. “I’m not sure… what you mean by that, but I’m not acting like a child. I’m just… there’s been a lot of change very quickly and I guess I’m just wanting things to slow down a little, is all.”

Elia crossed the floor to where Elreth stood. Elreth had several inches on her mother, but her mother’s eyes were cold steel in these moments when she was determined. “You are strong enough for this, Elreth. Do not doubt yourself. You know your father wouldn’t have urged you towards this if he felt you weren’t up to it.”

“You might have noticed Dad can be a little optimistic at times.”

Elia snorted. “That’s pure truth. But you also know that I am not. I am… more realistic.”

“And you said you didn’t agree with him!”

Her mother blinked. “Is that what you think I said?”

Elreth frowned. “You said back under the tree that you weren’t in agreement with him on pushing me to challenge—”

“No, Elreth. I’ve always been behind his decision to mark you as Heir, you know that. What I disagreed with was his baiting you into the challenge. It felt… underhanded to me. But he was right. I cannot fault him. He said you were ready and what you needed was a threat. That as long as you felt safe in his hands as King you wouldn’t challenge. He worried you would wait until long past when he should have been challenged. And he knew no one else was as strong as you… he is so proud of you, Elreth. So certain you will succeed. Please don’t be angry with him about this.”

Elreth growled. “He tricked me!”

“He baited you. That’s different.”

“How?”

Elia’s lips thinned. “Nothing that he said was a lie. He only… intended for it to have a purpose beyond what he spoke plainly. And it did. As I said, I argued with him on that point. But on his conclusion that you should be the next Dominant of the Anima?” She shook her head. “I have never argued that, Elreth. I’ve known you would rule, somehow, since you were a tiny cub and you growled at Brant when he tried to feed you the wrong fruit.” Elia giggled at the memory. “You should have seen his face.”

Elreth sighed. “I miss Papa Brant. And Mam’Amora,” she said softly, speaking of her adopted grandparents who had both passed away in the last couple of years.

Elia looked down with a sad smile. “Yes, we all do.” She cleared her throat and turned back to the clothing her voice strong. But Elreth didn’t miss the way her eyes shone before she turned. “They would have been so excited to see this day, Elreth. No matter what—no matter the way it came about, you should be celebrating. You should be excited to begin your new life as Ruler. And you should be putting a great deal of thought into what you say and do towards the people over the next day or two. Begin how you mean to go on.”

“That’s the problem,” Elreth said quietly, her voice tense as she finally admitted to the thing that had been chilling her since this all began. “Mom, I’m not sure I know how I mean to go on. So… how do I start?”