Champions of a Fallen Age

The Weight of Guilt

Midna eyed the numerous two-legs from underneath the table that the rest of her newfound pack were gathered around. Though she had been allowed to stay, she knew she was in hostile territory as she watched for the wary stares that were thrown her way from time to time. While she had encountered many different varieties of two-legs, from the river swimmers to the air walkers, she had always been surrounded by others of her kind, and she had been able to give them a wide berth. Now though, she had nowhere to hide and would have to rely on her new pack to provide protection. It was not ideal, but that was the situation she was in.

Sitting there, hunched beneath the flat-topped, wooden construct, she couldn't help but think back to her previous pack. Things had been so simple with them. When they were hungry, they hunted. When they were tired, they slept. Most importantly, there was an established pecking order. Things made sense as her former Alpha had earned his place as leader. If anyone else wanted to take his place, then they would have to prove themselves by showing their strength. On the other hand, her new companions didn't happen to have any sense of discernible order to it. The living stone, the one she considered to be Alpha, was clearly the largest and strongest, yet he consistently let the weaker among them challenge him. It made the dynamic of the pack so terribly difficult to decipher as she didn't know why Alpha allowed himself to be challenged and what it would take for him to become more assertive. Not to mention, she couldn't help but find his constant shouting to be irritating and often left her head aching for long periods of time.

Then, there was the red-haired one she referred to as Mother. Much like the wolves that had born cubs, Mother spent much of her time keeping the younger three in line. While this was something that Midna could understand, what made her difficult for the she-wolf to understand was that she often made it a point to keep Alpha in line as well. As far as Midna was concerned, Alpha should have been the one that wasn't required to respond to her, yet he did so anyway. To make matters worse, she had far more tonal shifts than any, and many of her wide range of sounds eventually had the peculiar effect of forcing her head back as she performed some strange sort of howling, which caused her chest to heave. Perhaps she wasn't quite right in the head.

Of course, she could forgive those two for their oddities, even if they were nonsensical. The one she struggled to forgive was the Large Chicken. He spent so much time biting at the others and causing infighting that Midna was struggling to understand exactly why it was he was kept around. He certainly was competent when it came to using his stick thrower, but he caused more trouble than that skill alone was worth, at least in her opinion. The last time she had a companion as contrarian as the Chicken, he had been mauled so brutally by her pack that he had been walking among them with his tail in between his legs for several moons after. If she had it her way, the same would be done to the Chicken; however, the others were far too complacent to see it through. She might have taken it upon herself to take care of the issue, but she was well aware that it might have been enough to have her be abandoned again, this time without a stone crushing her paw.

Thankfully, things became a little more clear from there. Sister, the River Swimmer among them, was still a mystery of course. The wolf had seen evidence of her strength, yet she balked quite often when challenged. Another oddity was how often she smelled of embarrassment, particularly when Mother was nearby. Regardless, she had a massive amount of respect for Sister, as it was due to her that she Midna could still use her paws. Whatever her otherworldly power stemmed from, the wolf respected it and acknowledged that she owed Sister her life. And that was to say nothing of how easily she had accepted Midna into the pack. All of that considered, she was the wolf's second favorite pack member.

Brother, the one who had lifted the stone and held her as Sister healed her paw, had the most favor with her. He was, by far, the most sensible of the bunch. He was quiet, determined, and refused to back down when challenged. He also understood his place in the pack and was content with it. Just like her previous companions, he wasn't overly warm or affectionate, but he still welcomed the wolf by sharing food with her. He wasn't perfect as, occasionally, he would try to run his hand along her back, however, a simple growl was all it took to end it. He was also very attached to the piece of metal that he set over the bright lights he created at night. It might have been something she understood had she not smelled an extreme amount of stress from him as Sister was using it. Despite those things, she found him to be quite respectable and the easiest to relate to.