Took a little while to update but here it is.

It may get a bit confusing for some and I think it may be because of the new characters that are to be introduced. Hopefully the introduction period is over soon and the story can begin. Enjoy!

"Do you like it here?" Adralan smiled at her father.

She had been thinking on the last time she had visited Wyvern's Court that she had hardly noticed he had entered her room. They had traveled on horseback and though the ride was neither long nor hard it had tired her. She was not used to riding considering how she did not travel much and preferred to run around the forest in her wolf form. The horse was merely a formality so as to not arrive at Wyvern's Court, or any other court for that matter, completely disheveled. After all, it would not impress any of their trading associates and allies at all to see the royals of the Lupine Lands in a messy sate.

"I haven't forgotten after the last time I came." She sighed.

Ulrik chuckled as he walked up to his daughter and kissed her forehead. "Neither can I after the mischief you and Vycan caused."

Adralan laughed. "We were children. And it wasn't that bad given that the spoiled little prince Bastian was the one that started it." She remembered those days as children. Bastian, the son of the Wyvern queen, Oliza, had been the one that had provoked them. And if in fact that mischief had caused serious consequences, then Vycan would not have been allowed to return. Yet Auria had used it as an excuse to not let Adralan go back by saying that she had been the source of it all. True, Adralan was not a well-behaved child but she was sure she had grown out of it and maybe that was why her mother had allowed her to return.

"Bastian? All these years and you remember his name?" Ulrik laughed.

Adralan shook her head as she walked to gather a few of her things and put them in the trunk at the foot of her bed. "How can I? After all he was the real culprit and not I."

"He hasn't changed much." Ulrik laughed.

Adralan finished unpacking and noticed something shimmering on the floor. Her father noticed it as well because he leaned down to pick it up for Adralan.

"Isn't this the gift that Damek gave you?" he asked as he held up in the air.

It was a diamond crystal pendant wrapped around by a fine silver wire and held by a leather cord. Adralan touched her neck absently in awe at how it had fallen from her neck. Damek, a wolf staying with her pack, had given it to her as a gift and proof of his affection. She had worn it though not because she felt the same. He was the only son of Arnoux, another wolf leader who lived on the border between the Lupine Lands and where the humans resided. Damek had gone to live at Adralan's kingdom only a few years ago but an unspoken betrothal between the two of them had been set. None was happier than Auria who wished for her daughter to stay in a place of power and not succumb to the regular life of a common wolf or to become a lonely aid to the elders or seers.

"It has never fallen from my neck since the day he gave it to me…" she whispered. The pendant was a symbol of their union and to have nearly lost it when the ceremony was almost near was not a good sign.

Ulrik walked towards his daughter and placed the pendant on her neck once more. She touched it and closed her eyes.

"Do you love him?" her father's question caught her off guard and she stood silent for a moment. Did she? She did not know the true meaning of the word. The only examples of "love" she had seen had never resulted fruitful. Her mentor Valeska had lived a tragic tale due to love. Vycan was completely besotted with a stranger and rarely seen at all. Adran roamed with one woman to the next though he claimed to love only one. But if Adralan sought the best example of the tragic effects of "love" with time then all she would have to do was look at her mother and father.

In the end, she had to conclude that such a feeling was nothing but an illusion cast by the mind. To ensure a sensible and agreeable union then a sound mind and heart would be needed.

"I just don't want you to commit to something that may backfire in the end. And I don't like Damek." Ulrik sighed.

She laughed. "Damek is a good man and my mother will kill me if I end everything now."

"You sound more like Auria everyday but keep in mind that you do not have to become her to be in her favor. Where is the little mischievous girl that used to love hearing my tales and hang on to me?" He asked wistfully.

Adralan hugged her father in reassurance. "I know what I'm doing." She walked back to the trunk and took a set of fresh clothes. "Now go, I must change from my traveling clothes."

Ulrik smiled at his daughter and the way she attempted to change the conversation. He could see so much of himself in her but Auria had taken far too much control. "Then I will go check to see how Adran is doing." Adralan nodded as her father left her room and all was silent once more.

He was right. She was straining herself to please her mother when she did not have to. Damek was the best companion she could choose and she knew her mother approved of him well. She did not love him and was afraid to do so for fear of the consequences of such love. She was attracted to him on a more physical level as were all the other women old and young in her pack. Even then, they were worlds apart at times. She loved to dance as a way to release herself from the rest of the world but he would never understand that. He loved to get involved in fight matches and to regale her with tales of his feats yet she could never understand them. Adralan only hoped that her stay at Wyvern's Court could free her mind from Damek, from the elders, and from her mother. In the end, she needed to gain a sense of direction once more and only the precious time away from them could help her.