Welcome to Gaia! ::

His blond mane ruffled in the harsh autumn winds. Winter was fast approaching. Calder could feel it with every breath he took. Surly he'd be seeing his breath soon. It was odd how this would be his first winter and he was almost an adult. He was both excited and dreading it. Calder learned, early on, that he didn't enjoy the cold. The rainy days that came and dropped the temperature were a mess for this boy.

Boy wasn't the right way to describe him anymore. He had put on a lot of muscle, and had grown a lot taller since he'd last even bothered to look at his dad. It's not like he was avoiding him. No, he just had other things to do. Things to figure out for himself. He had to fight with himself to figure out what he wanted to actually do once he got old enough to go on a viking. In order to actually do that, he had to prove himself in a fight. So he thought. He wasn't to sure how one proved to Aesir they were ready, especially since his father didn't seem too interested in him and his siblings. They had to find him, not the other way around.

Either way, he turned away from looking at the vast lands before him and focused his attentions on finding his father. A story of many boys' lives.

Aesir tried to be accessible to his Stormborn, but every so often he just wanted to be alone. There was more to leading the pride than simply giving orders, as he had always known, but with winter coming on it meant fewer raiding parties could go out, and soon the entire pride would be limited more or less to the stronghold and its immediate surroundings. That would mean fights would become more common, and his leadership would be tested. A leader who couldn't keep order didn't deserve to lead. He was making a mental list of lions and lionesses who were likely to be problematic in the coming season, and trying to figure out how to deal with the problems before they arose. In other words, he was actually doing things a Warlord ought to do.

Another thing nagged at the back of his mind, however, and that was the fact that he wanted very much to take his children - all of them - out viking with him before winter hit. It would mean that they were all officially Reavers, if that was the position they wished to occupy in the pride, and it meant that they would have that much more respect. Of course it would be better if they served under other Captains in the future, but it would be unusual for Aesir not to take his sons, and even his daughters, on their first raid. Especially since he was the Warlord. He didn't worry about his trueborn children and how they would manage, but some of his viking-born cubs concerned him. The ones who took after their mother and scorned the Stormborn ways might have a hard time of it.

Which reminded him that he hadn't seen many of his bastards lately. Not even Odd, who used to be like a shadow to his dragon daughter Kazul. That was passing strange. He decided he needed a break from Warlordly matters and that he should see what was going on with three daughters who were training to be Priestesses.

"What makes them so special that you grace them with your presence?" He growled out, teeth grinding

Gods, his father could be so aggravating and the man probably didn't even know it. Sighing he looked away and wrinkled his nose, ears drooping. Calder felt like that little boy from before his father had taken him here. He'd learned nothing of his mother's ways and even less of his father's ways, it seemed. Why didn't this man ever come see him? He'd go to Ember or Broni and not him?

Fine, he'd make demands then. "Train me like you do Kazul. I want to learn to be a warrior. I want to take over one day." His amber eyes flashed as he spoke, looking up sharply to stare his father in the eyes. He'd never done that when he was younger and he'd managed to stumble upon his father.

"It isn't right you train her and not me. What makes her so special? Is it because she looks the most like you? Do you hate me because I look like my mother?" His teeth ground again and his jaw worked slowly. He was making things up, he knew, but he wanted to know why his father never seemed interested in him or his brothers. He wanted to ask the man if he even loved him, but Calder wouldn't speak of love. He never felt like he'd experienced it before. Then again, that's not what, he felt, this pride was about. If he wanted that he might as well go to another pride and give up on being a warrior.

"I'm ready! I know I am."

His son's animosity came as a surprise to Aesir, who had not been aware of showing any particular favoritism toward his girl cubs. Oh, Kazul had been his little princess, true enough, but lately he hadn't seen very much of her. She had been avoiding him, it seemed, and where she wasn't, neither was Odd. The thought saddened him and angered him a little as he wondered why she had decided to reject him.

But he had other cubs, he reminded himself. One of them was standing right in front of him, demanding his attention in a way that could only bespeak jealousy and a desire to have his father's attention, even if it manifested in the form of anger. Aesir tried not to look smug and pleased with himself. He was such a good father, even without trying to be, that his cubs were jealous of the time others spent with him.

"I visit the girls because I happen to know where they are. You and your brothers are damnably hard to find most of the time." Not that he really looked, but who needed to know that. "And I'll train you if that's what you want. You probably should have been training alongside Hroarr and Arik the whole time."

When he'd first taken Calder he'd treated him like one of his trueborn litter, training him along with the others, but that had been a long time ago and probably the blond adolescent didn't remember it. Aesir hadn't thought about it in months, but now that Calder mentioned it, the Warlord had actually taken him because he looked the least like him and the most like Raven. Probably now was not a good time to mention that.

"I've never held any of my cubs' looks against them. Why would I? All of you are a credit to your parents. I'm proud that you've grown up to look more like me, of course, but that's not really what's important. What's important is a lion's heart and his honor." And his ability to fight, but Calder already recognized that.

Of course the younger knew it had to be on his father's time. It irritated him a little, but at the same time he soothed his ego with the thoughts his father would have to come get him. He knew better than shadowing his father all the time. Sometimes his father would disappear and that meant he wanted to be left alone. Like any Stormborn, really. Every once in a while they all took time for themselves, otherwise, there would be more issues amongst pride members.

Amber colored eyes watched his father walk as they headed to the beach. Excitement bubbled up in his chest and his eyes gleamed a little. Calder tried to not show the bounce in his step he was feeling. He felt like he won. He felt like a champion right now. He confronted his father and actually got what he wanted out of the man. No one could say he was unreasonable now.

"Thank you..."

Aesir looked over at his son as they walked. He wasn't as large as a Stormborn lion of his age, and probably never would be, but some of that would change once he learned to fight properly and began to develop the right muscles. Not to mention the scars he would earn would make him look older and more experienced. He was too pretty right now, and in the Stormborn that wouldn't work in his favor with the ladies, either. They tended to prefer more masculine lions, Aesir had observed.

"No thanks necessary," Aesir said. "I shouldn't have let you stop training when your mother came to the pride and you went to live with her. I'm glad we can remedy that now."

And he really was. He wanted all of his sons to be great fighters and his daughters to be above reproach in all things. It confused him that Kazul didn't seem to want to be a fighter any more, presumably because she'd grown heavy in her adolescence, which made no difference to her father, but for now he had Calder to teach. That would do.