The sky seemed to be more blue than it normally was in the forests of the Myrsky’Syntynyt that day. The waves could be heard crashing against the sides of the rocks from a distance, as well as the sounds of the many voices of the Stormborn themselves. If one were to look past the green of the grass and into the shadows of the shaded areas beneath the trees, one would have spotted the charcoal colored cub that was lounging contented on the ground by himself. Sorley had forsaken the idea of romping around with his siblings in order to be lazy, as was average for him. Sorley was more than fond of his sisters and brothers, but he also enjoyed the peace of solitude where the only things that he could hear was the distant bustling of the pride daily and the sound of his own thoughts. He was quite unceremoniously sprawled out on my back, with his hind legs stretched out on the ground and his front paws resting on his chest. His eyes were closed for the moment and his breathe rose and fell steadily, almost as though he were sleeping. The day thus far had been average and largely uneventful. The life of a small cub in the Stormborn was exciting and not at the same time.
On an average day, he woke up with his family in the morning and ate breakfast with his siblings. They would spend a brief amount of time with their parents before their parents went off to take care of whatever responsibilities they had that day. Sorley would spend the early part of the day as any other cub did, he spent time playing with his siblings and sometimes other cubs of the pride until he was tired. Then, he would find a nice tree near their home and lay beneath it and take a nap. In the evening, their parents would round them up to eat and get ready to sleep for the night.
Yes, thus far all was leading up to perfectly normal day, that was until one of his sisters came barreling into him giggling loudly. She informed him that there was a reaver that was telling stories to the cubs nearby, and he steadily rose to follow his sister and investigate for himself. If there was something that Sorley truly loved, it was hearing about the grand adventures that would take place outside of the safety of the pride. The lives of the reavers amazed him, just as it amazed everyone when they were young. He only dreamed of following a captain on a thrilling and exciting viking.
It was true that Sorley was not a fame seeker. He did not fantasize about being a captain of his own ship and leading a crew of his own. It all sounded like a whole lot of work that the cub would simply rather let someone else do. He wanted the excitement without the responsibility of leading his own team of reavers and his responsibility to the lives of those reavers. He’d also heard the stories of raids that went south and resulted in the injuries and even deaths of reavers in the past. In those times, he could see the pained faces of loved ones pleadingly asking the captain about this or that reaver.
Sometimes, the prospect of becoming a reaver frightened him, and he wondering if that was what he truly wanted in life. On most days, the benefits of being a reaver seemed to outweigh the possibility and often probability of injury or losing his life entirely. When the raiding parties returned, everyone was ecstatic and welcomed the reavers home with celebration. It wasn’t recognition the cub saw in his future, it was living a life where he could enjoy the shelter of the pride and go on great adventures outside of it as well. Either way, adulthood was a long ways away for the cub, so these things were all speculation at this point in his life, but he still thought about them.
As he approached a growing crowd of cubs next to his sister, he could begin to make out the words that the large male reaver was weaving to the group of wide-eyed cubs. The story that he was telling was one of his crew being attacked on a raid by another group of raiders from another pride. Sorley hurried forward to where his other siblings were seated around the big male so that he too could listen to the story. Like the other cubs around him, Sorley soon became engrossed in the tale of courage, bravery, and battle. The young boy wanted nothing more than to be able to be apart of that story.
In his minds eye, Sorley could see the valiant reavers from the Stormborn going head to head with an opposing group of raiders. He imagined the reavers taking on the group without hesitation or fear. The expressions on the face of the old male translated into grand scenes in his imagination. Sorley flinched and gasped at the battle that played out before his inner eye as he became more and more engrossed in the story that he was being told. Several of the cubs, in their excitement, had gotten up and began playing out the very same fight with one another.
The old male was using grand arm gestures and voice fluctuations to enhance his story, which worked as every cub who hadn’t gotten up to play was transfixed on his every word. The story was coming to a sweeping end with a bleak outlook, and Sorley found himself ridden with concern for the past reavers. However, with a grin, the male told the cubs, to their relief, about how his crew managed to fight off the opposing raiders at the very last moment. There was a collective sigh of relief that came from the group of small vikings. Once again, their minds were put to rest that the Stormborn were truly the greatest of them all.
