"Akila, keep an eye out!"
My father yelled at me from the other side of the clearing while I stood on one side of the clearing and watched the dart come through the woods toward me. I only had a tiny bit of time to make the small change that sent the dart flying toward the woods, but I managed to do it. My dad started running toward me, and when he got there, he was smiling.
"Good Job! Having said that, you need to work on both being more aware and being faster." When he told me about it, I smiled at him and nodded my head in agreement.
Since my mother died, I have kept the promise I made to myself that I would try to practice harder and improve my overall performance during practice sessions.
"On top of that, you need to find out more from Faolan. He can quickly change direction "My dad reminded me as I made a tight little ball with my lips.
This was said while I crossed my arms to show that I didn't want him to tell me what to do because he was making fun of me. I said this while telling him that I didn't want to be told what to do.
"I don't want him to be my instructor, Father. He'll just make fun of me!" I said something to him that made him laugh a little.
"It looks like my dear young Lyca is now a woman? He told me that he likes you." As soon as he said that, my eyes got big and I couldn't say anything.
“What? What did he tell you?" I asked again, which made him laugh even more because of how I talk now.
He said, "He told me that he likes you." I crossed my arms because I didn't want my cheeks to turn red again.
"When?" I innocently asked.
He said, "When he was nine years old," which made me look at him and laugh.
I tried to laugh and say, "That happened four years ago," but he looked at me seriously. "He told me about it again yesterday.
"After four years, it's still you," he said, making me stop talking.
"What is he up to?" I mumbled and couldn't even look my father in the eye.
"Akila, he's a good beta. I trust him more than anyone else," he told me as he laughed at me.
After he was done laughing at me and putting his hand on my head, we started walking toward the cliff, from which we would have a great view of the whole area where the clan lived. Luna, the fact that my dad is here makes me want to be more independent and take more responsibility for my life.
“Does it remind you of someone you miss?” I asked him a question that I often think about myself, mostly because I think so highly of how she acts.
After looking deeply into my eyes for a few seconds, he asked, "Why do you want to know?" He let out a sigh and pretended to look at me as if nothing was wrong while his eyes moved over the tribe's land.
“Don't you think that a King's mind contains a lot of information?” I asked him the same question again, and he laughed and guffawed at me in response.
"Seeing your mother again is, of course, one of the things I want most in the world. I'm sorry I didn't get to see her before she died. Because of that, I feel sad for her." He kept his hold on my hand as he said this.
"Akila, don't forget what your mother said to you the last time she spoke to you before she died. You are not in danger because of her, but I can't let up on the pressure I'm putting on myself to keep you safe." The fact that he brought it up made me not want to smile, but I managed to make myself smile for his sake.
My mother died when I was only nine years old, and it wasn't until I was thirteen that I understood how important the lesson she taught me was. She taught me how important it is to care about the people you care about.
"Akila, you need to work on not giving in to your urges so fast. The passage of time may be the most powerful weapon of all." As I looked around at the other people in the clan's tribe, I mumbled to myself.
"Okay, let's go back to focusing on what we're good at!" I repeated what I had just said to myself and to my father, who was just looking at me and laughing at the same time. The way they both reacted was priceless.
I don't know what's going through his mind right now, but the last thing I want to do is give anyone else a headache. He needs to pay full attention to the problem our clan is facing. I have no choice but to take my place to live.
"Okay! I don't need anything else!" After saying those words, I started thinking about how I might still be able to do what I had set out to do.
My goals, if I'm able to reach them, will put me in a good place to take on leadership roles in the future. My goals, if I reach them, will make me an even stronger and braver wolf in the future.
He yelled "Watch out!" at me, but as my eyes started to turn green, I realized that I could handle everything pretty easily.
If I can keep my attention on the task at hand at all times, it will be much easier for me to do what needs to be done. Because I'm focusing on the parts of my performance where I can improve, the more I do this practice, the harder it will be for me to overcome the challenges that the King has put in my way.
If the time spent working on something led to something good, then every drop of sweat that was shed was worth it. I know that I will never be able to stop punishing myself for what happened to my mother as long as I keep doing this exercise. In this situation, I'm aware that it's my fault because I made the choice quickly, and I know that's why it happened.
During the time that the dart is going through my arms, I start to think about a lot of things. This makes me lose focus, which makes me hurt myself more.
"Ouch!" I told them that my father had called me because he was worried about how things were going.
"I'm sorry, I had a moment when I wasn't paying attention. Let's try it again, shall we?" When my dad finally came home, I told him what happened.
"No, we shouldn't keep going like this for the rest of the day. How about trying something else? Let's keep talking here tomorrow, "He came up with the idea.
That made me want to talk to him about it even more, but right then, my green eyes lit up, and a wolf started running toward us. I had no choice but to be quiet. I turned around to see where the footsteps sounded like they were coming from.
"King Lycaon! There was a danger that the tribe was about to face! The three tribes that live next to us are currently trying to take over our area and make it their own."
I turned to look at my father, and we left this area as soon as we could, just as the warrior wolf had told us to do before.
Are there no signs that all the bad things that are happening will soon stop?