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@evelyn Oooh, I love that! Is part of one of your stories? I’m really intrigued as to what’s going on there.

@j-a-penrose Hey, thanks for the excuse to write from Lotro’s perspective again! I haven’t done it in forever, and I missed him. xD Here’s my attempt…

Motive: To prove to the world (and himself) that he can be a leader and make a difference, and that he’s not the useless coward everyone says he is.

***

The moment he reached the end of the tunnel, he was tempted to forget the whole thing and return to his den. But no, that was what everyone expected him to do on a frigid, stormy night. He wasn’t supposed to be capable of stormy nights, unlike the mighty, noble, future-alpha Dayetra. It was time to prove his pack wrong—about both of them.

“By the light of the bone moon, I declare I’ll catch him,” Lotro muttered, abandoning the warmth and letting the wind claw through his fur. The ice crust on top of the snow held under his light weight, and he chuckled at the deep craters his brother had left behind.

“Ha! Take that, Dayetra!” Wisps of Lotro’s foggy breath curled into the wind. “Maybe being so big isn’t such a–” The sentence broke in sync with the layer of ice beneath him, and before he could blink, he was up to his shoulders in snow.

Rotten eggweed! Everything always came back to bigger being better sooner or later, and there was nothing he could do about it except struggle on and curse whoever decided to make him a crippled runt.

Ice scraped up Lotro’s legs with each step, and he winced at the spots of blood he was leaving in his trail. Cold gasps of winter air tore down his throat. Dayetra likely could have traveled ten bounds in the time he took two paces. If he was too late…

“Dayetra, you rat!” Lotro growled, clenching his jaw to keep it from trembling. “If I find you talking to Loklabs again, you’ll catch it.” Of course, if Dayetra ever found out he was threatening to expose him to the pack, Lotro would likely end up in the nursing chamber—or the grave. Would Dayetra go as far as to kill his own brother? Someone who—although Lotro’s spirit retched at the thought of admitting it—was completely unable to defend himself? It would take more than a rat to do something like that. It would take a Yeultzer. Why even bother trying to stop him? If Dayetra wanted to act like one of those death-wielding snake-birds, so be it. Let him join the Loklabs. Let him destroy himself. What did Lotro care? He was only a runt.

A gust whipped around the hillside, blasting against his side until his body crumpled into the snow. Lotro’s heart collapsed along with it, bleeding tears that couldn’t be stopped from sliding down his nose. A sob seized his body, and he curled up into a quivering ball, trying to ease the tightness in his chest. No, no, he was more than a cripple, more than the least of the least. Everything his family said was lies. He could do something meaningful. He had to.