[html]
[/html]Power was something that she craved and something that she also innately possessed. There was a difference between the bestial, instinctive dominance of a wolf and the respect that one received. As they had evolved into Luperci, their habits had also begun to change. Instead of walking only on four legs with the primitive weapons of tooth-and-claw, there were now more layers to complicate what they needed to do to compete for position. There were weapons and words to be wielded; these things had to be learned, they were not innate. Where Ataxia already had the darkness and the power within her to be something great, it was up to the paws that molded her - Sirius, Eris, Larkspur, other Family members - to help shape what she would become. There was still much to be decided about her destiny.
She was pleased from the tip of her ears down to the ends of her toes when he took her small gift of a mouse. It was an offering of importance. This was not true because of its value to Sirius - doubtless he had long ago outgrown eating mice - but because of what it meant. The dark D'Angelo pup was showing her respect. It was indeed an important precedent to set, so that as she grew she became accustomed to such things as being natural. Already, there was something bred into her that told her that was the right thing to do. Whether she understood it or not, Sirius was deserving of tribute and ultimately of whatever he set his sights upon. There were some things that might be denied to him - for instance, Eris would not give up her young to Sirius upon request - but these things were few. In some ways, though, they were already owned by the Thistle King, so it didn't much matter if Eris would surrender them to his care specifically. Right now Ataxia was already learning her first lessons at his feet.
Ataxia wagged her tail when Sirius indicated that she had learned well. So far, she had done well in the eyes of her Boss and that made her happy. She had done well and her mother would be proud. The girl listened as he explained what Eris was. Auxiliary. It was a word that she vaguely remembered attached to her parent. Now it attached itself more firmly to what Eris was. Though she liked more to hear that she was a princess. How big did that make her, she wondered? Big big but certainly not big bigger like Sirius. "Princessssss." she curled the word around on her tongue with pleasure, nodding approvingly. Not that it needed her approval since it already had the approval of her uncle. "Someday big big?" she asked, not asking to be "big bigger" like him, but to hold a prestige similar to her mother's.