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Word Count: 316
Awesome, thanks.
★ ★ ★
Grace had been a master before. Not to another canine; oh, no, certainly not. But she was Layla's mistress, and the same for Faris, and she was the horse-mistress for the pack. She knew what the title entailed, and for a split second, it didn't seem inaccurate. But it should be, she reminded herself. Just because Hadley was lost without direction, and just because she happened to be supplying the support for him to learn to direct himself, did not give her such a title. Helping does not a master make; power is what a master seeks, and Grace sought no power over Hadley. He had given her power, yes, but she had no intentions of keeping it. She would gladly return it to him when he was ready to hold it on his own.
What had her father called it, when he was teaching her? Scaffolding? Yes, that was it. First, the master does and the apprentice watches. Then, the master does and the apprentice helps. After that, the apprentice does and the master helps. By the end, the apprentice does, and the master only watches. That was what she was doing for him. Showing him the way. That didn't make her like that wretched yellow dog - she doubted that there was a helping bone in that girl's body. She shook the feeling of frustration off and sighed softly. It would do her no good to think of that now. She really needed to sleep. Tomorrow would certainly be tiring, and she was already exhausted.
Though she was quite sure that Hadley had already fallen asleep, she whispered a reply to him in the dark. "I am not your master, Hadley. I am your friend." Whether he had heard her, she may never know. But she felt better having said it, and she closed her eyes and followed him into the depths of sleep.