Druidification

Wait a minute, she wasn't the only one with energy. Shannon had some as well, as did every canine she had bonded. Would they be able to treat one another should the worst come to pass? Would they be able to be treated by Shannon? It all depended on whether the energy was tied to a specific, universal form or a more fluid one depending on the shape of the wielder's soul. And with the way that the conversation was going between the pair beside her, Sophie would likely have energy one day as well. As she walked and did some lunges, she had Sierra give her a hand. In the warg's attempt to get better at reading, she was also trying to learn to write herself, and just needed practice more than anything. So as to help with that, whenever Nat had an idea of something she wanted to test or find out, she would get Sierra to write it down in a notebook. It would take a bit of time involving slowly walking her through each word, but it was the most efficient way for both of them. This way, Sierra would get experience in what she wanted to learn while Nat could still focus on her workout.

As the sun passed its zenith, and started to make the journey towards the horizon, Shannon was no longer explaining things as she was answering questions. Most of what they had needed to tell Sophie had been passed on now, and all that was left was a child's curiosity. Question after question came out of her mouth, pausing only long enough between each to get a response. To her benefit, Shannon was able to keep up with the little munchkin. Either with a quick concise answer or a casual don't know, she responded to each question honestly and openly. At least, that was the case until one question came up.

"So, what's our last name?" Sophie asked, her face full of excitement and curiosity. At this, Shannon just blanked for a solid minute. She kept walking, but just stared off into space as she thought about that answer. After all, neither her nor Natalie had talked about that at all, they just decided they would be together. Did they keep their old ones, hyphen them together, or just ditch one of them for the other? While she thought through all of this, a smile came to her face as she realized that this was the perfect opportunity.

"Vilkas. Our last name is Vilkas." Shannon said, calmly and resolutely. Then she turned her head towards her partner and called out, "Hey Nat. Doesn't Sophie Vilkas have a nice sound to it?"

Hearing her last name, Nat managed to come out of her world of thought just in time to hear the question. It also distracted her long enough to make her stumble and almost trip on flat ground. "Wait, what?" she asked, confused by the sudden turn of events.

"Since she is now our daughter, it's only right for her to have our last name, right?" Shannon brought up, with a wink and a slight emphasis on the word our.

Thankfully, Nat caught on quick. "Of course. I thought that was a given, Hun." she replied. Shannon just discretely nodded, as that was something that they would need to discuss in more detail. Sure, Natalie wasn't against the idea, but the look in Shannon's eyes told her that there was a deeper story there. A reason for the sudden unilateral decision. Regardless, that could wait till the munchkin went to sleep. The smile on her face was so bright, that neither wanted to dim it.

The questions continued shortly after, and this time Natalie even put up some answers of her own. Neither of the two asked any questions though, despite the many that they had on their mind. Sophie had just been through so much, and probably saw things that no child should ever have to. While they did want to know more about her life before, asking about it or trying to gain any knowledge about that was a ticking bomb. All they could reasonably do was wait until she felt ready to share, even if that day never came. In their minds, she deserved a childhood full of laughter and happiness, and not one in this broken world that was literally falling apart.

As they travelled in the past, they used to search for somewhere to shelter, both from the elements and prying eyes. Usually that would have been a farm house, as there were barely any groups of trees in the southern area of Alberta. As they headed further north however, trees became a more and more common occurrence. This meant that they were no longer stopping whenever they came across a suitable dwelling as the sun descended, but instead going as far they wanted, before just picking a random grouping of trees. Sure, they vetted it out by first checking for any inhabitants or tracks, but most were either empty and devoid of movement, or had tracks so old they were barely distinguishable. None of the places they stayed since Calgary had any prominent signs of life at all. Their only run in at night was also because they were followed, not in the middle of a path.

Calling camp for the night, they settled just off in the trees by the highway and Township road 425. now that they were a fair distance away from Red Deer and any other civilization, they agreed that a day off of travelling to do some more intensive workouts, as well as give the gorillas new physicals and checks to see how they were recovering. There was a long list of things to do, and that was before they took into account the notebook that Nat and Sierra had made up that day. As Nat and the canines got started on their evening stretches, Shannon had Sophie come over and give her a hand with supper.

Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Viktor, Saganatsu, Eeleater, John, Hades, Onean, Neal, Sebastian, Ethan, Sir Hellington, Adam, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times. Our next goal on Patreon will be getting up to 50 patrons, which I will then spend more time each month writing some side stories and shorts that show other perspectives throughout my stories!

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