The night went by quickly, Cayde slept peacefully through the night. This time, there were no dreams, but his sleep was undisturbed and calm. The hours went by, and eventually the sun began to rise, painting the sky with the colors and shades of the morning. There was a bit of dew on the leaves, as well as on the blades of grass. The air was cool, and the sky was devoid of any clouds.

About an hour after the sun first began to rise, Cayde awoke in his den feeling refreshed from a peaceful slumber. He stretched out and glanced out towards the outside of his den. A slight smile appeared on his face at the sight of the day starting off with nice weather, and judging by the sound of trees rustling, a nice breeze as well.

Cayde then remembered the things he planned on doing today, at least part of the day. The first thing he had in mind was to pay a visit to his mother. Of all creatures, she was the first one who should know about him partaking in the Trial, with the exception of Vande, of course.

After a few moments, Cayde stepped out of his den and glanced around for a few moments. The sight of the world around him, in all its glory, was always something he loved. Nature in action, positivity around the pack... everything. Ranging from the beautiful colors of the morning sky, all the way to the endless stars in the night sky. From the tallest mountains, to the deepest valleys, everything peaceful made Cayde feel tranquil. The beauty of the world never ceased to amaze him.

He smiled once more and made his way down one of the many well-kept pathways, created and kept in good condition as a result of the pack. This pathway was bustling with wolves. Some socializing, others taking a peaceful morning walk. Cayde exchanged hellos with those he came across, but continued down the path, eventually stopping at the entrance of a familiar den.

His mothers den.

He took a step inside.
"Mother?" He called out, seeing the familiar white fur of his mother, who looked towards the entrance, seeing her son.

"Cayde! Come in dear, it's so nice to see you." She said with a cheerful tone.

"The same goes for you, mother," He nuzzled her softly, "What are you working on there?" He asked, looking at the ground.

"Oh, this? Well I'm sure this doesn't sound the most interesting, but I'd like to decorate my den a bit more, so I'm working on a nice little pile of pine needles, I'm going to put all sorts of trinkets on it to make it look pretty." She explained, chuckling a little.

"That's amazing to hear, it looks amazing already." Cayde replied, once again looking at his mother.

"Oh, thank you Cayde. Always so sweet." She said, smiling.

Cayde smiled in return, his mind starting to wander, dwelling on the past, the old days where he was a pup.

...

...

"Momma! Momma! Look what I found!" A young voice called.

"What is it, dear?" His mother's voice responded.

"A friendly squirrel!" The young voice replied, bounding into the den with a triumphant expression. The voice belonged to a young Cayde, who was a small pup at this time, still bearing the mark on his head, of course.

On Cayde's back was in fact, a friendly squirrel, who squeaked at his mother. This caused a few moments of laughter from his mother. She had a friend there, and she too, laughed.

"Did you give it a name?" His mother asked after recovering from her moment of laughter.

"I did! His name is Pine!" He replied, the triumphant look on his face still there.

Before either of them were able to say anything else, the squirrel squeaked again and hopped off of Cayde's back, running out of the den and down the pathway, causing quite a few shocked yelps, followed by a few moments of hilarious troublemaking from the squirrel, causing wolves to scramble around in surprise and run into trees, run into each other, and trip over themselves or the simplest objects.

"IT'S A RAT!!"
One voice yelped out in shock, obviously not realizing that it was a squirrel.

Cayde was just outside of the den, watching this all unfold before looking back at his mother and giving an innocent smile.

...

...

Cayde finally returned to his senses and chuckled, "Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts for a moment there. Ahem... I came here to tell you something." Cayde began.

"Yes?" She said.

"I'm... I'm going to do the Trial of the Mountain." He said, looking down for a moment, knowing that it had to surprise her, and maybe even hurt her. Cayde's father had perished during this Trial, this was definitely hard for Cayde to say, and for his mother to hear.

After a few moments, which felt like hours, she nodded and looked at him, using a paw to move Cayde's head from looking at the ground, to looking at her.

"Cayde... I know you're worried, I know this is hard for you to tell me... we both know why, but I want you to know that I believe in you. I know you can do it. I have all my faith in you, every last bit of it. I will cheer you on, because I know you'll make it." She told him assuringly.

"Th-Thank you, mother..." Cayde said with a slight nod.

"It's no problem. Just know that you will always have my support and faith in you. Always. Okay?" She smiled.

"Okay." He nodded again, this time with more confidence.

"Go ahead, Cayde, I don't want to keep you away from the other things you have to do today. I'm sure you have a lot to do before the Trial. Feel free to come back at any time though, and always remember that I'm going to be cheering you on the whole time."

Cayde smiled at her and nuzzled her once more before backing up and looking at her once more.

"I always believe in you, Cayde." She smiled at her, and Cayde smiled back before leaving the den.

As he took a few steps out of the den and turned to walk down the path, his thoughts started to drift again.

...

...

"You know, Soula, your son is going to grow up to do amazing things." His mother's friend told her.

"Thank you," She replied cheerfully, "I know he will."

The day was drawing to a close, and a young Cayde sat by the edge of a cliff, gazing out at the view, watching as the final colors of the sunset faded and the night sky appeared in all its glory. He sighed softly. It had only been a few hours, but he missed his squirrel friend, Pine. Where did they go after they ran off down the path?

And just like that, as he thought about it, a familiar squeaking noise was heard. Cayde turned around.

"Pine!" Cayde ran up to the squirrel happily, and  the squirrel hopped onto his back and squeaked again, "I missed you! I thought you were gone." Cayde told the squirrel.

Cayde sat back down by the edge, with the squirrel on one of his shoulders. Cayde sighed again, turning his head in the direction of the squirrel.

"You have a home, don't you? You should probably go home, I'm sure your family is getting worried. My mother is gonna get worried if I stay out much longer." Cayde told the squirrel.

The squirrel squeaked in response and hopped off of his shoulder, as if understanding what Cayde had said. The squirrel carefully made its way down the cliff, and eventually went out of sight.

Cayde poked his head down the cliff, watching Pine until they were out of sight.

"See ya later." He said softly.

...

...

Once again, Cayde returned to his senses, and chuckled a little at the memories of the past. He then glanced around, continuing down the path. He was going to visit Pahanin next. He was quite curious as to what her reaction would be. After that, he would go and train, practicing for the Trial of the Mountain, which was only a few days away.

The Trial would be dangerous, yes, but it was still exciting.

Soon, the incredible journey would begin.