"Dad." said a scale-less doe. Her mane was wild and unkempt, her hooves caked with mud. "I'm gonna go explore okay?" she said.
"What? I'll go with you then." said her father, a buck with ridiculously oversized horns, and a ridiculously short tail.
"No! I want to go by myself, dad"
"Don't be silly, you can't go out on your own. I understand a doe like you wants to go out and see the swamp, but it's dangerous out there. I can't have my little filly running off into the wild where crocodiles and lynxes can kill her. I'm going with you."
"Dad! I'm not a little filly anymore! I'm not a helpless little doe like Hidden Terror!"
"Don't talk about your sister that way! You know she can't control what happens to her."
"She's not even really my sister dad. What I'm trying to say is that I'm just as strong as any buck and you know it! I train every night just like you do every day. And I bet I could even take you on in a spar!"
"What did you say? You've been out every night! How dare you defy me and sneak around behind my back. Get back into the den, you're not going anywhere for a while."
"What? You can't do this to me! I'm old enough to make my own decisions dad!"
"Not while you're in my tribe! Soon enough you'll be in another buck's harem. And I will be the one to choose which buck. Just like every other decision involving your life. You aren't strong enough to make your own."
"This is what I'm talking about! You don't even give me a chance to prove myself! If I can't live my own life in your tribe then I'm leaving! I'm not going to wait around to be tied to some buck I don't even care about. Goodbye!" she cried, her voice hoarse by the end of it. With that, she sped off into the swamp as fast as she could, not looking back at the stunned father who speechlessly stood, wondering with teary eyes what he had just done.
