It felt like she had blinked and suddenly her tiny, helpless pups weren't as tiny or helpless any more. Was this how fast children always grew? She had hardly left the den since they were born. Every minute of every day it felt like she had just been watching them grow. And now they were up and toddling around on their own and wearing her out with their pup levels of energy. It had hardly left her any time or energy to really consider everything that was happening. Or had happened. She was actually a bit grateful for that. She was more than guilty of getting caught in her own thoughts. Today though, as she watched her children play around the den, she decided they were ready to get out of the den for a bit. The weather was actually pretty nice today and the ground was semi-solid since the rain had held off the day before. Perhaps she would be able to avoid some muddy pups. She pulled herself up onto her paws with a little smile. "Come on, you three. Lets go do a little exploring. Stay close to me, okay?" With that she stepped out of the den, keeping an eye behind her to watch the kids follow her out into the light. "Talk" "You" Think

The morning had been wonderful, his mother had kept him warm and had let him feed. As usual, the tyke drank 'til his tummy felt like it was going to burst and then fell fast asleep. He was growing rapidly, even if he hadn't noticed, and quite liked his rest. As Zuriel pulled away from him and announced an expedition, he sleepily blinked up to her with his youthful blue eyes- yet to change to their true color. The jet black pup could hardly believe what he was hearing, did she really mean they would go out there? Into the light?

He wasn't afraid really, in fact seeing new things quite excited him, but oh goshhh why didn't she tell them sooner? Perhaps, he would have ate a lighter breakfast! The chubby little tyke did his best to get to his feet, though yawned halfway and stumbled back down on to his round belly. Oof. He laid his head down defeatedly on the soil and looked up to his mother as if pleading for help. Could she carry him on their expedition? That would be lovely. Probably not, but if anything he would allow his siblings to get around and get ready first before he put in any more effort than needed.

Daelos blinked up at their mother with surprise when she mentioned that they could do some exploring. They were gonna go outside?! Her ears tucked back nervously for a moment until she saw Kane try to get up and then just flop back down. She giggled softly at him, hopping over to paw at his tail. He ate too much! Silly brother. "Come on, Kane! Les go, 'kay?" she told him, nudging his hip with her nose. She looked back over at Miach to make sure he was coming too before she finally padded over to the den's exit where their mother had already gone through. She hesitated till she saw Zuriel looking back to watch them. She didn't wanna look like a scaredy cat in front of Momma!

She puffed her chest out and climbed out into the sunlight, squinting a bit until her eyes adjusted. She started looking around, her ears straight up as she started taking it all in. It was so big out here! Daelos skittered over to her mother's side, pressing herself into Zuriel's front leg. All of her wants to look all brave were out of the window, at least until her brothers came out there with her too. She peered up at Zuriel, her little tail wagging away behind her. "Where we gonna go, Momma?" She was still excited to do all the new things... just not all on her own.

Rather than sleep and eat like his brother, Miach had found something far more entertaining to do. He'd managed to find a leaf after he'd woken up and had spent the last ten minutes pouncing on it. The boy would wiggle his rump in the air as he bowed, some times falling over on his clumsy puppy legs, and yapping at the thing before leaping on it as if it were some prey animal and he was going in for the kill. He did this until he felt a little worn out and lazy before flopping to the ground and chewing on it. The leaf was dead, rather dry, and very crinkly and it wasn't long before it was crunched into bits by his tiny milk teeth. The debris stuck to his tongue and the roof of his mouth and it wasn't long before the boy was pawing at his tongue and spitting furiously to get the horrible chunks out. Yuck! By the time he'd spat the rest of the leaf out his mother had already posed the question of going outside. The tiny little dead plant forgotten, Miach bounded to his paws eagerly. Outside! They were gonna go outside! Admittedly Miach had already thought about sneaking outside, but every time he'd thought about it his mother was always watching and he'd never been given a good opportunity before he got too hungry or tired. But now she was going to let them go! This was going to be the best day of his life! Miach wasted no time in following after Zuriel. He barely gave Kane a glance as the boy tried to get up before flopping back down. He ignored Daelos too as she went over to nudge him. All he cared about was following his mom and that's exactly what he did. He zoomed outside (which really wasn't that fast at all) and instantly went past his mother only to trip over a stick. An angry puppy growl escaped him as he landed on his face, but he was more embarrassed than anything else. He rose to his paws and turned around to yap and the thing that had attacked him. He'd show it who was boss! He then lunged forward and snapped it in his jaws to chew on it furiously. It'd learn never to mess with him again! Death to the stick! Walk, "Talk" Think