Desolation Undone

Her mother had said that she was allowed anywhere as long as she wasn't alone. Well, she wasn't alone. The small, cream and grey pup had convinced her father's snow leopard, Bast, to accompany her out of Armada lands and into the world. Pointy, fluffy ears heard tell of a great volcano that had wreaked havoc on the land before she was born. Asla just had to see it with her own two eyes. It amazed her that something capable of such destruction existed in the world. If she looked into the volcano, a thing that had murdered wolves and other animals alike, and came away unscathed, she would be a fierce thing indeed.

Small, dark paws carried the girl across the land, Bast really making pace with the little wolf. Here and there she would stop, sinking her kitten claws into whatever wood she might find. It was important to leave your mark on the world and Aslatiel chose to take that in the literal sense. Her marks were all over the land. Well, at least they were all over the places that she'd been. The girl wasn't as traveled as she'd like to be, but she was slowly fixing that.

"What do you think we'll find, Bast? Do you think the volcano will try to eat us up? Mom said it was asleep now. Do you think we'll wake it?" Beside her, the leopard snorted and merely shook her head. A cat of little words. Asla was content to talk to herself mostly, though she asked the questions either to Bast or aloud. Being so young, she was still amazed by the wonders of the world and her brain went faster than the speed of light.

The child saw the volcano long before they reached it. Stark black against the desolate landscape, the land barren all around it. The carnage left in its wake was evident. The trees at the base of the mountain had been burnt to a crisp and, though barely any stood, were blackened and gnarled. Asla hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether or not she really wanted to go to the top. In the end, she decided that she needed to. She was no coward. Imagine what her brothers would think when she told them that she'd stared into the mouth of the volcano and came away alive.

"Come on, Bast." As she climbed upwards, Asla imagined that the ground was still warm. All in her mind, of course. The volcano had erupted and was now fast asleep. Rounding a corner in the trail, the girl came face to face with a charred skull. Ears perked forward and she gave it a sniff. It was a wolf skull and was rather large, although all skulls were large when you were as small as she was. Lifting the skull, the girl paved it atop her own head. It was convenient that the bottom jaw was missing. She could barely see out of the holes, but she continued her precarious ascent up the mountainside. She slipped once and Bast caught her, growling in irritation before removing the skull from the pups head. "No fun..." The girl grumbled under her breath.

At the top of the mountain, Asla stopped. She had seen first hand what a volcano could do to a wolf. And yet she was still going to do what she came here to do. Moving up to the edge, Aslatiel peered over the side and saw. .. nothing. It wasn't a great, fiery inferno like she'd imagined. It was dark and cold and deep. With a snort, the girl pulled back. "There isn't even anything here, " She told the cat. The volcano was spent. It had spewed is load of magma on the land and now it was asleep , just like mom had said.

With a sigh of frustrated disappointment, Asla moved back a few paces and sat. Bast lounged beside her, glad for the rest. The girl just happened to turn her attention behind her and purple eyes went wide. She'd been so intent on the volcano itself that she hadn't even thought about looking or on the land from up above. The world was so big! From up here, Asla could see the devastation that the volcano had caused. She could see just how long its reach had been. A sudden breeze blew a cloud of old ash around the girl in a little tornado and she sneezed.

Though fire had eaten the land, the plants were already rising again. From up above, she could see the grey and black of the land was tinged with the green growth of new grass. Even up here, a little flower had bloomed on the edge of the mountain path. It was a basic dandelion, but it was a flower nonetheless. "So even after the volcano eats everything, things grow back. " The girl said it aloud, knowing that the cat wouldn't answer. It was interesting knowledge. She wondered if it was the same with all fires or just volcanic fires. She would have to ask someone about that.

"Well, are you ready to go? " already she was bored. Stars were much more interesting than volcanoes. Bast grumbled again and got to her paws. As the went back down the mountain, Asla encountered the big, charred skull again. With one paw, she pushed it off of the oath and watched it crash and shatter on the ground below. With a snort and a chuckle, the pair continued on home. Wait til the boys heard about this one.