Soft, sweet tones of a child humming drifted through the dark, damp forest. A wordless, happy little tune. The notes stopped occasionally, but would quickly start once again as though the singer was completing some task and had stopped to concentrate.

Though the forest was formed of close knit trees, the child had found a rare clearing. Sunlight filtered down through crisscrossing branches, illuminating the area sufficiently for the task at hand. Tendrils of fog snaked into the clearing from the dark depths but were quickly devoured by the light above.

In the center of the clearing sat a young girl. She was humming happily as she worked on something. Again she stopped her song. A wet squelch could be heard accompanied by a grunt of effort, then the humming resumed.

Today, Aslatiel had decided to venture away from home. She had her aunt's snow leopard as a chaperone. The big leopard lounged in the shade as she worked. The pair had come across a young fox and had quickly ended its life. Now, in her little clearing, the cream and grey princess had her prey sliced down the center, thoroughly eviscerated. She was going to skin the fox, but she had something else in mind as well. She wanted the skull to take home. Maybe she'd give it to Azure as a gift. He'd surely appreciate the grisly present.

Elbow deep in the body cavity of her prey, the girl was in no hurry. She played with the entrails, squishing them between her toes. Her pretty little coat was flecked with blood, but her fore legs, chest and face were covered in it. Without looking up, the child called out to the leopard in her happy little tones. "Enki, do you think you could find me another fox?" Maybe she could have a matching skull for herself.

Eraithus almost thought that this place was fitting, the mist that travelled through it was like him. Except he was unpredictable to many, with a kind smile and a demenor of a protective older brother nobody expected his dark secret. Thus far he'd been stuck in these lands with nowhere to go. No pack fit his wants or needs and not to mention now with his brother and sister missing his purpose had been struck down. He must not forget that his father sent him to these lands to spread their family name. While Eraithus really had no desire to become an alpha nor a band leader, he supposed that some of these family genes would have to be passed on without connections. However he shook his head, how could he think of settling down with a family in these strange lands when he still had much to learn. Like when he stopped - staring right in front of him at a pup who was playing with a dead fox.

He made note of the leopard who was guarding the small creature. Eraithus was no idiot and he wouldn't risk himself. Even then as she played with the entrails ultimately it didn't disturb him rather he smiled the pup was learning new things and that was what was important. Eraithus hadn't realized how desensitized he was to these things, perhaps he had fallen that low but no his father in spirit would be upset. "I could get you another fox if you wanted." he had overheard the pup talking. This in turn made him turn towards the leopard with his same stretched smile he usually had. Warm and kind is what he always went for. "I mean no harm. It's great that you have such a strong creature as your guard pup." it was interesting. He'd been seeing more and more of these animal companions. Perhaps he should get one himself.

A voice from behind disturbed her work and the girl child turned her head to look in the direction of that voice. From his resting place, Enki released a low growl of warning, but made no move to intercept the wolf. Aslatiel sat up, raising one paw top scratch an itch on her cheek, leaning a swath of blood to stretch across her pale fur. Lavender eyes sparkled. "You could? I really need one. Then my brother and I can have matching skulls. He might like that."

Azure and Mort were both busy with running for heir. Indigo was busy avoiding her. Aslatiel was feeling their loss. She had no real purpose and, left to her own devices, was becoming rather wild. Father was busy running a pack. Mother was busy with... whatever she was doing. Asla had to entertain herself. She liked stars and killing things. So, she hunted and played by day. By night she watched stars.

Leaving her corpse be for the time being, the small, striped child padded forward. "I'm Aslatiel Fatalis: Princess of the Armada. Who are you?" She tilted her head sweetly, the filtering light from above glinting off of her bloodied cheek.

Eraithus stood firm, he was healthily afraid of the snow leopard. Those claws could easily rip him apart and he wasn't about ready to lose his life over a pup. It wasn't in his nature to harm young ones anyway. So she was on the search for skulls then? It was an interesting keep sake - he never had thought about bones. Well for the fact that he enjoyed wolf's blood he didn't know if he'd ever be willing to bring himself to skin and take bones of his fellow creatures. Yet - his mind was entertaining that fact. He smiled at her, "It'd be a pleasure." he responded.

It was interesting to see her covered in blood, such soft fur and lightly colored stained easily. The scent of Armada told him though, this was just how the pack was. When she introduced herself as a princess he would dip his head. "Eraithus Zanthus, I was the son of a king but I've travelled to Boreas in search of a new life and to carry on my family name." he said to her. It was then that he quickly darted into the bushes to look for that fox. It was easy to find one, returning it to the princess as he placed the clean kill in front of her.

Little teeth flashed as Aslatiel grinned. So the man was a prince. Fitting. He bowed his head to her and she did the same to him, that grin sticking to her features. Eraithus said that he'd left his kingdom to continue his family name and the girl nodded. "Family is very important. I'm very proud of my name." The girl would grow to do everything in her power to make that name known throughout the land. She would support those that shared that name and they would all rise to greatness. Or so she believed.

When Eraithus said that he would get her a second fox, Asla's eyes lit up. "Would you?!" In a moment, the brute was gone. As she waited for his return, she began to once again peel the flesh away from the skull of the fox, scraping off clinging tissue. If she shoved the eye holes with the bright orange tails, it would look like the eyes were glowing, wouldn't it?

Soon she had a second fox which Eraithus had dropped at her paws. "Ohhh, thank you!" She set to work, flipping her claws out to slice open the newly procured fox. "Hopefully my brother likes his gift. He's a lot like me. My other two brothers... not so much." Mort and Indigo were too sweet to enjoy the bloodier things in life. Casting a sidelong glance at her new friend, she asked while she worked. "So what do you do, Eraithus? Do you like hunting? Fighting? Healing?"

Eraithus watched the pup with curiosity while he listened to her speak. So she had three siblings? He felt an ache in his heart all of a sudden for his brother and sister but he was sure if they were here that they would find him. "I know that feeling, I'm sure my brother and sister wouldn't be too happy with me skinning and keeping prey like this. I find it really interesting though, for you to be figuring it out at such a young age too is impressive." he chuckled as he watched her work. It was then that Aslatiel asked what he liked to do. The male sat down, curling his tail around his haunches as the blue boy looked at the mangled foxes.

"I'm mainly a fighter. I've already fought a few wolves in these lands. I even took down a pretty big guy. My siblings are missing so I'm trying to find out what I really want out of my life for the moment." not that he really expected a child to understand. However she seemed to have.... a good? Head on her shoulders despite this. Assuming from her looks she was nearly a year old and with an escort like the snow leopard he didn't think that she was the average pup to begin with.

As Eraithus spoke, Asla tilted her head a bit. His siblings wouldn't be happy to see him skinning a corpse like this? Was there something wrong with it? A little frown tugged her lower lip downward, but she didn't say anything against his words. It was nice to know that he had family out in the world though. "My brother, Azure.. he likes the same things that I do. He'll appreciate what I'm going to make him." She planned on painting the matching skulls with the paints that she used for her star maps. She would paint Azure's star big and blue.

Again she listened to the blue man speak. He was a fighter, but he didn't know what to do with himself just yet. It was good to know that even adults didn't always have things figured out completely. "You should join a pack, maybe. If anything they'll keep you safe while you try to find your family. They might even help you find them." Family was important. It was very important. "When I grow up," she continued the line of conversation, "I'm going to be a great hunter. I'm going to support whichever of my brothers takes the throne after my father. I'm going to make the Fatalis name the greatest name in the universe." Grand ideas, but she was intent on seeing them through.

Eraithus was happy to hear she had a brother who liked the same things as she did. It was important to get along with family and he missed that for sure. He felt lost without his brother and sister. At home he had his dads, his moms, the entire pack to interact with and to help him flourish. He did agree that he probably should find a pack for protection but his pride, his horrible pride had been keeping him from doing that. His goal was to spread his gene's far and wide - not that this child would understand that at this age. Though he did suppose she understood mates if her parents were still together. "I debated joining a pack, but my want for freedom tends to win out. I don't like being told how to live and my cultural habits are a lot different and not acceptable to a lot of the local packs around." he told her as he smiled.

"That sounds like an amazing goal to have Aslatiel. I want a big family, to settle down with a few wives and husbands and just raise little ones. Of course being a warrior along the way. I'm just not ambitious enough to want to be a leader. See young one I'm polyamorous which means I believe in marriage between more than one other wolf. My father had two wives and a husband." Eraithus had never been picky on gender either. Though procreation had been the main goal. Perhaps it was just their odd colors to be spread out he didn't know but a family sounded nice. Hanging out with Aslatiel also strengthened that ideal - a family sounded nice right about now.

"Cultural habits?" That was a new phrase for the girl. Aside from her affections with Indigo, she hadn't been told that anything was off limits yet in her life. To her, everything was acceptable because she was a princess. It never dawned on her that the things she enjoyed were frowned upon. Didn't everyone tear little animals apart just to see what was inside? How else were you supposed to learn what a heart looked like? Shaking the thoughts from her head, she continued to listen.

The way that Eraithus explained his future life sounded wonderful to the girl. Oh, wait... Husbands AND wives?! You could do that?! The cream and grey childs jaw dropped and she stared up at the man in wonder. You didn't just have to have one partner for the rest of your life like father made it out to be. There were options. "That sounds wonderful," she exclaimed with whisperish wonder. "I want husbands and wives when I grow up. Lots of them. No kids though. Kids are gross." She was bound and determined to never have children. Yuck.

Oh, perhaps he said something he shouldn't have. Eraithus wasn't looking to make a rebellious daughter of this pup. Family was important he knew that well enough and she had said so herself that her last name her surname meant a lot to her. While Eraithus wasn't a part of it, he knew the feeling of family. "Your culture is your family, the morals passed down from your mother and your father. The pride in your last name." he would start. "No matter how much you hate a family member, or don't get along with them. Blood or not, it's important to have their back because your culture is what makes you who you are." hopefully those were the right things to say because he fully believed those things himself. He was blindsided - he had never had a member of his family that he hated.

He chuckled though at her excitement. "It's called polygamy. But I would talk to your parents about it first, it isn't for everyone and sometimes mates can get very very jealous." it was a rapid fire spreading. Eraithus knew that he accepted such things but sometimes wolves were meant to be monogomous because of their survival. He laughed at her notion that she'd never have pups. Weather or not she believed that would only be told in due time. After all she was only a child herself it was healthy for her to reject the idea of pups. "You are a strong young pup Aslatiel and a beautiful princess, I'm sure you'll bring your family pride. Just remember to support them no matter how frustrated you get. Believe me I know." here he was trying to lecture a child..... he certainly hoped she didn't take it the wrong way. He didn't know her life and the least he needed was for her to go telling a pack Eraithus had tried teaching a child that was not his own about 'family'.

Asla listened to his explanation of what cultural habits were. The girl wrinkled her blush colored nose and gave her head a shake. "Why wouldn't your cultural habits be accepted though? If they are morals and habits from your family, then they should be accepted, right?" She just didn't get that bit. Maybe she needed a specific reason as to why it wouldn't be accepted by other wolves?

"Polygamy," she tried the word out. She planned on talking to her father about it later. Having lots of wolves around her sounded better than having just one. It made sense to the girl, so surely it would make sense to her father. Eraithus prompted her to always support her family no matter what and the girl nodded, a serious look on her face. "I'll always support my true family." She would support her brothers, her father and she supposed her mother too. There was nothing that she wanted more than to see her brothers succeed in life.

"I hope you find your family, but maybe we could be friends? That might make you feel less lonely, right?" Again she tilted her head, this time in the opposite direction. She quite liked the steely man. He was very interesting and was teaching her a lot of things. Plus he'd gotten her the fox for Azure, so that gave him a gold star in her book.

Eraithus chuckled a bit, he enjoyed this young pups company. Her odd habits and all, part of him couldn't wait to see the young wolf that she grew up to be. He was young himself and it left plenty of time to witness that. Flicking his tail he looked at her, "Well you see my cultural habits probably differ from most of the packs. Like yours, I don't think you father would enjoy having a rival male wanting to settle down and produce children that are not his." he shook his head it probably wasn't the best idea after all. Eraithus shifted finally settling down so he could lay on his stomach. "To me there is no such thing as true family. Family is family, name and all." he shook his head but that's how he saw things.

Eraithus perked a bit when she mentioned that she hoped he found his family. Him too he missed his brother and sister and they were the only connection he had to his family. Since they had left together but now he was fearing he would never see them again. "I would... enjoy that actually. You're a smart young one Aslatiel. I don't have many friends in these new lands and I could learn a thing or two from you." he laughed a little. "Is there any games you like to play?" he tilted his head to one side.

Asla laughed softly at the blue wolf's assessment of her father. "No, he's not like that. He would welcome you if you swore fealty to him. He would welcome your children as well if you asked his permission first." She knew this to be true. "He would have to be sure that the pack is capable of handling extra mouths to feed." Which they were. The Armada was full of hunters. Herself included.

The girl saw things entirely different when it came to family. To her, blood was family. Anyone that did not share blood with her would never be family. Secondary citizens, at most. She was accepting of the beliefs of others though and wouldn't tell the man that he was wrong. Especially when he felt so strongly about it.

When Eraithus lay down on his stomach, Asla pushed her gory task away and laid down as well. He said that he would like to be her friend and the cream and grey girl beamed. It would be nice to have a friend that wasn't related to her. When he asked after games, Asla tilted her head slightly and thought about it. "I used to like to play hunt with my brother's but we're too big for that now. We hunt for real." She sighed and tossed herself onto her side. "At least, we used to. Azure and Mortis are too busy learning how to inherit the pack. Indigo is too busy with his garden. I've been off on my own for a while, just... doing whatever." She waved a paw, indicating her foxes.

Eraithus decided to not inquire further on it. He didn't like the thought of pledging fielty to someone he didn't know. Eraithus wasn't looking to being told what to do or whome to fight. While he wasn't ambitious either - he was beginning to think that this was the problem in itself. If he didn't like being told what to do, but was a pack wolf by nature what was he supposed to do? Now that his siblings weren't around he couldn't exactly suggest his brother take the reigns. Eraithus just wanted a small family at this point. A few wives, maybe a husband and their pups. He sighed at the notion that was the dream life but relationships took time and effort and not many would enjoy being part polygamous family unit. Since he wasn't looking for one night stands.

That's right Aslatiel was almost a yearling from the looks of it. Hunting then it was obvious that was something she enjoyed but then he hummed for a bit. "Would you like me to teach you some fighting then? I'm sure you've probably had basics taught to you in your pack but if I say so myself I'm a decent fighter." he lifted his head with a bit of pride. He had most definitely been getting better. Eraithus had fought a couple of the wolves of these lands and it had filled him with a sense of belonging in a way. Also because of his addiction to blood it helped satiate that.

Eraithus offered to teach her some fighting techniques and Asla's purple eyes brightened. "Oh yes!" She exclaimed, happily. Everyone else had been too busy for her. She really wanted to learn how to fight... but today wasn't the day for it. She would have to make an appearance home at some point. "Could we do it some other day? I really want to learn, but I have to get home soon." In fact, she was already sitting the fox skulls and tails aside. She would deal with them later.

Taking the skulls one at a time, the kitten clawed girl climbed the tree that she had claimed and stuck them up in a crook of branches so that bigger animals might not chew on them. Coming back down, she decided to leave the rest of the corpses where they were. Something else would come clean those up. That was just how it worked out in the wild.

Bringing her attention back to the blue man, Asla tilted her head. "Where will you go?" She already worried about her new friend being out on his own. She wished that he would come back with her and be part of the pack, but she understood why he wouldn't want to. Not everyone wanted to live beneath someone else. Besides, he had his family to find.