Kione was thrilled with Chimera’s choice of land to expand to.  Kione couldn’t say he knew all of the terrain yet but he knew the most important part, the falls themselves.  There was a wonderful spot to jump from the top of the falls that was a perfect height, and perfect water depth for a good dive in.  Unfortunately, knowing the falls wasn’t enough to claim a land.  They had to make sure the rest of the terrain was also good land to claim, with no hiding threats or unwanted features to it.

Kione once again had the company of Ruse as they explored, along with two of Fenmyre wolves he hadn’t partnered up with in any travels.  The more the merrier in the wild dog’s mind!  Those accompanying were all young, stuck in that odd age between child and adult.  Kione was protective of any family of course but the younger the wore the more ferocious his need to protect.  Whether or not they were strong fighters in their own right the painted dog took their safety seriously.

While Kione would love to go racing after a bear when he scented one, the dog veered off a bit.  There would be chasing or killing off predators later on and he’d be happy to help then.  They had an assignment for now and would keep the focus strictly on it.  “Looks like we will be having fun later.  Several spots of older bear scents and that last one was really fresh.  Plenty of food all about too.”  Sure, Kione wasn’t a solo hunter but it didn’t take a hunter to scent all the prey options available.

He'd take them about the borders of the falls, work their way inward and finally stop at the falls he loved so much.  “Ample source of fresh water, fish, and one of the best swimming holes you can find.  Plenty of shade from this hot sun as well.  Only problem I’ve seen with it so far is the bears it brings in and that shouldn’t be a hard thing to fix.  I’m not a master of hunting though so might be some thoughts to it I haven’t considered?  Or anything else that might concern any of you?” They were younger but, that didn’t mean they knew less than him about everything.  Kione was enjoying himself but really, that was a normal state for him most days.

"Fenmyre"

Valtiel wasn't excited to leave the island, but she was excited to be accompanying Cerberus on an expedition into a territory that his father planned to claim. The gilded girl knew that the other girl was Cerberus' sister. The strange dog must have been well trusted by the King to be entrusted with the safety of two of his children. Valtiel would do her best to defend Cerberus and his sister as well if it came to it. She owed it to him. She owed him everything.

Kione began to speak, laying out the pros and cons of this place. Val nodded in agreement. "The thick foliage might make it difficult to see danger coming. It would be easy to be ambushed. I wonder if we might be able to thin out the trees and bushes around the outside of the territory." Midnight ears perked as she looked towards Cerberus, wondering what he might think about the idea.

"Valtiel"

Ruse was always eager and excited to go out exploring and seeing places that she hadn't been yet, but she was especially happy about getting to do it with Kione again. He made their other trips fun so she didn't expect anything else from this one. They did have some work ahead of them today and she was kind of glad to be putting something she enjoyed so much to work for her dear father. They were looking to expand their territory which of course she was very on board with since that meant shed have an even wider range of places she was cleared to travel out into and explore on her own! Logically she knew that pack borders didn't always stop someone from trespassing onto the land, but she was learning to fight now so she was confident that she'd be fine even if she came all the way out to the falls on her own.

Kione started to point out some of the features and benefits of the falls that sat in the middle of a forest of cedar trees and she nodded along in agreement as he spoke. Fresh water, fish, and swimming holes were certainly all big perks in her mind as well. The scents of the bears that criss crossed this place had gotten her attention as well, but her father could fight anything and she knew her brothers were just as capable. Plus, she'd be able to fight them herself one day as well so she wasn't worried about them! When Kione asked if there was anything he hadn't thought of or if they had any concerns Valtiel spoke up about the thick foliage possibly allowing them to get ambushed because it could block them from seeing danger coming. She nodded in agreement and mentioned, "My mom and aunts have a bunch of tools that they use to dig up and prune the plants in the greenhouse! I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to do." She took a quick look around to see if there was anything she could add and mentioned, "The cedar trees are also very different from what we have on the island. They might be a better source of wood and branches than what we currently have for building or firewood."

"Rusalka Alondra Klein"

As the group of wolves ventured out to the falls where Cerberus had visited before, they all settled and took a look around at their surroundings of the land. As of recently Cerberus had spent more time just outside of the pack in extended patrols which was how he found Valtiel. He had grown used to the terrain of the falls here, but that made him easy to look over most of it by now. Now that they were in the middle of it to explore what the land had to offer, he opened his eyes a little more.

His attention was brought to Valtiel as she spoke her own observations, one of his paws raised up to pet carefully down her back. He knew that being outside the island since he found her wasn't comfortable for her and he had started to grow into an affection for her as if she was apart of any of his family. She'd have his protection as any one of his brothers or sisters.

Ruse mentioned the cedar trees which caused him to look upwards at the branches. They were all good ideas and comments for the expansion. "We'll have to be heavy and work hard on patrols here at the falls, until we get the bears situated and moved out only the fighters should travel through here." His eyes looked over towards the pool of the falls and glanced over around the trunks of the trees, "I'm sure we can find plenty of flourishing plants here as well. We can either relocate them into a garden here and take some back to the island."

"Cerberus"

Kione grinned at Valtiel’s idea, nodding.  Kione preferred wide open areas of land so the more trees they wanted to turn down the better the place would be.  A few trees were never bad for a bit of shade but he’d rather have wide areas of open room when he fought for more freedom of movement and no trees in the way when dodging lethal blows.  “I like that plan, happy to help with it.”

Ruse was able to add to the idea, not only removing trees from here but reusing them for another purpose.  “Well, we’d definitely need some form of tool to remove trees.”  These weren’t trees you could just use weight to knock over and their teeth weren’t designed to chip away at a tree.  “Sound’s like we got wolves in the pack smart enough to know the best way to go ‘bout it.”  Kione wasn’t going to pretend he had a clue about things he didn’t know.

Cerberus went down a path of thought Kione was more familiar with, nodding solemnly at the threats that would be around their pack. “It'll take a good season prolly to teach the bears to stay out of our new land.  They have a great food source here they won’t want to give up.  Once the bears that are used to coming here are dead ther'ell be less new ones.  I agree, anyone who can’t fight shouldn’t be here til it's safer.”

"Kione"

Her idea of thinning out the outer rim of the territory was taken seriously and was taken well. Valtiel smiled both happily and thankfully that she hadn't been brushed off or her idea discarded. The sudden, comforting stroke of Cerberus brought the young wolf's long, midnight tail to wagging back and forth in pleasure. Dark ears dipped in reverence as she looked up towards the black and russet wolf in appreciation of his care and concern.

As the ideas of the rest all melded together, Val continued to think. Having very expressive ears, they shifted forward as she posed yet another idea. "Perhaps we could use the wood from the trees that we cut to create a den here in this territory as well like King Chimera did next to the dam?" This time she directed her attention towards Rusalka as the girl had seemed eager to do something with the wood after. Kione was willing to help with thinning out the trees and Val grinned at him as well.

Cerberus went on to speak of the dangers of claiming a new territory and another thought popped into the young lady's mind. "Are there any other packs nearby that would border this territory? Do we know them, if so? Side by side borders might be an issue if tensions are high between two groups." Val knew nothing of any pack outside of Fenmyre and she looked to the other three for guidance.

"Valtiel"

Ruse’s ears perked at the idea of using the trees they cut down to create some kind of den or home out here and she gave Valtiel a nod and a grin. She didn’t think that she would necessarily enjoy that much physical labor that would be required to do such a thing, but… she could point out things to do to her much larger and stronger brothers so that they could do the hard work for her. While the others continued to talk about security concerns and how only fighters should really be out here until they get the bears under control and the mention of other packs near by, her attention wavered and she looked out at the land around them again and let her two-toned eyes follow the river up toward the falls. She more or less stopped paying attention to the conversation and was thinking about how she wanted to go swimming instead.

"Rusalka Alondra Klein"

With the main difficulty of the land discussed Cerberus had liked the idea of making another community den here at the falls too. He was sure the pack could work together here while they were still situating the bears and make another community den during that time frame. With the lot of them, they would all be safe if something arose.

"I think a pack den built over by the face of the falls would fit nicely." His head raised above to look up at the cedar trees that were branching above them. "This seems like a perfect vacation spot during the dry season. The trees harbor more shade than the dam does." It did seem even relatively dark now compared to the sun shining over the beaches of the island.

His attention looked towards his sister for a second as he noticed she had been quiet for a moment. He put on a hidden smirk as his eyes rose back again to her before he moved quickly to push her gently sideways with his paw, aiming to move her backwards into the stream that led down from the falls. It was all fun and games coming from Cerberus, he'd never mean harm to her or any of his other siblings. He had even forgot to respond to Valtiel's own question of neighboring packs, maybe that meant it wasn't an issue at least.

"Cerberus"

Kione loved this spot and already was imagining how much time he’d happily spend guarding the surrounding area, especially the falls.  His tail flagged in content enjoyment of their task.  “There is a pack relatively close. There will still be a bit of land between us but the Hallows aren’t too far at all.  Fenmyre and Hallows are allies though.  I’ve met a few of their wolves.  Nice bunch fun as I’ve seen.”

Glancing at Cerberus Kione’s smile grew to a good-sized grin, “oh, I can assure you it is a wonderful vacation spot.” Kione winked, “aside from killing things there isn’t much that beats a good swim, especially when there’s a nice diving spot like these falls.  I’ve had more than a handful of visits to this place.”  Any time the wolves couldn’t handle the summer heat they’d do just fine in this pool.


"Kione"

A little frown pulled at the girl maw as Cerberus ignored her question, instead turning his full attention to his sister. It wasn't jealousy, surely. She was a servant. There was no base for jealousy. No matter what she labeled the feeling as, she didn't like that she felt this way. It didn't change how she felt for Ruse, however. The girl had been pretty nice.

Kione began to answer her, mentioning that there was a nearby pack, but they were allied with Fenmyre. The dark lady nodded, comforted by the fact that there wouldn't be an issue with their border possibly touching that of another. Gold and orange eyes drifted over the tiered falls, imagining what the place might be. In the end, she pulled up a little patch of shade and laid down, waiting for the others to finish up so they could go back and report to the King.

"Valtiel"

Ruse's day dreaming and pondering was suddenly interrupted as her brother gave her a little shove and she gasped as she stumbled a bit before she could catch herself, one of her paws landing in the stream. Luckily she was able to catch herself before she went tumbling in, but that didn't mean Cerberus didn't earn himself a glare from the speckled and dappled princess. She turned her two-toned gaze toward him with narrowed eyes and a grin tugging at her lips and then kicked up some water with the paw that had fallen in the cool stream, splashing it toward Cerberus without much regard for whether she got Valtiel or Kione wet also in the process. She had to get back at him somehow! ... and sometimes there had to be crossfire involved. She completely missed all the talk about the other pack, the possibility of the vacation den over by the base of the falls, how the trees provided more shade in the dry season, but they all seemed to have this figured out. All she needed to know was that this place was nice and she liked the stream and now she had a place to go swimming that wasn't an ocean! That certainly checked all of her boxes.

"Rusalka Alondra Klein"

Cerberus rumbled in a quiet chuckle as Ruse fought back at him, playfully of course. His attention on his sister for the mere moment, he could test just how fun and relaxing the land was once they could get it secured. Cerberus shook off his coat before reaching a paw over to Ruse to offer her back out of the stream. Still with that contented grin he rejoined with the others, taking steps closer towards Valtiel rather than Kione. "I'm sure the rest of the pack will come to love the falls too. I'm sure my brothers can't wait to explore." His paw reached for Valtiel in just the same way it had for Ruse so they could all travel back to the island together. Letting his sister and Valtiel walk just a little in front of him he'd walk more beside Kione on the way back to ensure the safety of the two ladies from any bears or any other unexpected guests.

"Cerberus"