The castle is huge. When Andy and her family had arrived, the pup had been awestruck at the sheer size of… everything. The massive stone fortification has sprawling gardens, fountains, trees, and pretty much anything else you can think of. She had spent the first few days exploring the interior and some of the gardens, her huge eyes drinking it all in.

Yes, it is truly amazing but, even in the sprawling compound, Andromeda finds herself itching to explore further and, maybe, test the boundaries a little. She finds a moment to break away from her family and the pup takes the opportunity. The purple pup slips through the castle’s doors and races out toward the plains, the feel of the autumn breeze in her fur making her giggle.

The long grass tickles her belly as she runs, short legs stretching to their limit before snapping back to her body. Unbeknownst to the girl, Bast, her father’s snow leopard friend, silently stalks after the pup, ready to intervene if she is needed. Looping around to head back in the direction of the castle, Andy spies a figure in the distance and she immediately slows, wondering who it could be.

As she draws closer, her pale eyes scan the newcomer and she realizes that it is one of the pups that they came here to see. Confidently she trots up to him, calling out when she is close enough, “‘Ello! Whatca you doin’ out here by ourself?” Andromeda stops in front of the boy, head tilting in curiosity as she eyes the blue, black, and white pup with interest. The fact that she is out her, by herself, is irrelevant since she is older than him.


"Andromeda Fatalis"

Thorn had spent plenty of time in their room looking at where his dad kept embershard.  Someday Thorn imagined he would be an amazing warrior with a fancy weapon also.  Dad’s sword looked awesome and Thorn dreamed up one just like that or other various versions that might look cool to wield and slay his foes.  In Thorn’s puppy mind the notion of slaying still ended with more of his victorious over an enemy versus the reality of death.

For today, Thorn had been roaming the plains with a long stick in his mouth.  Sometimes he held it in the middle, whacking the air with both ends, and other points he held it more like he imagined dad wielded his sword.  Swinging his stick sword wide he spotted something coming towards him and tilted his head to show off his mighty stick in warning.

This was one of the pups that had shown up before, one of his relatives that didn’t live close.  Did dad have a way to talk well when the sword was in his mouth?  Thorn always ended up talking funny if he tried to hold a stick and talk.  Lowering his weapon to the ground Thorn responded, “Hi!  I’m exploring,” after a second he added, “and training.  How about you?”


"Thorn Carpathius"

Andy pulls to a stop near the pup, head tilting in curiosity as they talk, her pale blue eyes are drawn to the pup’s stick and she wonders why he has it. When he asks what she is doing, her gaze snaps back up to meet his eyes and she smiles, shrugging her shoulders as she says, “Running.” The reply is simple enough since it was what she was doing. Nothing more, nothing less. A purple paw lightly jabs in the direction of the stick the pup had been carrying as she asks, “What are you doing with that?”

Suddenly, all the lessons on manners that her mother and father had instilled in the purple girl come crashing to the forefront of her mind and she quickly adds, “My name’s Andy. I’m here visiting my parents. Want to walk with me? You can tell all about your…” a hesitant pause appears as her eyes flick downward to the object as she says, “stick.” With that, Andromeda moves to stand next to the pup, opening the plains for him walk across if he so wishes while she listens to him with rapt attention.


"Andromeda Fatalis"

Running? Yeah, well, he guessed that was an accurate answer.  Apparently, that was all there was to her running. Thorn had done that before but he had been hoping for something more exciting anyway.  He nodded, accepting the simple answer for what it was.  Maybe she’d want to race with him later?

At her question he glanced down at his stick, “I’m training,” he went ahead and repeated his earlier answer before adding, “see, I want to be a great weapon master someday.  Until I can get a real sword I’m practicing with sticks.  The more you train then the better you get.  So I’m training every single day!” Thorn nodded firmly, grinning afterward.  “Dad’s the best weapon master in all the lands right now so I figure no reason I can’t be next.”  

“You like to fight, or race?” Thorn considered before adding, “I guess if you’re family then you might want to see all our land right?  I can show you around.  It’s a whole lot of land out here.  I could show you some of the boundary edges if ya like?  Oh, I can show you where the plains turn into the beach for part of our land!”  The beach seemed pretty amazing to Thorn.  His aunt Bo had told him some about it and dad had taken him out on the beach past their territory once, it had been really cool.  Thorn still had his sand dollar he'd found down there.

"Thorn Carpathius"

Andy tilts her head as the pup speaks of training, eyes falling to the stick once more as the pup then goes on to explain about wanting to be a weapon master someday. A grin appears on the girl’s purple lips as he speaks of his dad and she nods, saying, “Yeah, my dad has told us stories about him and his sword! It has a name… ember… stone? No, uh… flame… shard?” The girl flounders as she tries to pull up the name of the famous sword that the leader of the Hallows wields.

Luckily, the conversation swiftly moves on and she wags her tail when he asks if she likes to fight or race. A giggle spills out as Andromeda shrugs her shoulders, saying, “I have sparred a few times and have killed a couple predators. It would be cool to try and fight against your stick! Maybe, learn somethin’ new. Ya know?” Head tilts in silent question, as her eyes sparkle with excitement before she quickly adds, “Oh, and I like to run so I would totally race you!”

The Carpathius pup then offers to show her around and the purple girl chirps happily, “Yeah! And after that, maybe a race or a spar! Or both!” A wide grin is on her lips as she moves to follow the pup wherever he leads.


"Andromeda Fatalis"

Thorn bobbed his head, “Embershard, that’s his sword.”  Thorned turned towards the west, starting off at a walk.  The pup was starting to feel he was getting worldly experience with several days of freedom to explore.  The scent of autumn that apparently didn’t belong was pleasant even if abnormal.  The bugs were lively and he loved it.  Who wouldn’t?  It was fun jumping on a cluster and watching them all leap away.  

“Oh, I’m Thorn by the way.” Had she known that?  Maybe, most everyone in the castle knew who they were but she was a guest so better to hand it out just in case.  As they got closer to the ocean the wind picked up a bit.  Once they got to the end of the grass with the beach before them the salt could easily be smelled on the wind.  “Check that out!”

Thorn jogged down towards the sandy beach, “there’s fun stuff to find on the beach if you look around also.”

"Thorn Carpathius"

The young Carpathius boy fills in the name of the sword and the purple girl offers him a wide smile. Turning with the blue pup, Andy walks with him, watching the way he carries his stick sword. The air is filled with signs of the magical autumn that have gripped the land and she allows her pale blue gaze to roam over it all.  The pup then offers his name and she turns to look at him while offering a wide grin. Suddenly, the smell of the ocean hits the girl right between her eyes and she turns to watch the golden sandy beach come into view.

The chilly wind picks up, bringing the salty brine of the ocean to the pups. A smile appears on her purple lips as Thorn eagerly exclaims about the beach before jogging down to the golden sand and telling her about finding stuff. Andy follows after him, marveling more at the sand than the ocean itself. She breathes out, saying the word, “Wow” as she exhales. Gently she places her paws on the sand, tilting her head at how different it feels from the sand of her home beach. Would that mean that the water isn’t cold as well?

Turning her gaze to Thorn, Andy smiles and says, “This is so cool! We have a beach back home but it is nothing like this. Ours is black and feels… different. I don’t know how to explain it. Uh, they feel rougher.” Turning her paw, the purple girl scoops up some of the golden granules and lifts them, spreading her toes to allow the sand to fall between them and back down to the beach. The girl watches them with great interest and, as the last of the sand leaves her paw, an idea sparks to life.

Rounding on Thorn, excitement shining brightly in her eyes, Andy says, “Thorn! Have you ever raced on the beach?” Eyebrows left as looks to him, tail wagging as she wonders if he wants to race out here.


"Andromeda Fatalis"