The small winged bean had finally been allowed outside of the family den. He knew that family members and companions hovered in the background, making sure he didn’t get into any trouble. Parents, they were so overbearing, right? But he didn’t mind, really. It was nice to know his mother and father would catch him if he fell.

He had been ushered into the Col, and told he was allowed to explore as much as he liked - so long as he didn’t go into the market, or private dens. That still gave him a lot of area to explore, and caves he was allowed to enter. So, where to start? He hoped up and down a few times, stretching out his wings - pulling them far enough that the white underneath was easy to spot. Pretending he was soaring, he started running, racing across the col with his little wings outstretched.


"Speech"

Maki moo wasn’t sure how long her family were gonna stay here, but she liked the thought of forever. Granpappy had even given them their own rooms, made them feel so welcome even her Daddy had said a time or two that: he could get used to this. The adults all really liked the hot pool of water for some reason, that and the smelly drinks they said Maki was too young to drink yet.

The weather was too nice to stay huddled up in the caves though, the sky clear and the snow sparse under paw. It was the perfect day to explore, right? Certainly when her mismatched eyes spotted what could be a friend leaping about, feathered wings spread wide, looking entirely in his element.

Maki had once asked her sister if wolves could fly, now she was starting to feel like her sister was a big fat liar. If there was a wolf who ever could, it’d be this one right?

Unable to rein in her excitement, Maki scrambled over the rocks, stumbling and tripping over her own paws in her attempt to get over as quickly as possible. He was an Armada wolf, so he was a friend, surely. Those were the rules.

“Ohmigoshh.” Maki panted, tail wagging in a grey blur as she called out to the young boy. He was younger than her so she had to be nice, teach him stuff cause she was older. That was the pup law. “Hiii!!”

He paused in his bird imitation at the sound of another wolf. He glanced around him, and found another young wolf. A girl, black and white with little horns. His expression turned from concentration to a big grin, and he closed the distance between them with a light trott. When she was close enough, he flapped his wings at her like a bird showing off. “Hi! I’m Wylan, I’m a bird like my dads Kea, see?” He said, and did a quick pivot around to really show her the full expanse of his wings.

“Are you my Auntie?” He asked, his dad had explained to him that a large majority of the wolves in the Armada were his family, and some of the slightly older young wolves he would run into would be his Aunties and Uncles. Is this one of the wolves his dad had meant? His dad had also said that even those that weren’t family here were like family. He couldn’t wait to meet everyone!


"Speech"

Maki let out a very impressed oooooooo. He was very much like a bird, all feathery but not beaky. At his question she did have to think about it, like the Fatalis her family was big and sprawling too, it was like a jungle really hard to navigate and work out who was who. She wasn’t the most of mature kids, and maybe one of her sisters would have a better grasp on how this all worked, but she did know that big Serious was sort of like a Grandad? Maybe not Daddy’s dad but close.

"Maybe"She concluded, though maybe one day she’d need to map it all out, work out who was who. "M’Maki!" At least she knew that for certain. Mostly, sometimes she wasn’t Maki, when she played pretend. "Like a…cow!"Because after looking at that herd of white and black bovines, how could she not feel cowish?

Wylans grin only spread at her appreciation. His wings were pretty, weren't they? His mum had said so. She agreed that maybe she was an Auntie, and because she was older and wiser to the world, he took it for fact. "Hi Auntie" the little winged sprout said. He danced from paw to paw, wings bouncing with the impact. "Auntie Maki" he added, when she gave him her name.

"Ohhhh, cow!" He agreed, and bounced another few steps happily, and then paused mid bounce, one paw still stuck up in the air. "Whats a cow?" He asked. He obviously knew what birds where, they were common in the woods and family members had some as companions. "I've never seen a cow before. Will you show me a cow, Auntie!?"


"Speech"

“Well they go mooooooo ‘nd live in fields eating grass.”  She explained, as if she was indeed an expert on farmyard animals. That was about all she knew, honestly, but it had to be enough, surely. Maybe.


“We could go look for one!” Did cows live on mountains? Maybe, even if there wasn’t grass up here it was easy to imagine a cow plodding up the mountain. Maybe they even came in pure white to blend in with all the snow. “Wylan, letss goo on a cow hunt!!” It sure sounded like a grand time to her, scaling the rocks, mooing into the wind.