Resting on an overturned water trough Birna tucked her feet under her larger body to warm them as she took a break from patrol. Autumn was moving in fast but she was ready for winter. Her thick, light pelt and large frame made her suited for storing heat in the cooler months though she'd need to make sure to fix up her den before it started to snow. For the moment everything was golden and bright in the autumn sunlight, the leaves were turning a rich variety of colors and the late afternoon was lovely to look at. A leaf caught in the breeze landed by her left forepaw and she reached out and crushed it with a satisfying crunch. "Speech"

She was getting really good at giving her parents the slip. At this point they turned away for one second, blinked at just the wrong time, and she was gone, disappearing into the wilds (or, you know, settled packlands) without a single thought given to safety. She never looked back, never got scared, and the only way (so far) that she'd gotten home was being found and returned. Of course she'd never gotten to the point of wanting to come back, so there was no telling if she'd be able to on her own, but Rhys was confident that one way or another she'd snuggle up next to Rhyme that night. Crunch. Rhys's head rose and the leaf she'd been munching on fell out of her mouth. She lifted her head and scented the breeze as her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Hm. There was someone else here, someone she didn't know. From her last encounter with a stranger Rhys now knew to be more wary. Well, that, and that people that smelled like her parents were okay. Ish. She still didn't know what to make of that dark marked white woman and wasn't sure if all of the "friendlies" were like her or not. Peeking around a tree trunk, Rhys eyed the woman. She was big, really big, like her Daddy, but that was where the similarities ended. She did smell like Rhys's parents so Rhys assumed she was okay, but she didn't know for sure. What if she was faking it? There was only one surefire way to be sure... "Are you a bad guy?"

Enjoying the silence Birna took a deep breath of the chill air.  However, as she did so she caught an unusual scent, a mix of Valentine and Rhythm and…. puppy.  Birna tried not to flinch.  She supposed it was about the time that the pups would start crawling out of the den and exploring and she wasn't quite sure what to think.  For one thing she'd have to keep a very close eye on the borders to make sure the little buggers didn't go sneaking to far.  Though surely their parents would have them in their sights at all times?  Except for right now… Birna's head turned in a swift and elegant motion to gaze at a small earthen pup peering out from behind a tree trunk with stunning blue eyes.  Oh boy… what was she supposed to do?  How was one supposed to act around pups?  Birna didn't let her anxiety show as she observed the girl, finally shaking her head. "No, not to you.  You are my pack mate and I am sworn to protect you.  However, to your enemies I am a very, very bad guy."  She shot the girl a toothy grin before offering a more gentle smile. "What is your name little one?  I am Birna Xanilov.  Should you really be this far from your den?  You'll make your mother worry." "Speech"

As soon as the woman said she wasn't a bad guy, Rhys relaxed. If she wasn't a bad guy then she as a good guy and all good guys were friends! Well, that settled it! After darting around the tree the pup pranced up to her new friend, plopped down in front of her and carefully mirrored the way Birna was laying. "My name is Whys and I don't have any enemies, but if I ever get some I'll tell them you're bad." Should she really be this far from the den? That was a good question. One she had absolutely no intention of answering. "But I want to be here." As for her Mommy worrying, Rhys had a solution. "It's okay," she assured the woman, "she can worry over Whymey."

Birna's answer seemed to satisfy the girl who quickly scampered up to the larger woman before introducing herself as Whys…. Whys…. Rhys? Birna wouldn't question the girls pronunciation. "It's a pleasure to meet you Whys." Rhys insisted that she wanted to be there and Birna sighed softly as she debated what to do. What was expected of her? Was she supposed to take the girl back to the den? Call her parents? Why was none of this covered in warrior training? Of course all that said…. Birna didn't really see anything wrong with the girl exploring the territory as long as she had a guardian. "Still, you shouldn't go wandering off by yourself. However, if you want to explore I could go with you. As long as you have someone to help keep the bad guys away it's probably alright." Birna got to her feet and stepped down off the water trough. "Where were you going?" "Speech"

"It's a pleasure to meet you Whys." She said it wrong! Rhys shook her head vigorously. "Not Whys, Whys," she corrected, the corrected version sounding exactly like the original. There was something about the 'rh' sound in her and her brother's names that her mouth refused to form and pronounce properly. Rhys's expression brightened as Birna offered to come exploring with her. She even said it was okay to wander around, all she needed to do was take Rhyme with her! How awesome was that? Rhys liked this Birna lady. She jumped to her paws as Birna climbed down, her tail whipping her sides as she grinned up at the woman. "Whymey comes with me most times," she explained, "but sometimes he's too slow and I have to leave him with Mommy." Where had she been going? Well, she didn't really have a place in mind... Her eyes drifted to the looming barn. "That," she pointed with her nose. "I want to go there."

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry, do forgive me, Rhys." Birna smiled softly as she corrected her pronunciation of the girls name. Whymey, that had to be Rhymey…. or was it Rhyme? She hadn't asked about the pups names and could only guess. Hmm, Birna pondered what the girl could mean about Rhyme being slow. Was he cautious or was he ailing? She sighed inwardly at her lack of knowledge. She'd need to do a better job learning about the state of those within the pack but then she supposed that was more the duty of a healer. Birna followed Rhys gaze to the barn. That old thing? It was a rather weird little cave and it made her fur bristle. Thin walls, straight lines… unnatural. A human relic. However, unlike other caves it was very unlikely a bear or dangerous animal would be hiding in it and so she deemed it relatively safe. "Very well then, let's go!" She started off toward the barn, pausing for a moment she glanced at the pup. "Who's leading? You or me? We should stay close to one another regardless… there are… strange things in there." Her voice was calm and level but hints of a mischievous smile were tugging at the corners of her maw. "Speech"

Those five simple, magical word were enough to launch Rhys in the direction of the barn. She started out at a run but quickly scaled it back so that she was walking beside her new friend, not that the woman would have struggled to keep up or outpace her. "We can wak togever!" "...strange things in there." Instead of scaring her, these words intrigued Rhys. What kind of strange things could live inside? The outside was strange enough all by itself, but now that she thought about, it would be a fitting place for equally strange creatures to live. Excitedly, she asked, "wheally? Like what?" More importantly, was Birna scared of these things? She had to be, why else would she insist they stay together? That was alright, Rhys decided, she'd walk with Birna and keep the strange things away.

"We can wak togever!" Birna nodded and slowed her stride to keep pace with Rhys. What a brave girl! She'd make a marvelous warrior some day of that Birna had no doubt. She imagined Valen would begin instructing them soon in basic battle arts but for now it was good to see the kids had some play time to burn off some of their energy. "wheally? Like what?" Birna paused at the partially open barn door, letting her face go serious as she lowered her head to Rhys and whispered, "Cold, hard things with dead eyes and round legs." Turning she leaned against the door and grinned down. "Ready, fellow adventurer? Let's do this!" With a hefty push of her side she pushed the door open, kicking up dust that shimmered in the autumn light, floating softly in the air. Towards the back where strange shapes covered in tarps, the metal smokestack of a tractor just peeking out from one. Owl droppings and old hay littered the interior. Taking a few steps in Birna gestured to the tarp-covered figures in the back. "They're under there." "Speech"

Birna's serious expression fooled Rhys completely. Man, if whatever was inside was scary enough to make a grown up scared then it must really be scary! The whispering was what really got Rhys and she was careful to lower her voice too so as not to rouse whatever lived inside the structure. Her eyes went wide, not in fear but in disbelief. She'd never heard of such creatures! "Yes!" she whispered back excitedly, "I want to see one!" Rhys made sure to stick close to Birna's side. As she swung the door open the pup's already wide eyes grew wider. It was like a great big mouth opening up to yawn - it even made throat noises! Which were a little too loud for her liking but if Birna was concerned she didn't show it, so Rhys didn't waste too much time on it. "They're under there." Rhys's gaze followed Birna's gesturing and her eyes narrowed as she stared at the dusty figures. They didn't move - that was a good thing, right? She took a few steps forward and then paused. Her gaze snapped to Birna as she sought confirmation that it was alright to get close. The girl then slipped into a crouch and slowly crept forward. She was super quiet; each step taken with great care. Her eyes never left the tarp covered lump. They roved across it, constantly moving and never lingering too long as Rhys watched for signs of life. The closer she got the slower she moved; the last thing she wanted to do was make one angry. Rhys didn't want to cause any trouble, she just wanted a peek. Not wanting to risk a glance around, she murmured, "Fellow adventurur, are you coming?"

Sunlight streamed in through the cracks of the barn, the dust glittering above them as Birna gave a nod to Rhys that the girl could lead the way. "One step behind you Rhys." She walked alongside the girl, slowly as if she was stalking prey, Rhys right alongside her as the pair approached the massive creatures under the tarp. Birna's voice dropped into a whisper. "Ok… I'm going to uncover them…3….2…. 1!" Birna lunged forward, seizing a corner of the tarp in her teeth before she shifted violently back, tearing the tarp off a set of old farm equipment, trying to be careful not to drop it on Rhys. The sudden motion set the other tarps shifting, some falling away to reveal more strange skeletons. Birna stepped back to take them in, the rusted, gnarled parts, the strange rows of teeth on one, the bizarre round legs on nearly all of them. Their cold, dead eyes seemed to flicker just a touch with life when the sun landed upon them but Birna had not know any motion to ever come from them and they did not smell like any living thing. "All that's left of these monsters now are their skeletons… hard skeletons, much harder than bone, if you tried to gnaw on them you'd hurt your teeth." Gingerly, Birna leapt upon one, her claws clinking weirdly on the metal surface. She paused. "At least… I think they're skeletons, it's weird their eyes are still in place but I'm not sure I've heard of such monsters hibernating." She reached down and pawed at one of the headlights before glancing at Rhys and grinning. "What do you think?" "Speech"

Birna began to count down and with each number Rhys sank lower and lower to the ground. Her little legs were coiled beneath her and her ears slicked back as she stared at the tarp. It took far too long to reach 1 but when Birna did somehow Rhys wasn't prepared. She knew it was coming, knew something was going to happen...and yet Birna's lunge forward managed to startle her. The lunge forward, the sudden looming of the tarp overhead, it was all too much for Rhys. Her first reaction was to skitter backwards a step while frizzing up, but that flash of fear didn't last. Instinct told her she was about to be attacked, so she decided to attack first. Rhys lunged for what she assumed was a weird round foot. For a few short seconds she snarled and bit the tire before it occurred to her that she wasn't being attacked back and that Birna wasn't helping. She froze, her teeth clamped down on the tread of the tire, and peeked back at Birna, who was speaking nonchalantly like they hadn't come close to losing their lives. ...skeletons? These monsters were dead? Slowly she allowed her teeth to slip off the tread. "Oh..." So they weren't bad then. Birna jumped up on the dead monster and Rhys, too short to follow, settled for stretching up on her hind legs and putting her paws on the tire. "I think they're funny looking."

Birna beamed with pride as Rhys went straight in for the attack. Fearless, curious, brave… the girl would make a fantastic warrior, of that the bear woman had no doubt. She made note to ask if the girl had an interest in learning to fight though she was pretty certain that Valentine would be taking care of his children's training. Birna nodded at the girls words. "They are indeed… I've never seen a live one but who knows…. you know you've got the makings of a good warrior, Rhys." She climbed into the front seat, jaws chewing for a moment on the fabric before she eyed the odd wheel-looking part somewhere in what she thought might be the creatures brain case. "I don't know if these things were prey or predators it's hard to find their teeth. They might have all fallen out. Course… you never know… maybe they're just sleeping. Hibernating…" Birna reached out a paw- then promptly jumped out of her skin as she hit the horn. The creature honked as Birna scrambled off of it hackles raised as she growled violently. Standing stock still she waited for something to happen. When finally she was convinced that there was no threat she relaxed, giving one last growl to the creature. "Hmm…I… don't know what that was." She continued to cautiously poke at the creature but it wouldn't make the strange noise again. "Huh…must've hit some sort of cavern or something…. well anyway, we should probably be getting back to your parents before they start to worry. I'm sure you have training yes?" Birna began to head towards the door turning to glance at Rhys. "You coming?" "Speech"