Pudgy purple legs propelled the puppy forward. She was still getting used to this walking thing, and tripped forward, barely catching herself before planting face first on the dusty trail right outside their door. The puff of dust caused the young girl to sneeze, and blink her eyes rapidly at the foreign gritty feeling. Maybe being outside was overrated?

But then she heard it, the rush of wind through leaves and the ominous creaking, cracking and groaning overhead. Like too many bamboo wind chimes with an underlying promise of eventual collapse.

As she looked up with still puppy blue eyes, her small jaw dropped. Like giants the long poles swayed, and she knew, even if one of the massive poles did break, it would be caught by it’s cousins long before it ever hit the ground. She turned to one of her many brothers (as the only girl in this litter she had no shortage of those). “S’go’splorin!”

Only having one sister meant instinctually becoming protective of her the moment they breathed their first breath of air. It was easy to follow her around. Tagging along with their all too big paws and floppy bodies, Akito didn’t mind. When she exclaimed that they should go exploring, his only response was a simple nod of his muzzle. Sure, why not go exploring? What else was there to do? When he stepped from their door, he merely smirked as his sister sprawled into the dust before them. “You okay?” The boy asked his sister as he walked up to her and then continued down the dusty trail through the bamboo. Each creak and bend in the bamboo caused his ear to twitch in the direction in which it came. With how loud this place was, he wondered why his family wanted to stay here. Light shimmered down through the leaves as a salty and chilly breeze left a shiver rolling down his spine. Careful to mind his own clumsy paws, he stopped when they reached a fork in the path. “Which way now?” Akito asked as he turned inquisitive gaze to his bold sister.

When her monochrome sibling asked her which way, Morganna paused for a moment and looked down each path. About half way along one, a crow hopped along, pecking at straw like leaf blades on the ground, flicking it's head as if to use the leaf to encourage the children to come along. The girl giggled, and tipped her head towards the midnight feathered ...friend? It dropped the leaf and cawed at the children, before taking flight further into the maze. "This way!" the young girl whispered, as if the bird didn't have twenty other eyes watching it's back as the children made their way down the left fork. One day, they would learn the symbols, but for now, how far could they get on their own anyway?

"speech"

Akito would also notice the feathered bird picking away at the grass. It’s beady eyes reflected the light that came down in shafts through the canopy. Something about the way it noticed them, head lifting and turning in their direction before it cawed and took off made his body shiver. To the pup, it was not hard to notice that maybe they were supposed to follow their new… acquaintance. A friend seemed too personal for now. They had yet to earn the crow’s trust.

A gruff noise came from his throat as he agreed to his sister’s decision. Allowing her to take point as he followed a step or two behind, he made sure to purposefully kick a rock or scratch at a stalk of bamboo along with the way with his budding horns. He had already noticed that while they were small and could easily move through the bamboo, the paths were easier to follow if they paid attention.

It would not be long before they came to another fork in the road. This time there were three paths - straight, left, and right. The crow had flown ahead, its tail feathers barely noticeable before disappearing right at the intersection. Stopping with a spray of dirt causing dust to circle around his paws, he glanced in the different directions. Where had the crow gone off to now?

"speech"

The thundering of her brothers paws behind her only made the girl's heart race all the more. It wasn't a race, not like she tended to have with Erik, but there was a chase. Her own paws slipped on the dust and the short bladed grass that lined the paths between the towering bamboo trunks. Her eyes quickly scanned, left, centre, right, centre, left and back to the right where she finally caught sight of iridescent black feathers just around the corner down the right hand path. She lifted a paw gingerly, barely whispering a shh to Akito before stalking slowly closer to the bird down the side track of the bamboo. As they grew closer she increased her speed, bounding forward into a cloud of beating wings and indignant caws. It seems the flock had gotten into one of Kuroo's fish caches, there were fins and scales everywhere, and right in the middle of it stood a shocked Morganna, loose feathers sticking out of her fur. "Should we tell 'Roo?"

"speech"

As the dust settles, he sees his sister lift a paw toward him. Silence she is asking of him and he nods in agreement. It is then that he turns his focus on the rustle of feathers ahead of them. His own paws slow as hers quicken toward the bird. He watches her bound forward until she is sailing through the air into the middle of a group of ravens. Akito's brow knits together as he approaches his now feathery sister. All around them in the clearing, fish pieces litter the dirt and grass floor. Clearly, the birds had been having a go at the fish cache.

A disgruntled sound comes from his throat as he turns to look at the birds that lingered around the edge of the clearing. "Or we take care of them ourselves," he growls as his ears lower to his head and his eyes pierce the beady ones of the birds. Their once indignant caws turn nervous as they hop and shuffle out of the way. The braver ones stay closer, trying to find an opening back to finish their meal, while the others take flight into the sky. "Roo won't enact punishment," Akito says almost as a reminder as he begins to creep toward the cluster of birds.

"speech"