SERAPHIM IMPERIALIS Seraphim was proud of himself. It had taken a lot of work, but he finally felt like he knew his father's lands like the back of his own front paws. Every nook and cranny, every high and low, the rivers and rocks and roots which he could call his own. Phim's affection and admiration for his homeland sat comfortable in his heart, a source of warmth and pride. Somehow during his wanderings he'd grown from a gangly pup to a gargantuan adult, long of limb and lithe, broad and muscled... even if on the inside he still felt and thought like a child. Hopefully it was not something he would grow out of. He sat beneath a blossoming tree, but he could not for the life of him guess what sort of fruit it might produce come autumn. For now, he was content to sit and enjoy it's pleasant scent and the humming of the insects which surrounded him. He flicked a dappled ear, trying to shoo off a bee. The sun had risen high in the sky but the day remained quite cool. He was utterly comfortable, and a gentle smile rested on his lips, allowing simple thoughts to overtake his mind. His breathing was deep and even, peaceful, and he began to feel drowsy. Still, he knew he could not sleep the day away! Phim forced himself to stand, shaking bits of dirt and debris out of his marbled coat. "Talk" "You" Think

"Seraphim!" Even if he had fallen asleep, the slightly-shrill, angry voice of his only sister would probably have woken Phim up immediately. The leggy, dark form of the yearling girl marched up out of the encumbering brambles of raspberry canes she shoved her way through. "Where have you been? You've been avoiding me!" She shoved her scowling face close to his. "You've been off having fun." She sniffed imperiously at him and sat down, still scowling, with her nose in the air. "Well, while you've been off playing, I have been doing grownup stuff. Mother's training me to be a healer! And you weren't even there when Mother became Et Uxor." Ok, so neither had she been, but she didn't have to actually tell him that because that would lessen the guilt trip. Deliberately, she let her expression fall into a tragic, betrayed pout, forced tears to glisten and she peeked up at Phim with glittering moist lashes. "I missed you."

SERAPHIM IMPERIALIS Vana appeared out of nowhere and Phim yelped as her voice fell upon his ears. He stumbled backwards a pace, large paws getting tangled up in the roots of the very tree that had been shading him, and he ended up tumbling backwards top over tail. He clamped his jaws shut around a curse that threatened to spill out, knowing his prickly sister would take that knowledge straight back to Mother. The air whooshed out of his lungs by the time he finally came to rest in a heap on the ground, just in time to hear her say she missed him. "Missed you too, sis," he wheezed out. Gods, his back hurt. The rest of her words began to sink in through his thick skull and a growing feeling of discomfort began to take root in his gut. He had missed a lot, but... He rolled upwards, slowly scrabbling back to a standing position. "I'm sorry, Vana," he mumbled. "I guess I lost track of time! You've gotta come with me to check out the far edges of Daddy's territory, though. There are some super cool things!" His tail began swishing from side to side, ears perked atop his skull and a wide smile on his lips. Something about the unknown, about whatever lay on the other side of the horizon, lit a fire in his soul. He minced from paw to paw. "Seriously, you and Angel and I need to make a trip of it!" He didn't quite understand that while he'd been off mucking about, they'd been doing real things. Pack things, with the family. Phim didn't consider that while he was absent, life had moved on without him. He was more out of the loop than he could have known, but that thought didn't even make a guest appearance in his mind. "Whaddya say?" "Talk" "You" Think

Phim's sincere apology mollified Vana somewhat, but it was his invitation that piqued her interest. She peered up at him with her head tilted, tears forgotten. He wanted her to go exploring with him? Really? Without her even asking, let alone demanding, to be included? "What kinda cool things?" she asked cautiously instead of immediately committing as she wanted to. Brothers could be sneaky things and though she didn't think Seraphim would take her someplace with the sole intention of picking on her - it wasn't really like Seraphim to do that - she had to make the effort to play hard to get. With a faintly guilty moue, she added, "I didn't mean for you to fall over. Are you all right?" Though her tone gave the vague impression that it was his fault for being such a silly klutz, she did feel bad. ""