Wandering Too Far

*Surreal* · 06-13-2013, 08:35 PM

Surreal

Surreal woke up, very, very early in the morning, stretching with a long, shaky yawn that exposed pointy puppy teeth. Pink tongue curled over on itself, then disappeared as her muzzle, which had lost some of its puppy bluntness to give way to a narrower shape, closed and she blinked mismatched blue and gold eyes to clear the sleep away. The tug of adventure was calling to her. Looking over both shoulders, she wriggled free from the pile of her brothers and sisters, pushing her older brother?s big paw off of her back, and finally squeezed free.

Shaking herself, she looked back at her sleeping family, then turned and scampered out of the sleeping alcove, pausing as the frosty night chill from outside hit her nose. It was cold out there. Nevertheless, she kept trotting. She made her way out of the den, down the stone steps, which she had less difficulty getting back up now than she had the first time she?d seen snow, and dashed down the ravine, tail flagging high behind her. She broke from the ravine and into early, early grey dawn, and looked around, trying to decide which way to go.

She went straight, which led north, and scampered along the trail, nipping at snow flakes as they danced down from the sky. She broke from the forested area and into a wide meadow. Something, several somethings, moved and shifted nearby, and she froze, ears pricked as she stared at the huge shadows that regarded her with dark eyes. Whatever they were, they didn?t attack her, so she took off again, following a trail through the meadow and into another swathe of forest.

It was then that she came to a strange place. The snow ahead was perfectly flat, not a stone or twig to be seen. Tiny trails of small animals? tracks criss-crossed the flat area, marking it as a nocturnal highway for prey. For her small size, the flat space ahead seemed very far ahead, but she could faintly see, with her not quite fully developed night sight, that it stopped being flat after a moment. So she padded out into the flat.

Underneath, she could hear strange noises, gurglings and murmurings, like her parents? voices when they spoke to yachter when they thought she and her siblings slept deeply. These had no meaning. They sounded almost like water. She stopped and looked down, ears cocked, listening. Then lost interest and scampered on.

She reached the normal ground, and scampered up a small rise and along the trail, continuing her adventure. She didn?t realize that she had actually crossed the river that served as a boundary for pups. The river was not supposed to set paw in. In no time at all, she was crossing Valhalla?s borders and striking out across unclaimed lands. It was bound to happen, sooner or later. Her mother would have a heart attack.

Surreal traveled until her legs felt achy and her fur no longer felt very warm. Snow was falling more forcefully now. When she came to a place where the land suddenly fell she stopped, wind buffeting her silver fur, and stared out into the waning dark. Suddenly, far away, the sky began to brighten, and she stared on in awe as the sky turned all shades of purple, pink, gold, and lavender, until blue broke out far away, while the snowy sky above stayed the same gunmetal grey.

Below stretched a nearly circular valley, though she could only see perhaps five feet ahead in the now heavy snowfall. That one beautiful moment was forgotten as her toes tingled uncomfortable. She decided to head back to the den. Mother would be awake by now, and might be worrying her fur out. Surreal turned and looked back where she had come, and realized that she was very much a lost pup.

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