Never gonna be alone

Cadabra was not fully asleep when his sister, Devya, stirred in the den. His little fuzzy ears slowly swiveled to face her, though the rest of his body remained motionless. She was restless, though her movements slow and quiet. Soon, she stumbled out of the den. Cadabra's bi-coloured eyes slid open, and he lifted his head, then began carefully detangling himself from the pile of siblings snoozing on the den floor. He moved to the door of the den, trying his best to remain in the shadows as he spied on his sister. His mother was somewhere near, doing who cares what. Devya managed to slip from the den clearing to the "forbidden zone", past the bushes, without catching Mother's attention. Deftly, he traced her path, swerving around obstacles that he had seen her trip over moments before.

Although marred by infant clumsiness, Cadabra's gait was inherently smooth and light. However, he was not yet a skilled spy, and he only managed to travel without detection because Devya just wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings. But Cadabra wasn't aware of this, and he stepped with a wide grin stretched over his face. If he had been a human child, he would have been playing the "Mission Impossible" theme in his head.

She stopped, and he followed suit, raising his head in interest to see why she was no longer moving. She was yawning and looking around herself, and Cadabra took a moment to look around himself as well. Nothing looked or smelled familiar. He wondered if he could find his way back if he turned around. Suddenly, Devya let out a sharp wail, calling for Mother. Cadabra sat himself down in his hiding place, silently mocking his younger littermate for immediately calling for Mother as soon as she felt she was lost. But his mental mocking was cut short when his father came crashing into the scene. Startled, Cad slid further into the shadows, his form completely hidden by bush.

"Daddy!" Devya squealed, turning from a depressed lump of fur to a bundle of wiggles and squiggles in a matter of seconds.
"You're alright. You shouldn't wander so far from your mother and siblings though. Something could eat you," his father said. Cad hadn't thought of potentially being eaten, and suddenly became rather thankful that Devya had made such a racket. He felt so much safer with his father around. Devya and Father shared an adorable little father-daughter moment, and Cad thought, for a moment, that he'd rather his father's attention be on him and not on her, but he still stayed where he was.

"Now tell me, where did you plan on going and perhaps we can go see it together? Hmmm?" Cad's head tilted in interest.
"I want to see the mountain."
"When you and your siblings are old enough we'll have to make a trip to the hot springs and I'll teach you all how to swim. How does that sound?"

Now this was too much. Cad decided that, not only did he want to go to the mountain too, but he wanted dad to give him attention (as well as protect him from getting eaten). His puppy paws fumbled as he scrambled out of the shadows, his face set with determination instead of puppy-glee.


"Dad, I'm coming to the mountain too," he stated matter-of-factly, without even giving Devya a passing glance.