The birds and the bees

Zephyr was trying to dip his toes into every tidbit of wolf culture he could find, and if the weird familiars running this festival suggested going for a walk to contemplate life and death and autumn then Zephyr was going to do it to the best of his bird ability. Walks weren't exactly his forte, but that's why he'd invited one of the puppies to tag along. It would prevent him from getting bored or anxious and taking flight, rushing through the experience.

Kea's question brought the bird pause, alarm bells ringing in his head. This was not a question for a brother to answer! With one wing he scratched the side of his head, considering his words. "I don't really know, do wolves go to the same place as birds, you think?" He asked after a bit. "My mama owl told me birds go back to the sky, to become constellations at night." It did not thrill him to think of potentially going somewhere other then where his wolf family would go, but one could hope by then he had learned enough of the wolf way that whatever God led their spirits off the mortal plane would let him come along.

The forest was spooky, to say the least, and the more Zephyr let himself think about life and a possible afterlife, the more chills he felt crawl up his spine. The way the gnarled trees' branches fell and curved, blocking off paths and opening up further, darker ones made almost a maze of wood to explore. If only Zeph did not feel so bound to the ground, if the tales were true and there were ghosts in this wood then he could not fly up to avoid them without feeding Kea to them instead.

"We don't have to talk about death like, death though, you know." The raptor told his brother. "We're supposed to be thinking about the death of like, the year, I think." Zephyr himself had only one year under his belt so far and Kea much less - maybe they would have been better off with an aged wolf to help to explain things. "Autumn brings leaves falling off trees, grass dying, herbs wilting, pretty much everything alive in nature that's not an animal starts to go away when the colors turn. Then the cold wet snow comes, and when it melts stuff starts to regrow and come back." His wing swept up to gesture to the forest around them, where the leaves had long begun to fall and the ground was littered in orange, yellow and red. "Do you think that might mean we come back too, when we die?"

"Zephyr"