Come Gather 'Round People

Not long after she had arrived, more of her siblings began to show up for the fight training, even one of her older siblings and cousins too! Ember beamed with excitement as Vendrick and Solaire joined them, tiny tail wagging in enthusiastic greeting to her littermates. Then a shadow loomed over her smaller form, and with a quick glance up she realized it was... "Bramble! Hiya!" the young princess greeted her older sister, giggling as one giant dark paw lifted to ruffle the fur on her head. Dangit, why did everyone like to ruffle her fur so much! Giggling and swatting at Bramble's paw, Ember tried her best to smooth down her downy puppy fur, but with how wispy and fair it was, it mostly did its own thing anyway. Their teacher for the day called everyone to attention then and introduced herself as Andromeda, one of Briar's sisters, making her Ember's aunt. Realizing she should probably be paying extra attention in this case, Ember plonked her rump down on the grass and fixed Andy with a laser-focused stare, eager and ready to begin.

Today's lesson would be about offense, and right out the gate she was partnered up with her bigger brother. Ember glanced over to Solaire and shot him a wicked grin. Deep down in her heart, Ember was a warrior princess, so any chance she got to spar with one of her siblings was a golden opportunity for her. Andy explained that they had been paired together for their height differences, showcasing how to best an opponent larger or smaller than they were. Andy demonstrated with Callie, but Ember was truthfully only half paying attention to the lesson as she was already considering how she was going to topple her bigger brother. Finally they were turned loose to practice with their partners, and then the time to spar had arrived!

Wasting no time in turning towards Solaire with an even bigger more devilish grin, Ember was practically thrumming with excitement to pounce into battle! She already knew how she was going to use her smaller stature to best her brother, so as soon as Andy gave them the signal to begin, the tiny midnight pup sprung into action. "I’m gonna get your belly, Sol!" she declared as her battle cry, and then the girl was sprinting forward as fast as her little legs could manage. She bounded for Solaire, aiming to dive beneath him with her smaller size and begin an onslaught of merciless tickling paws to his fluffy underbelly.

"Ember Carpathius"