She woke up extra eaarly today, climbing out from the cozy embrace of her parents and waddling to the den entrance. Bi-colored eyes were wide with excitement as little Caelestis would sneak her way out into the open all by herself. This was so cool! Her parents didn't even know, so awesome. She was the sneakiest pup ever and no one would ever catch her! Padding proudly into the open, she took in all the pretty trees with a wide smile. They were so tall! The tallest things she ever did see, taller than her mom and dad. Wow. Suddenly the chilly wind came and ruffled her downy puppy fur and she shivered and giggled. There was so much new stuff out here she didn't even know where to begin. Spotting a large beetle not too far from the den entrance, she stalked her way over, studying the creature with large eyes before pouncing on it. She'd quickly lift a paw to ensure she'd gotten it, giving the bug a chance to take flight and escape her grasp. Oops!

He walked slowly, returning from his usual prayer spot, deep in thought. Since his return to the small pack his mind had been troubled; he felt as though he had failed in his duties to the pack by failing to bring the child home, but more than that his thoughts returned to Dagan. If he had any doubts that the boy had died he had long since passed them. He had promised the boy he would protect him, and his heart ached at the memory of the russet pup calling him father, although it wasn’t true. “Yet another failure” He thought despondently as he walked. His ears twitched at a sudden noise, a child’s laughter, and his head cocked curiously. He followed the noise, unsure if he would find Ganta’s remaining child or perhaps the missing child of the odd colored wolf he had seen at the meeting, but when he saw the brown fur of the girl his heart stopped completely. He approached her slowly, being careful to make as little noise as possible although for a wolf as large as himself that was a challenge. "Dagan?" He said gently, hopefully, his eyes wide. His jaw hung open as he came closer, and then shut all at once when he realized the pup was a female. His heart clenched again, more painfully than it ever had before and he gritted his teeth against the ache. Speech,

She'd removed her attention from the escaped beetle and was now flopping onto her belly to look at some ants and a wiggly worm that was trying to bury itself in the ground. She used to think she was small, but there were so many other little things, even littler than her! When she blew a gentle breath at the ants they ran away, moving in wild zig-zag patterns. Just then she heard what she thought was a voice, though she'd been too engrossed in her activities to know what it had said, and turned to see who was there.

Eyes of mint and pink landed on the form of a man she'd not met before. He was real tall, like her dad but maybe even taller. Oh, and his fur was mostly pale like momma. How interesting! Beaming at the man, she decided he seemed sad. The guy smelled like everything else in her little world here so she assumed he belonged to the 'pack' as her parents referred to it. Dropping into a play bow and grinning nearly ear to ear she announced, "I'm Caelestis!" Her tail swung wildly in that barely controlled manner pups so often have. Softening slightly, she tilted her head a bit and cooed, "Whas' your name?"

Although he was disappointed he couldn’t help but smile at the young girl’s playfulness and laid down to come closer to her eye level. She was large for a pup, but his head still towered over hers while it was rise. “My name is Yale young one.” He said warmly, the gentle curls of his fur coiling in the grass and damp fallen leaves. He cocked an eyebrow and smiled with mock-scrutiny. “You’re up quite early, aren’t you?” He asked rhetorically “Did the spriggans wake you?” He asked, knowing full well she would have no knowledge of the mythical creatures from his homeland. She was certainly young enough to hear the stories he had been told in his youth; of the mischievous Sly Olin, the spriggans who loved to play tricks on children, and the Tawrings who ate up misbehaving children. He supposed he should have asked her parents-whoever they were- if he could tell her such fanciful tales, Ley knew his own mother had screamed and wept with horror when she learned his nan had taught him and his littermates such heathen nonsense, and he never did see his nan again afterward, but these were lands without Ley and many of the wolves he met seemed to have no gods to speak of at all. It couldn’t hurt, and after all, some part of him still loved those pup-stories and wanted to see the joy he had felt as pup light up another small child’s features. Speech,

Smiling warmly at the man she chirped a little, "Nice to meet you!" Ever the polite daughter of her mother. Caelum wouldn't allow for any child of hers to be rude, after all. The man got down on her level and she had to say she appreciated it cause straining her neck to look up at everyone all the time was just exhausting! Her tail was still wiggling slightly as though of it's own accord. Someday she'd master the whole tail thing. Maybe.

The man seemed nice enough, and his fur was very pleasing to the eye. All wavy curly prettyness and soft colors. Rolling over absently as she looked at him, Caelestis eventually sat up with a leaf stuck atop her head which she failed to notice. At his question she grinned sheepishly. "Maybe a liiittle early, huh? 'Cause I woke up n' mom and dad were sleepin' still and sleepin' is boooorning so I decided I'd go out all by myself today and it was really cool and-" pausing her babbling, Caelestis fixed her eyes on him carefully, "Whas' a spriggn'?"

He laughed heartily at her statement, delighted by her enthusiasm and laid on his hip to make himself more comfortable. “You’ve never heard of Spriggans before?” He asked with feigned disbelief, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. “Well...You must be a very well behaved little girl!” He exclaimed with a grin. “Spriggans are one of the small folk. They’re wolves, like us, but they’re the size of mice” He explained with the same emphasizes his nan had used when she told him and his sisters about the wee-folk as she had called them with her thick Parth accent. “but you see, if they were made of skin and fur-“ He said, pausing to poke the downy fur of her chest with his cold nose. “-Like you and I, they would die far too easily. Instead, they are made entirely out of tree bark, with teeth made of thorns, and they can climb trees just as easily as beetles.”  He said and paused to see her reaction. “But-!” He said, raising his head and narrowing his eyes slightly “They love to play tricks, especially on bad little pups who are mean to the trees.” He explained with an air of caution. “So tell me Caelestis…” He tailed off, lowering his head to look directly in her mismatched eyes as if she might tell a lie. “Have you been mean to the trees?” Speech,

"No!" the little girl cried instantly, now quite enraptured by the potential for storytelling here. Few things kept her still, but stories were definitely high on the list. She couldn't keep a little smirk from playing at her lips when he said she must be very good. Good was a relative term. her jaw soon dropped when he told her that these spriggan things were super tiny! WOAH! And they were made of bark?? Gasping dramatically, the girl found herself entirely caught up in this tale of tiny creatures that climbed trees and played tricks. Tilting her head to the side to deeply ponder this very important question, Caelestis narrowed her eyes. "Well, I don't think I was mean to any. How mean is mean? I don't think I do mean things... Hm..." Eventually the effort of considering these issues was too much and the child flopped over defeatedly, "I dunnoooo!" Walk, "Talk" Think