It was early morning, and part of his family still slept. Now that he was given freedoms, he couldn’t stand the thought of sleeping for another moment and missing out on anything the world had to offer. He made his way out of the den, which had more allowances for the little pups to leave then it did before. He made his way across the bridge, and into the tall grasses. He was pouncing about in the dirt beneath a tree, when he heard a soft squark. He nosed about, investigating, before he found the creature making the noise. It was even smaller than him, beak wide open and pointing up at him, head squatted in a funny position. He laughed at the silly creature, and swatted it with a paw. It made a funny squeaking noise, coming out of its begging pose, and twittering angrily at him. He moved in a circle around it, watching it from every angle as through that would tell him what it was. It followed his movements, and then stuck out its beak again, mouth open, waiting, expectant. He swatted at its face, uncertain what it wanted. To play? Was it asking him to play? He was happy to oblige, and decided to pounce on it, just like he would his siblings. As he landed there was a strange cracking sound, like twigs under foot, and the creature fell still. He frowned, looking at it in confusion, and nudging it with a paw. It fell over, unmoving. He leaped back in surprise, watching it intently as though it was playing a trick on him. He poked it again, cautiously, and from further away, stretching out a paw. Nothing. He gained confidence, moving closer, nudging it each time he did so, until he was standing over it. He picked it up in his mouth, shaking it softly, the only movement it gave was in time with the rocking of his head. "Speech"

Always eager for an opportunity to get out of the den, Asla wasted no time in following Mort out into the wild. She hadn't been asleep for a while, but had been lazing about. Her amusement had been tickling one of Indy's ears with her tail and watching it flick. Whatever Mort was going to do was bound to be a lot more fun.

Asla carefully crossed the bridge, still very wary of the water beneath. Once on the other side, she allowed her nose to lead her towards her brother. Asla found him with a strange naked creature in his mouth, its head lolling back and forth. Tilting her own head, she questioned him. "What are you doing? Did you find a snack?"

Coming in closer, the girl noted the beak. "Oh, you found a bird!" Plum colored eyes flashed with interest before her brow furrowed slightly. "I think you killed a bird." It hung strangely just like the chicken had after she'd killed it. It looked as though they were both killers. Wouldn't their father be proud?

He jumped when Asla’s voice broke the silence, and he turned to look at his smaller sister. His body was more delicate than his, hinting at the willowey, lithe creature she was going to be. Sometimes he felt like a clumsy uncoordinated mess, and this was definitely one of these times. He dropped the creature delicately onto the grass, lowering his head down first, and looking at his sister.

“I think I broke it” he whispered apologetically, nudging it once with his paw to demonstrate how still it was, before looking up at his sister. His ears were flattened against his skull, and he didn’t look too happy about what he had done. “Can you fix it, please?” his sister might be younger, and smaller, but she was crafty and clever, and he already appreciated her insight in life. “What do you mean killed?” that sounded permanent. He really, really hoped he hadn’t broken it permanently. It had looked at him expectantly, he didn’t understand. How could something have life in one moment, and none the next? He sniffed, for some reason his eyes started to feel a little watery, he didn’t like the sensation. It was like that feeling that had welled up in him when he had stubbed his toe, but this time it was a slower, and more painful on the inside then the out.

Never missing an.opportunity to practice, Asla padded forward silently on her soft, kitten paws. When Mort dropped the bird, she gave it an exploratory sniff. Yep... it was dead. It was clear by his reaction that Mort didn't know what that meant. She had just learned it too, and so she wasn't surprised, nor did she look down on him for it.

Mort asked her if she could fix it and Aslatiel frowned. "You can't fix dead. Papa told me about it when I killed one of the white birds. A chicken, she corrected herself." Tears filled his blue eyes and the tiny girl instantly moved forward to comfort him. Though significantly smaller, she took him in her arms and have him a squeeze. "Papa said that 'killing' is taking somethings life away. Once it's gone, it can't come back." She tried to explain. "It's not bad. Maybe your bird was hurt like my chicken was. Papa said I did a good thing. He was proud." The tiny fae kissed her brothers face, not knowing what else to do. "Don't be sad, Mort."

You can’t fix dead she told him, and he knew that not even Asla could correct his mistake, he looked down at the bird miserably. It was so tiny, he should have realised he was too clumsy to play with it. He rocked back on his hunches with a self-deprecating sigh, but didn’t pull free from Asla when she pulled him into a hug. He pulled a slightly bigger paw around his sister and pulled her close, not one to shy away from affection. “I don’t think I like killing, Asley” he admitted, turning away from the bird, his mouth setting in a frown.

“Do you think dad will be upset?” his father had frowned at him a few times already, he wasn’t as fierce and quick to fight as his siblings were, sometimes loud noises made him startle, when his siblings instead seemed to leap at whatever dared make noise at them. He didn’t think his father was proud of him, but he didn’t understand why. He couldn’t be like his siblings, it just didn’t feel… right.

Mort aid that he didn't like killing and she didn't really know what to say. She enjoyed it. It made her feel big and strong. When she got bigger, she could help feed her family. It all made sense to her. To Mort, it didn't. "You don't have to kill things if you don't want to. I can kill things for you." To her, it seemed like a nice offer. She would save her brother from something that caused him pain.

When questioned if their dad should be upset, the tiny wolf shook her head. "He wasn't upset with me. I don't think he'd be upset with you." Asla hadn't noticed the frowns that Sirius gave to Mortis. To her, they were all treated the same. As she thought about how to cheer up her brother, she heard the raucous chatter of more birds up above. "Do you want me to get you another bird?" She tilted her head. "Or we could go do something else. Whatever you want to do." Hopefully it wasn't swimming.

“I don’t know, it just seems… mean.” he said, trying to put his feelings into words. It was difficult, he had never really experienced this before. How did anyone ever find the right words for every new and difficult moment in their lives? “It’s like… I want you, and Azure and Indy to go on living. What if this bird had someone who wanted him to go on living? Shouldn’t killing be… be something difficult, and done sparingly?” he struggled for a moment, and shook his head quickly when Asla offered to get him another bird.

When she suggested they do something else, he was much quicker to agree. He didn’t want to dwell on this, he didn’t like the tightness in his chest, or the worry of his father disapproving of how Mort was different to his siblings. “Yeah. Let's go do something else. Wanna play tag?” he asked her, moving away from the lifeless bird, and trying to shrug off its death as easily as Asla had.

Killing thrilled the girl. She couldn't feel the same feelings that Mort had, but she could understand his feelings. "Your bird might have been hurt . It was a long fall from where the other birds were up in the tree. Maybe, killing it was a good thing. Something else might have hurt it more." Logically, she understood mercy. She just didn't know the term for it. "The chicken that I killed wad hurt. Dad said that it was good of me to kill it. Maybe it's the same with you." Her voice was hopeful as she tried to reason it his pain.

Then the moment was over and he suggested tag. Asla grinned and kissed her brother on the nose. "You're definitely 'it." Placing her paws against him, Asla tried to knock her much larger sibling over so she could get a head start running. Ears tucked against her skull, the girl ran as fast as she could away from the dead bird and hopefully away from the feelings attached to it.

“Thanks Sis” he murmured quietly, understanding that she intended to comfort him, even if she didn’t really understand herself. Still, he appreciated the attempt, and he knew his sister loved him. It was enough, and he felt some of the pain in his chest ease. He loved Asla.

It eased a little further when she fell into play with him, successfully distracting him from the troubling discovery of death. She had a funny way of tagging, kissing him on the nose, and fleeing - but not before she attempted to knock him over. It wasn’t so much her push that did it, but his overly large paws and bad balance, and he wasn’t expecting it. He stumbled, and she was off. He was laughing however, and was quick to run in pursuit of the smaller wolf.

If he caught her, he intended to kiss her on the nose, carrying on the way of ‘passing’ the tag the same way she started it.

She ran like the wind. Or at least she felt like she did. Little legs pumped, carrying her as fast as she could possibly go. Morts legs were longer and he would no doubt catch up. The only thing that she had going for her was agility. She could turn quickly and keep her footing. Mort was much larger and his body took longer to slow and turn.

Luck wasn't on her side at the moment, however. As Asla attempted to turn and duck out of Morts reach, she got twisted up in some of the long grass and went head over heels. Landing on her back, the startled girl looked up to the sky, eyes blinking. Well,he was going to catch her now. With a kiss to her nose, Mort was off. Releasing a soft huff, Asla untangled herself from the grass, shook out her creamy coat, and was instantly back in the game.

Asla tripped, and went tail over teakettle, as she landed in the soft grass. Mortis almost ran right over her, only just pulling to a stop in time, and leaning over her to boop a kiss onto her nose. He was laughing, free of his burdens as he played with his sister and enjoyed it. He went running from her, totally unaware of her fear of water as he ran straight past the bridge and plunged into the water.

The cold hit him hard, and surprising as he realised he had never really gone far into the water before. Before he knew it, it was right up to his nose, and he blinked over at Asla, waiting to see if she would follow him into the water. She would have to swim, which neither pup knew how, because she was shorter than him! Maybe this was cheating, he really ought to turn back, he didn’t want to reach a point where his paws couldn’t touch the ground.

Oh, no he didn't. Mort ran straight into the water. He spun to look at her and she stopped far, far away from the waters edge. The small girl shook her head and backed away a few step. Her lower lip jutted out and she looked as though she might cry. Falling into the water had been the scariest thing that had ever happened to the girl. The area where she'd fallen in had been one of the rare, deeper spots. She'd had to push off the bottom with her tip toes to keep her nose above water. Had her mother not been there...

"I can't, " She said, her voice wavering. The water terrified her. Shaking her head again, she continued to back away. I looked as though their game of tag was over. Seating herself, the small girls ears fell flat and she wined pitifully.

Mortis looked back at Asla, very much surprised as she not only did not go in, but reacted very strongly to it. Was she… upset? Not knowing what he did wrong, but immediately regretting hurting his sister, Mortis let out a soft, apologetic whine.

Mortis started to run free of the water, tripping on something beneath the surface, he lost his balance and plunged head first beneath the surface. It was only for a moment, and then he was up again, pushing harder against the water as he made his way to shore as quickly as he could. He shook himself once he was on dry land, and raced towards his sister, he came to a quick stop, almost unbalancing again, as he swooped down and curled up beside his sister, pulling her in close. “What’s wrong Aslay?” he whispered

The moment that his head went under the water, Aslatiel’s heart stopped beating. Her throat clenched shut even though she squealed in terror. In an instant, she was on her paws and, beating back the fear, she moved towards the water. It wouldn't eat her brother. She wouldn't let it!

When Morts head breached the surface, she stopped in her tracks. He came upon the grassy land, soaking wet and moved quickly to her side, concern in his blue eyes. He didn't understand why she was afraid and pulled her into an embrace. She didn't mind being wet, so his squishy hug didn't bother her. It was the water itself that she minded.

"The water tried to swallow me. Indy was there. I couldn't breathe. I kept going under. If mom hadn't saved me..." She trailed off for a moment, purple eyes wide. "I would have been killed just like the birds." Did that explain her terror? She had no other way to describe it. Dead like the birds. She would have been dead like the birds.

He saw the agitated fright in his sister's eyes, and he did not understand it, but he wanted to fix it. He buried his nose in her coat, breathing in the familiar scent of her, before nudging his head under her chin, offering what comfort he could. It didn’t take much to get her to speak, and she freely told him what scared her. In return, he listened patiently, and well his nose screwed up in confusion, he did not judge her for her fear. He would never do anything to break the trust and friendship between them.

“The water tried to swallow you?” he repeated, casting a more weary glance back towards the stream, and then to Asla. How dare it. he snarled his teeth, pulling away from his sister, as he stalked back towards the water, and slapped it, hard, with a paw, ow! he didn’t expect the surface to feel so hard! He growled at the water, tail swishing unhappily behind him. “Why’d it choose to eat you and no one else?” he wondered, wanting to get to the bottom of this so it couldn’t hurt his sister again.

When Mort pulled away and began moving back towards the water, Asla gasped. What was he doing?! Fearful eyes watched as her brother bristled and slapped at the water. He was trying to protect her and tell the water not to hurt her again. A tentative smile formed on the small childs face and she lay down in the grass, still a little scared, but feeling better. Mort would keep her safe just like Azure had. Just like Indy did. The girl adored her siblings; each and every one.

"I tripped and fell in," she said, offering up the reason why the water had tried to eat her. "I don't want to go in the water ever again." She couldn't explain the terror, but it would be with her for the rest of her life. Perhaps she might learn to make enough peace with water to touch it, but she would never willingly submerge herself or go swimming.

"Could you... come away from there?" His close proximity to the ravenous liquid was making her nervous. She didn't like being nervous. She liked being confident and happy. This was not making her either of those things.

Mortis backed up from the water at her sisters behest, keeping his eye on it until he was a safe distance, at which point he turned around and trotted back to his sister. He curled about here where she lay, tucking his tail against her body, head resting on her back as he faced the water, watching it with a silent growl.

“I understand, you never ever have to go near the water, I’ll make sure of it” he promised her quietly, ignoring his wet fur as he cuddled her. His tail slipped out and groomed quietly around her ears as he lay with her, offering his smaller sister what comforts he could. He was the oldest, he wasn’t the bravest or the strongest, but he had a big heart. He would keep Asla safe, that was his job, right?

Mort quickly returned to her side at her behest and Asla smiled appreciatively at him. He really was a good brother. Once he settled himself around her, the little wolf practically purred as he began to groom her ears comfortingly. She hoped that they would always be this close and a strange pang of nostalgia hit a child that had only been alive for a short while. Would they always be like this?

Her blue flecked sibling promised that he'd keep her safe from the water and Asla smiled, nuzzling into the underside of his chin. "I'll keep you safe too. You just wait and see." The girl would fight for her family. She would destroy the opposition from the inside, from the outside, completely. All would bow before Fatalis. The corners of her maw lifting in a smirk, Asla offered a soft nip to her brothers cheek before peeling away. "Now you're 'it' again!" Pushing off of the ground, she leaped away and ran in the opposite direction of the evil water.

I know you will.” he agreed comfortably, he trusted his sister, he knew she would look out for him. She was clever and crafty in ways he was not, but he did not feel intimidated by it. He appreciated her for who he was, and loved her, immensely.

He wasn’t expecting her to tag him, and he gave a startled laugh as she nipped him, and pulled away. This time, he would be very careful not to go near the water, and instead peltd after her, laughing easily as they fell back to their game. “I’ma get you!” he warned, putting as much speed as he could into his legs as she moved rapidly away from the water, and back to the fantasy of pup worlds and play.