Azure was struggling with his recent frustrations in life, his heart so very angry at being struck not once but twice. Resin's 'attack' had sent him flying and his father shortly followed suit with a cuff of his own. The pup didn't understand, but from what he got from the conversation it was not okay to hurt his brother (although he didn't mean to hurt him, only to teach him to fly) but it was okay to get revenge on Resin. His father even said so that as long as he wasn't dishonest or deceitful that he'd be allowed to retaliate. The words confused him even further, but he assumed it just meant that he was allowed to fight back against her as long as he didn't act sweet and innocent to her face. When he was learning to catch rabbits he'd learned to snare them, to chase them into the trap and kill them when they could not run away anymore. Resin would need a similar approach, she was a massive wolf and a toughened warrior. Azure knew he had no chance against her in hand-to-hand combat, and so instead he got to work digging. He'd previously made some spears with Banshee which he planned to drop into the bottom of the planned pit. Then he'd need only to wait or convince Resin to come running for him, and she'd drop in and land on the spears and.... well, Azure wasn't sure what would be next, but he did know he'd get his revenge. He dug and dug and dug and dug for what felt like hours and he'd hardly gotten anywhere. For the hole to be big enough for the large wolf to fall in, he'd need to enlist some help. "Asla!" He called, having seen the tan and gray pup wander past earlier. "Asla, I need your help!" "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

The cream and grey girl had been asleep face first in the long grass. Staying up at night was taking its toll on her. She had crept through the long grass delicately so that her path might be obscured from the others. She wanted privacy for her nap. Only when she was quite a ways into the long grass had she tamped down a section and fallen asleep. Her life had been rough lately. It was difficult to avoid her father although she tried to. She was harder than she had been before. Less of a child. A voice pulled her from sleep. A call came not once, but twice. Pushing herself to a sitting position, the little wolf yawned and gave her head a shake. "Yeah," she called, her voice still tired. "I'm here." With a sign and a stretch, Aslatiel made her way back to the main path. Tired eyes fell upon the large form of Azure. He had a look of determination on his face. She tilted her head slightly. "What's up?" "Speech"

His sister came to his call even though she looked terribly tired. Azure felt bad for bothering her, and frowned across the grass towards her. "Sorry, it's not that big a deal. If you wanna go back to sleep that's 'kay." He looked down at his pitifully dug hole and his dirty paws, wondering how he'd ever do it without her. Well, maybe if he just explained his plan she might think it was more interesting than a nap might be. "See, Resin hit me. Really hard with a smack and I rolled across the ground so far!" He lifted his paw as if smacking an unseen foe to display to her what had happened. "Dad said I could get back at her for it, but I need to be sneaky about it. I can't ask Indy for help, he's too nice. And Mort..." He paused, stumbling on his words. Mort had not tattled to anyone about what Az had done, and Az was happy to keep it a secret as long as his brother did. He err'd and ahh'd, and then decided on his words. "Well, Mort is Mort. He doesn't want to hurt anyone." A part of him knew his words to be true, and it should have made him feel worse for his push. His brother had a kind heart, and didn't even want to blame Az for his part in injuring himself. "Plus he hurt his leg, and can't dig with me anyways." He'd talked fast and paused to gather a big breath before continuing, hoping Asla was following good enough. "So I'm gonna dig a big hole, then make her fall in it. Gonna put these sticks at the bottom too." For a moment he wondered if his sister would disapprove, and tried to make it sound less lethal and deadly and wrong. "Dad said I could." Azure moved back towards his hole, pushing his paw out to gesture to it. "But I need help digging it, it's gonna take me forever alone." "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Az offered to let her go back to sleep and the tiny wolf shook her head. She was awake now and there was no going back. Her brother instantly launched into the reason that he needed her and the explanation behind it. So Resin had hit him. Aslatiel didn't have an opinion about the big, scarred woman other than that she was scary with her one eye. She didn't like looking at the huge, silent wolf. It made her uneasy. She did feel as though the old wolf wouldn't have struck him without a reason though. If he didn't wish to tell her that reason, that was fine. No matter what he had done, blood came first. Perhaps, had she known what he did to Mort, she would have thought differently. Since she didn't... she would help him. Aslatiel nodded. Indy was very, very sweet. He wouldn't harm a fly. Mort was much the same. She didn't know that he'd hurt himself and her brow furrowed in worry, but there was something important to Az that needed to be tended to. Once the plan was laid out, the girl merely nodded again. She would help him to dig. Together, they would get things done more quickly. Though her paws were small, she was quick. "Let's go then." Seeing the area where Az had begun to dig, Aslatiel got to work. Her small paws worked the ground furiously. She used her claws to cut through roots and unearth rocks which she threw aside. "How deep are we going?" If they were digging too deep, she would need help getting out of the hole after. "Speech"

Az was incredibly grateful that his sister accepted his explanation easily and without further questions. More and more he was shown how very much he adored his siblings, for their loyalty and their trust. "Thanks, sis." He grinned at her, sighing with relief and then moving along with her to begin to dig again at the hole. Her sharp cat claws were best suited to slice away the roots and plants, and his wide bear paws were best at shoveling large quantities of dirt out of the way. Together they made a good team. She asked how far they had to dig, and Azure wasn't quite sure. In his memory he knew Resin was massive, though without her standing for comparison he couldn't quite tell how deep it'd need to be to trap her. "Big enough for a big wolf, I guess." He answered with uncertainty. "So she can't get back out after." Logically it all was sound to him, and he nodded to himself as he continued to shovel the dirt out of the way. The pup was set upon his goal so solidly, that it hadn't even occurred to him that they'd need to get out somehow. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Az thanked her and she nodded in response. There wasn't much that she wouldn't do for her brothers. Though she didn't entirely understand the intense need to get back at the big wolf. Their father had hurt her, but she didn't want to trap him in a hole. She just wanted to stay away from him. As she worked, she decided to talk to Az a bit. The hurt from their father had been weighing heavily on her mind. "Are you afraid of dad?" She dug, paws moving quickly over the soil. "I was hunting a rabbit. It got away, but it was hurt, so I tracked it and I happened to go out of the territory." She shook her head as she worked. "When I killed the chicken, he told me that it was a good thing because it was hurt. When I killed the rabbit, he told me that it was a bad thing." Asla stopped digging for a moment, her gaze meeting Azure's. The look was one too serious for a child of her age. "He picked me up in his jaws and shook me, then threw me to the ground. I didn't understand." Shaking her head a bit, she went back to digging. "I don't want to be around dad anymore." When told how deep the hole needed to be, Aslatiel grimaced. Resin was a lot taller than they were. She didn't know how they were going to get out of the hole after. "We need to figure out how to get out of here after. Maybe a big branch that we can climb?" She was a clever little thing. The branch made sense to her. She could climb it, but could Az? "Speech"

As they dug Asla began to confide in him, and Az frowned as she told him her story. Was he afraid of dad? No, not really. In fact he wasn't even really that afraid of Resin. While he'd been through a similar trauma he responded differently - with anger instead of fear. "Not really." He admitted to her after a moment, feeling bad that he couldn't share properly in her pain. Maybe if he shared his story with her, she might be able to feel better about her own experience. Knowing that dad wasn't just that way to her. "I got in trouble by dad too. After Resin hit me I came to him to tell him, and he hit me too. And before Resin hit me she picked me up and shook me, but not off the ground she did it above a big cliff. I thought I was going to die." He whispered softly, ears flattening at the memory. "I was scared at first, but I didn't like being scared. I thought, 'hey if I don't like being scared so maybe adults don't like it either', and now I want Resin to feel the same scared I did. Except I can't hold her off a cliff." He looked over to her as he dug, wondering if she was understanding. Azure didn't want his sister to be scared, he wanted her to be fierce and scary instead. "I can help you make dad scared, if you want." He offered helpfully, as she'd decided to help him conquer his demon. Her idea of the branch was a good one, and Az nodded thoughtfully. "I saw a big branch in the cellar when I was looking at the spears. I don't think anyone has used it for crafting yet, maybe we can drag it over. It's not far." He frowned, would they be strong enough though to haul the log out and over? And then how did they get it out after so Resin couldn't get out too? "Or we can dig a tunnel once we're at the bottom, something small enough we can fit through to get in and out but Resin can't cause she's so big." "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

As she dug, Asla listened to her brother talk about what had happened to him and the feelings involved. He wasn't afraid of their father and he wasn't afraid of Resin. That was good that he wasn't afraid. "I just trusted him so much. It hurt when he did that. My heart hurt." Pulling out a particularly large rock, she used her entire body to roll it aside.

Paws continued to work at the damp earth. She would need a bath after this. Not a nice thought, but it would be necessary. Az offered to help make their father afraid and, after mulling it over for a moment, the girl nodded. "Yes. Let's make him afraid." Maybe their father would realize how she felt when he'd scared her.

There was wood in storage? "Maybe we can drag it here together. If you use your teeth and I use my claws, we should be able to drag it out when we're done." The pair continued their work until the hole was deep, but not so deep that they couldn't get out. She let Az lead the way to the piece of wood that would serve as their ladder. It took some time, but they got it back to the hole and instantly dove back into their work.

Azure felt good about his plan, and about Asla agreeing to his offer to frighten the direwolf as he'd frightened his daughter. It hurt him to think of his sister's pained heart, and as he dug he thought upon all the mean wolves in the world and how he wanted to bite any who dared to mess with his beloved siblings. It became more natural for him to leave Mortis out of his train of thought, even though he wasn't intentionally trying to exclude him from his love. It took them quite a while to finish digging the hole, then make their way out. The branch they'd drug for a ladder was luckily thin enough that Azure bet Resin couldn't possibly use it in the same way. They could leave it there, and if anything it's sharp bark might only add to the pain when she inevitably fell down it. He hadn't decided if it would be better to chase the wolf into the pit they'd dug - like the rabbits into their traps - or if he should try and trick her into it. Perhaps if he called for her, hidden on the other side of the pit she might come to the young prince's call and find herself inside it before she reached him. There was one last step to Azure's plan before the luring, however. He sat back and observed the hole, nodded, then turned back to Asla. "OK, see all those pointy sticks? We gotta stick 'em in there so when she falls down it'll hurt." Hurt wasn't what Azure was aiming for, in fact... but he didn't want to drag his sister into being an unwilling accomplice to murder. He grabbed one stick from beside the hole and jumped back down, jamming it into the mud pointy side up and then running up the branch back to grab another one. "You're the best sister ever." He offered, after his second trip placing the spears. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Once Az deemed the hole deep enough, it was time for the spears. Because she was so small, she didn't have enough force to jam the sticks into the ground. Instead, the girl handed the spears down to Az so that he could place them where he wanted them.

With their work finished, Aslatiel was beat. Her creamy coat was covered in mud. A bath was in order whether she liked it or not. As she bathed in the most shallow part of water that she could manage, Asla thought of their plan to scare her father. He deserved to know how scared she felt, but she also wondered if they might make him mad and he might hurt them both.

--
A day or so later, Asla checked on the trap that they'd built. The hole was completely filled in and the spears were stacked beside it. The girls mouth set in a hard line. That had taken so much work! She didn't know who filled the hole in, but decided that it would be better not to ask in case it would get Az into trouble.