Amaranth woke to the strangest sound. She was still curled up in her den beneath the roots, and although the entrance was snowed over and closed up, it was light enough outside to shine through the snow. Alright, daytime then. But what was it that had woken her up? Her ears twitched and it took her a moment to realize that it wasn’t a sound at all that had pulled her from her dreams. It was the lack of it.

Mara gasped and surged upwards, bursting forth from her den, very much a young pup again leaping after her first butterfly. She squinted, not anticipating the sudden intensity of light. The sun was brilliantly bright in a mostly clear sky. Thin wisps of cloud were not enough to stop it shining down on a blanket of white, and it nearly blinded her. Drifts piled high against anything sturdy enough to have not blown away, and snow caked against tree trunks, plastered there by the fearsome winds. Their branches bowed, weighed down by the stuff.

The blizzard was over. The aftermath was beautiful. The day was hers to do with as she pleased. Spirits high and tail held aloft, she strode away from her den with all the grace she could muster given that getting through that first drift felt more like swimming. Mara was fascinated to see crisp tracks in the snow. The constant wind and bitter cold had made the snow crisp wherever it had not been able to drift, marking the clear passages of the first critters who had awoken and decided to stretch their legs.

She decided on a squirrel’s trail to follow. She wasn’t hungry, so it wasn’t hunting, but she had always been amused by the erratic little beasties. Following in one’s footsteps was amusing too, giving her a bit of insight into their strange little minds as the trails zigged this way and that. The trail would disappear at a trunk, snow scattered as it must have scrambled through the mounded drift, then reappear and carry on. Amaranth was perfectly content to spend her day following tracks, finding herself able to enjoy the snow at last as they led her out of the riverlands and somewhere new.

Moonshine wasn’t sure that she had ever been so excited in her life, the young half wolf awoke to mountains of snow and her father eager to take her out. Bourbon took Moon out for her first real trip beyond Ashen’s borders, he knew that she wouldn’t be able to go too far with all of the snow but the two of them made decent time. Considering Moo had to leap and jump from the turrets of snow they made decent progress.

Bourbon told the young puppy to stay in this general area while he went to go hunting. She almost went after him but instead was distracted by the small rodent form of a squirrel. Her long haired tail wagged eagerly at her rump as she lowered herself into the snow. She was off white compared to the pure accumulation, and her dark speckles were easy to see, but she managed to hide from her prey for a long moment.

Bright blue eyes peered at the squirrel and as it turned its back to eat an acorn Moonshine pounced. With a yell and a leap the girl aimed to capture the little squirrel but she didn’t account for how fast they really were, and as she lifted a paw to see her catch she realized she had missed. Confused and upset she looked up to see the creature achieve safety in the branches. It chattered angrily at her and ears fell to her skull as she contemplated her next move. She didn’t even notice the other girl a few trees away.

Amaranth might have a hard time focusing on things other wolves told her to do. Setting a specific task for her was a sure way to sour her mood. But if she set on for herself? Oh ho, an endless fount of joy. So safe to say, the older pup was utterly transfixed on her mission. The world beyond the trail of tracks fell away, aided by how muffled everything else seemed beneath the deep blanket of snow. She had no idea how far she wandered but the tracks kept going and so did she.

Finally, a bright speck of movement caught her eye up ahead. She might not have seen it at all, had it not been in the direction the tracks had been leading her. In fact Mara was so engaged that she had momentarily disregarded the fact that the tracks were squirrel tracks, so by all means she ought to be expecting to find a squirrel, right? Yeah, she'd sorta forgotten about that part. It took a minute for her brain to catch up, but the bushy tailed rodent took another bounding step forward and she gasped, dropping down into a crouch. Had the squirrel seen her? She wasn't really hungry and she hated picking squirrel fur out of her teeth. Still, the older she got the more reliant she would have to become on her own hunting skills, so passing up a meal seemed sorta dumb.

She had just about figured out how she would approach the creature unseen, close enough to pounce, when a living snowball popped out of freaking no where and crashed her party. The tiny yeti or whatever it was didn't even seem like a good hunter either, because it totally missed and the rodent fled. It wasn't until the motion stopped, the squirrel chattering angrily from the safety of it's perch, that she realized it wasn't a blizzard monster at all, but a pup. More of a pup than she was anyhow. Mara already looked pretty much like a yearling, retaining only the most blatant pup-like features, but this roly-poly little fluffball definitely did not. Where were this kid's parents?

She couldn't be mad at a kid practicing her hunting. She doubted the wolf... er, canine? The floppy-eared pup, had even known she was there. Despite her love for pestering her siblings, she wasn't about to tear into this kid for ruining a hunt she hadn't even known she was on until the last minute. Amaranth walked up, no rush, and called out. "Oooh, so close." She didn't want to freak her out or anything. "You lost, kid?" Who could say how much right Mara had to be calling anyone else 'kid,' but Mara figured she was older so that was that. Especially if she ended up having to find this kid's parents for her.

Moonshine huffed heavily as her intended prey made its getaway and then chastised her for it from above. She squinted angrily at the creature and stuck her tongue out at it, obviously not amused. Then she got the surprise of another puppy. Moon squeaked in surprise as she turned her icy blue gaze towards the older girl. Like the other puppies in the Empire this girl did not have the tell tale sign of dog lineage, her ears were erect and she was much larger than the half wolf.

The girl could have very well come from Ashen, but she didn’t smell like her home. The white base with splotches reminded her of the family at home. Especially her momma. However embarrassed Moonshine was, she didn’t realize that her performance had been seen. She lowered her ears slightly, but it was incredibly difficult to get the fluffy puppy down. Moonshine eagerly perked back up, happy to have someone new to pester.

”Not lost!” She assured the older youth. ”My dad told me to stay close by, he went hunting without me. So I wanted to hunt for myself!” Her tail wagged a million miles a minute at her hips, but she deflated slightly. ”I’m not very good.” She then offered more obviously. Moonshine was more of an explorer than a good hunter. Thankfully she had her family to provide for her.

Well, the kid had enthusiasm, at least. Mara watched her with a critical eye as the younger pup spoke brightly about her father hunting somewhere nearby. She was glad to hear it, because she was way too young to be waltzing up to her dad with a pup in tow, whether it was hers or not. Mara repressed a shudder. Ick, she didn't even want to think about that. Still though, not like it was her responsibility or anything but the thought of this puny little puffball out here on her lonesome was a bit worrying no matter how close by her father was. Might be worth sticking around, just to make sure nothing bad happened. You know, as long as the kid wasn't too annoying or anything like that.

She claimed that she was trying to hunt for herself, despite not being good, which had Mara chewing on her tongue so she couldn't let out a 'Well, duh' and hurt the runt's feelings. "Don't worry too much about it," she said instead. "I couldn't hunt to save my life at your age, and even now I'm not much better. You'll get there." There! Supportive, honest, kind... Huh! Who knew she had it in her? Even though she knew in her heart of hearts that is was fuckin' hilarious to mess with her siblings, she didn't really have it in her to be mean to kids (Because she herself was definitely not a kid,) for no good reason. "What's your name, short stuff? I'm Mara. If you want some company, I could hang around 'til your dad comes back. Keep you from turning into a pupscicle or whatever."

And maybe she'd grow to regret the offer, but seeing as her plan for the day before now was 'follow squirrels,' it's not like she had anything better to do.