Having children that were used to so much travel was a boon when it came to introducing new experiences. He was eager to get them started on their life skills and hunting was at the top of the list. It was important for a wolf to know how to feed himself as he might not always have a pack to rely on to stay fed. He also hoped that maybe the experience might prompt Jigsaw to eat a little more. The boy was underweight, Hari knew that much but he couldn't figure out why. Was he just not eating enough? Was it worms? Some other illness? He'd need to check with a healer after he returned. The woman Hari had bred with had been pretty skinny naturally but he couldn't help but worry over the boy's weight.

He settled in a spot on the prairie, underneath a cottonwood tree near a prairie dog town. "Ok, boys, we're here!"

Áskell fidgeted constantly in the travois. He was anxious and ready to start hunting and it was taking soooooo long to get there. "Daaaad… how much longer! I gotta pee!" He fidgeted some more, sticking his head over the edge of the travois to watch the scenery go by. He was sitting on top of the rabbit-skin quilt as the noon day sun was making everything warm.

Finally, the arrived and Áskell bounded off the travois and scrambled up to the oak tree where he promptly relieved himself before dashing back to Harbringr. "Ok, I'm ready! Where are the prairie dogs?" He couldn't wait to catch and shake one of the furry little beasts and make his father proud.

While Áskell was a fidgety ball of energy, Jigsaw was simply happy to enjoy the travois ride looking out over the prairie. The world was more massive then he could have ever anticipated it to be, and between leaving their mother, arriving at Ashen, joining Habari, and now adventuring out in search of prey he felt like he had to have seen all of it by now. He clearly hadn't, because every new chunk of time that'd passed by showed him something new all over again.

His brother's words had Jigsaw shifting subtly away, his eyebrows narrowing in an accusatory glare. "Don't you pee on me." He threatened, spending the rest of the journey giving Áskell small glances to ensure the bigger boy was in fact holding his bladder.

When they came to a stop he was eager to leap from the travois, his thin legs vibrating with pent-up energy. Áskell did his business promptly, declaring himself ready for their hunt. "I think I see one!" He replied, and as his brother came bounding back towards them Jigsaw aimed to pounce upon him playfully.

Aurielle Adravendi

She padded ahead of her children – almost all of them except Amory, who was down with a persistent cough - , glancing back often to make sure none of the four youngsters had been distracted and wandered. It was further than she usually took them, but when all was said and done, it was closer than the Dancefloor, and they were older, and stronger than they’d been at the festival. She kept an easy pace that Aoife would be able to keep up with. They’d skirted Aerie’s northern border, avoiding the desertlands. She thought she might head south to the Bifrost when they reached the Prairie, but it was voices up ahead that changed her mind. Children that weren’t hers. Something about prairie dogs. She peered out ahead, spotting a form under a cottonwood, and two small pups. Wait, she knew that white and black pattern. “Stay with me, children. Let’s go say hello.” She padded forward, skirting the prairie dog town before she called out, “Is that a Harbringr I see?” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Ardyn Cadeyrn Aodhán Phoenix Adravendi

Ardyn was glad he and his mom did long patrols and runs. She worked him hard, though with breaks. She did the same with his siblings, but he was the one who would lead someday, and so he needed to be in peak condition, able to travel long distances. His journey to the festival grounds had been tiring, but since then, he’d been training with his mother, and this day, he was only slightly panting. It was more from the heat of the day on his black coat. He sort of envied Coran for his pale coloring, which must have been much cooler in the heat of the day than solid blackest of black. But he didn’t hold that flicker against his brother. Coran was his best friend as well as his brother. He glanced back to Aoife and Lee, wagging his tail in encouragement before prancing ahead to playfully pounce at their mother’s tail. He was already level with her thigh at the shoulder, and was in a growth spurt as Autumn drew closer. Voices ahead halted him mid-leap, and he crashed into his mother’s shimmering hind leg, knocking a few glowing hairs from her coat. With the season wearing toward autumn, their coats would be shedding soon. But thoughts about that were way over his head, and he was far more interested in the figures he saw. He glanced at his mother and nodded at her quiet command, following and glancing back at his brother and sisters to be sure they were following, too. His mother called out to the figures, or one of them. Which was Harbringr? The man or the two boys? Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Aoife bounded along cheerfully despite the long distance, and the fact that she was taking at least two steps to every one of her family members' steps. Even if she had been tired, which of course she wasn't, she was just plain too stubborn to not keep up with everyone. At this point she was getting used to the way her legs always ached trying to match gait with everyone else and thought nothing of it. It was just the way things were. And, really, she was getting a lot stronger and more enduring for it, too. Maybe she could get a big friend like her mother had with Aelloshir, so it could pull her around in a wagon or something. Hmm but then she'd get fat and lazy so maybe she could just walk and still have a big friend, like Tay was her little bird.

The aforementioned little bird was now fully feathered and able to fly, though she still wasn't great at it, so she rode in style on Aoife's back, where a rather holey cloth sling from Tay's baby-days was tied around Aoife's neck to hold her quills down to keep them from sticking the swift. Tay was watching everything around them with the quick, sharp gaze of an insect-hunter, and indeed every once in a while launched off Aoife to catch something and return.

Then her mother seemed to pause, and change their course as though following something, and Aoife raised her head, straining her nose and ears to catch the same trail as she followed along with her mother. They stopped to see... Aoife, and Tay now having fluttered to Aoife's head and clinging to one quill with one foot and her forehead fur with the other, peeked around her mother. "Those aren't a harbinger, Mama," she sighed, disappointed. "Those're just boys."

Coran was thrilled at this long trek they were on, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed would be a good description for his appearance as they moved.  Right now the creamy brindled pups description could also include open mouth and panting.  There was still plenty more energy left in him but still, the trip was a long one for what they used too, and it didn’t help that Coran had tried to a short side-trek a time or two when he spotted something interesting.  It was important he learn as much as possible for the future, after all right?  A stick that walked, a cry of some animal he didn’t recognize and the sight of his buzzard landing off in some grass to kill some helpless creature were all things that caught his attention. Being tired tended to make a better-behaved pup as Coran seemed content to follow at this point at least.  Voices were heard and at his mom’s call and Ardyn’s glance back Coran called out an “ok!” and picked up his speed to be lined up with Ardyn.   He looked at Aoife’s comment of ‘just boys’ questioningly a moment then turned his head towards Ardyn, grinning with any sign of being tired forgotten, “think they’d want to do a 2 on 2 spar?” Mom didn’t seem concerned that they would be an enemy, after all so they might be others they could play with? Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Harbringr chuckled at his children's antics and he nodded at Jigsaw. "Very good. The prairie dogs live in little holes in the ground and they pop up to see what is going on and if anyone is going to eat them." He didn't get much farther in his lesson when a pale, glowing figure caught his attention, coming across the prairie. "It is indeed, Lady Aurielle! Good to see you." He was surprised to see a number of pups following along after her and he grinned. "I see I'm not the only one to start a family. These are my sons, Áskell and Jigsaw. I was thinking of taking them prairie dog hunting. What brings you here?" Maybe she was here to teach her children to hunt as well though at the mention of a spar from one of Aurielle's younglings he knew immediately what Áskell would want to do.

Jigsaw pounced on Áskell who swayed under his brother's weight but didn't fall. He reached up playfully trying to nip at his brother's tail before a bunch of strangers showed up. The woman was white and glowing and he quickly bounded toward her. "Hey! Are you a ghost?" Whenever his dad told him stories about spirits they were usually white and glowing though he didn't know ghosts went out in the day. Maybe she was going to gather up pups to eat them and he'd get to see his dad beat up a spirit. However, when they started talking it seemed Hari knew her. His focus immediately turned to the pups, especially the one who suggested sparring.

"I want to spar! I want to spar!"

Jigsaw was ready to furiously nom his prey [Askell] when his father spoke up, explaining more about the prairie dogs they were hunting. He opened his mouth to ask a question when strangers approached, and with a rapid and off-balance skittering Jigsaw flew into the leg of his father to take cover. There were so many strange voices and the Klein boy was entirely ready to just remain hidden, let them have their conversation, and be on their way back towards the prairie dogs. Even Askell chimed in and Jigsaw lifted his head out from the leg-fur which he was hiding to glare at his brother, when he saw them.

Between the brightly glowing adult, the ember-like boy, and the spikey girl, Jigsaw didn't know which he wanted to touch first. His eyes grew wide and he slunk out from behind Harbringr, moving cautiously up towards Ardyn and lifting out a paw towards the color-changing fur. "Can... can I touch it?" He asked softly, glancing back at his father for approval before locking his eyes back upon the pretty colors.

Aurielle Adravendi

The Spirit grinned lightly at the white and black man as his two zeroed in on her children, though she gently nudged Aoife with a gently chiding paw at her remark about just boys. To Harbringr, “These are Ardyn, my eldest, Coran, the second eldest, and Aoife, my youngest, but by far the most spirited. My other two daughters are at home attending to lessons. Children, this is Harbringr Klein, a friendly acquaintance from another pack.” But his scent didn’t carry the subtle anointments of Deathbelle’s leadership among his personal smells, and she cast a slight curious glance at him in case he wanted to specify the pack he belonged to. Grinning, she added, “I thought I might take them to the Bifrost to see the land bridge and the ocean. Tell them a few stories about my adventure with a ship there.” She’d gotten the identification from Cairo’s Mandrill friend, Enito, who was old enough to have actually spent some of his life among humans and learned of them in some detail. Her head cocked lightly as she added, “I’m sure my lot would enjoy a layover to chase prairie dogs and play with a few pups their age that aren’t siblings, though. Would you care to make a playdate of it?” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Ardyn Cadeyrn Aodhán Phoenix Adravendi

It seemed one of the boys was as eager about the idea of a spar as Coran, and Ardyn half bowed in invitation, though he paused as his mother began the introductions, and he smiled at the man, tail transforming into a torch as fresh wagging took over. To the boy, Jigsaw, he tilted his head. It was the first time he’d been asked if he could be touched, but he grinned with a mental shrug, cheerfully agreeing, “Sure! I’m Ardyn.” His coat was unusually silky in texture, and once a paw came in contact, it was as if Jigsaw would have traced fire over the ink-black fur, there for a couple seconds before fading like the trail of a falling fireball. To both Klein boys, Ardyn asked, with a wide, long canined grin, “Want to see who can catch the biggest prairie dog? Or maybe the most!” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Coran wasn’t used to seeing pups from a pack outside of Valhalla so this was pretty great!  As the one pup showed interest in the spar idea Coran quickly jumped into a playbow.  He was still in his playbow as his eyes lifted up while mom introduced them.  From there he looked to the more leery pup and snickered as it made its way to Ardyn to check out his fur.  Between mom and Ardyn it didn’t quite have the same wonder to it for Coran.  Sure, most of the wolves he knew didn’t have the pretty color-changing fur but when it was in the family it became a normal thing after a time. Ardyn had an idea besides the spar with Coran wondering if the change was for the sake of the shyer pup they had just met.  Oh well, there would be another time to spar.  His eyes then glanced over to where the prairie dogs were.  “Let’s do the most, pretty sure that will be more fun!” Chasing more would also mean more experience.   Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Harbringr looked at Jigsaw as the boy asked if he could touch one of the other boys. "Only if he's ok with it." His attention moved back to Aurielle as she introduced her children. It hadn't occurred to him to mention that he was now with Habari as in some ways he felt he was still apart of Ashen. They were all connected by Klein blood after all.

"That sounds exciting, and yes. I think a play date would be excellent." His sons hadn't had much of a chance to socialize yet though he was sure that would change once they go settled into Habari and could visit both Ashen and the Ashen Armada next door. Both packs had their fair share of pups now that were close to his boys in age.

Áskell fixated on the dark glowing pup that his brother wanted to touch and he quickly picked up that the boy's name was Ardyn. His mother supplied the name of the other pups that were with her. "Hey everyone! Nice to meet you." He thought for a moment on whether they should try to catch the biggest or the most. He hadn't really thought that far ahead. The lighter pelted boy, Coran, suggested the most and that sounded good to him. "Ok, let's do the most!" He bounded toward the prairie dog holes and the moment he started running there one of the dogs sounded the alarm and they scurried into their dens. He skidded to a stop at the nearest hole and started digging when he realized he was too big to fit down the hole.