Since she'd shown an interest in traveling, her moms had given the girl to go out of the territory with a guard. A teacher, if you will. In this case, her teacher was the tiny baby dog man, Outlaw. The dog was very nice. He'd played games with them before. Games that were right up Bowen's alley. Gamed involving treasure and the hunting of treasure. That made Outlaw amazing in her eyes, so she was very excited to spend some time with him today. Given the options of where to go by her mother, Bowen had chosen a place called Furngly. She didn't know what a Furngly was, but today she was going to find out. Bouncing around the walking form of the grey and black dog, Bowen found herself talking, though not non-stop like some girls she knew. "What are we going to find there, Outtie?" Yeah, she'd given him a nickname. Sota said that short names meant you were friends, so this was important. "Hey... can I try on your hat?!" The idea just dawned on her. Maybe she'd get a hat too if she liked it. "Bowen"

Outlaw was always of a positive mindset, and certainly going to explore places was an enjoyable thing, and he was even being helpful doing what he liked!  On top of that, he had the company of a cute and pretty wolf.  She’d surely be larger than him, at least the majority of wolves were but she was shorter than the other pups he’d spotted thus far.  He was perfectly happy to chat to the puppy, they tended to still have that joy of life some adults seemed to lose. “My understanding is lots and lots of flowers.  It’s supposed to be really pretty.”   The farthest he’d gone before was the Rio Grande where he enjoyed the river.  He’d followed the river most of the way and knew to avoid the swampland area he had heard about.  Once they were past the swampland though they had turned south and sure enough found their way to the start of fern valley. For the parts of the journey, he knew Bait was happy to tell Bowen any fun ‘secrets’ he had learned about the place.  At the Rio grande how he had once seen bear tracks that meant it must have been able to touch the tops of some trees.  At least in Outlaw’s mind, he had imagined it that way.  He spoke of the fish he had caught, and how great the cold water had been in the summer.  He had also paused a time or two to let them just check out any fun feature they might find.  A peculiar plant that needed to be seen or anything else that triggered the imagination.  He would also point out the scent of predators to recognize them if she ever scented one. “The hat?”  Outlaw’s eyes rolled up as if he could actually see the hat sitting on his head.  Outlaw stretched out his neck and lowered it, using a paw to slide it off.  “Just you know, be careful with it.  I’m not sure if there were any more just like this one, and it’s a long way back to the Forgotten Isle where it comes from.  It’s kind of big for you, not sure if you can really walk with it on?” Speech:"Life is but a game " Think

Flowers? Hopefully they were nice, fancy flowers. Hopefully they were special flowers. Treasures. Otherwise, what was the point? As she bounced along around the paws of the larger canine, she thought about flowers. Could she dry them and keep them forever? It was definitely something to think about. Maybe she would ask someone if they knew how to do that. Ah, but she had to find the flowers first. The pair moved along and the terrain changed. The rocky and woodsy terrain gave way to rolling hills, then switched over again to trees and lush grasses. Emerald eyes opened wide as the tiny child took in her surroundings. It was a lot different here than in The Hallows. She had asked to see Outlaws hat and his reaction made her realize how important it was to him. It was like his very own treasure. She wouldn't want anyone to take or hurt her treasures so she was extra careful with his. Gently taking the hat, she placed it upon her head. It covered the whole thing and she couldn't see at all. "Uhhh...." She didn't want to take it off while she couldn't see in case she tripped and hurt the hat. "Let me out of here!" she squeaked in her tiny puppy voice. Her whole little body had gone rigid and still. Maybe she didn't want a hat after all. "Bowen"

Bowen couldn’t see it of course under the hat but Outlaw couldn’t help the silent laughing grin on his face as the hat swallowed her head.  Yup, it was too big.  However, there was something cute about small pups swallowed by big items.  After a second he reached over to gently pluck the hat back.  With a clearly well-practiced arch of his head, the hat swung up from his mouth to land on his head.  Another second was taken as he tilted his head to one side then the other until he felt the hat was in just that right spot.  “There we go.” Outlaw glanced at Bowen, “I’d offer to try and make you something but you’ll just grow out of it fast right now.  If you want a hat when you are a bit bigger we can see what we can find.  I’m pretty good at making stuff, though I can’t make anything quite as fine as this.” His eyes rolled up as if he could see the whole hat versus just a bit of the brim. “Not sure how something this good is made and I really wish I did know.”  Maybe someday he’d figure it out. “Anyway, c’mon I think it just gets better.”  That said Outlaw picked up his pace as the vibrant grass quickly started to show off its great array of flowers of more colors than Outlaw had ever before spied.  His own tail was flagging back and forth fast at the sight.  “This place is great!” He spotted a good number of plants he knew about now thanks to listening to some of the healers in the hallows however, there were numerous plants he didn’t know that also seemed to be here. “I’m gonna take some of these back.  I don’t even know what all of these are.” His glance turned down to Bowen, “Whatcha think?” Speech:"Life is but a game " Think

Soon Bowen could see again. The girl blinked as the hat was removed and watched as Outlaw put it back on his own head. She certainly didn't want a hat like that. How could she see anything? The dog rambled on a bit about making her a hat but not knowing how to make a hat like his hat and Bowen got lost in his words so she simply nodded as he spoke. The pair picked up and began moving again. As they moved, Bo noted that the landscape was changing even more. Here and there she'd see a flower. Gradually more and more popped up. Strange leafy plants that were tall and looked really soft began springing up too. Ferns, she imagined since the place was called Ferngly. It made sense to her anyway. Coming over a hill, Bowen gasped. Her eyes went wide and her little tail began zipping around like a humming bird. There were so many flowers! All sorts of different colors too. Outlaw seemed just as excited as she was and said that he was going to bring some plants home. "Okay!" Bowen dove down the hill and began running circles through the flowers. Tiny, girlish giggles erupted from her before she threw herself on a patch of grass. It smelled so nice here. "Bowen"

Outlaw had been pretty excited and he opened his mouth in a broad grin as Bowen took off.  This was the great thing about puppies!  Look at the excitement on her as she ran about all the grass and flowers.  Outlaw watched her for a minute or two before loping a bit closer then moving amongst the flowers.  He’d take a few seconds to compare one, then either pluck it carefully or leave it in place.  There was a pretty yellow one he had no name for but it was extra pretty either way.   Maybe it was some rare medical herb that healed hundreds of things, or maybe it was just pretty.  If it was good for nothing else Outlaw figured it would make a good dye.  So it was one of the ones plucked along with a few others of its kind. The dog's ear twitched a bit as he heard Bowen flop into the grass.  Tail wagging he continued walking along, pausing when a dragonfly landed on his nose.  His crossed-eyes looked at it for a few seconds before waving a paw to gently shoo it along.  “You know, on my island, we didn’t have nearly as many plants as I’ve seen here but we did have some funny puff ball-like ones.  Instead of normal petals, it was lots of tiny tiny hair strands with seeds on em.  If you blew on it the little hairs would all take to the wind.” Outlaw headed a few steps closer to Bowen and added in the punchline part, “So when me and Gruff were younger we’d get a bunch of them, put them under old man Rufus’ nose when he was sleeping.  One of us would holler to wake him up and he always sucked in his breath when startled.” Outlaw had a bit of laughter in his next words, “should of seen em’ all them little hair petals would go right up the nose.” His tail wagged at the memory, “It didn’t hurt him any,” good to make sure she understood that manner, “but boy did we pay for it later anyway.  Always said he’d been having a great dream about, well, all manner of things he’d dream about.  Ladies, fish, summertime, and the list just went on.”  Outlaw apparently could easily forget the point of story and change tangent easily.  “So, yah flowers are good fun in a variety of ways.” Putting down the yellow flowers he’d gathered outlaw flopped down near Bowen, rolling so his belly and paws were up in the air, “also how to make things different colors, like the purple rocks I made.” [/color] Speech:"Life is but a game " Think

Bowen lay in the grass and flowers, panting and smiling. Her green gaze was squinted against the sun that beamed down on them from overhead. This place was very pretty. It wasn't as good as shiny rocks, but it was a nice place to visit and play in. Approaching paws brought her head tilting to the side. Outlaw began to speak and Bo rolled onto her stomach, listening as he told her a story about puffy flowers and someone named Gruff. When he mentioned having someone suck the puffy flowers right up their nose. The girl raised a paw over her mouth and giggled. It sounded like something that Rudy and Art would do. When Outlaw plopped down and rolled, Bowen rolled onto her back once more. He told her about turning the flowers into different colors that could stain things and reminded her of the purple rocks that he'd made. "Wow. So I could turn rocks different colors?" And not just rocks. She could make white feathers different colors. That opened up a whole new world of crafting for the girl and her eyes swam with wonder. "Bowen"

Outlaw had never seen anything like this place on his island but then again same could be said about other areas they had passed through to get here.  This place just happened to be super pretty.  “Oh sure, and ya know it's even easier where we live.  Certain pools in the hot springs are a great temperature for it.  I could show you the best ones to use for it.” Outlaw let out a jaw-cracking yawn of contentment.  The dog’s eyes tracked the path of a bee that was flitting from flower to flower. “So, if you had something made with some type of animal fur on it you could die the fur.  Instead of white rabbit fur it could be the color of any of these flowers.”  Outlaw liked a variety of colors in things. “I’d say find some flowers here that you don’t see back around the falls, you know that have colors you like. We can take those back with us and I’ll show you to dye stuff.  If you want at least?” Not that Outlaw was in any rush to get back, simply a notion for when it was time.   Speech:"Life is but a game " Think

Bowen's mind was blown when Outlaw told her that he could make furs different colors. Any color of any of the flowers here. Emerald eyes went wide and threatened to pop out of her head as she stared at the dog. Oh. My. God! The young girl began to imagine all of the different furs that she could change into different colors. If she wanted, she could sleep on a bed of green rabbit skins. Or pink. Or purple. Or red! The possibilities stretched only as far as the colors of flowers, but it was enough to open up a whole new world to the girl. When Outlaw suggested that she collect whatever color flowers she wanted, Bowen hopped to her feet and danced from paw to paw indecisively. Ohhh, there were so many choices! There was a particular shade of purple that she liked in one of the larger flowers. It was right on the edge of purple and pink. "Will you help me pick these ones?" The birds around them sang, but not as loudly as the caramel cream girls heart. She wanted to make so many things when they got back! "Bowen"

Outlaw was grinning as he watched the young pup’s joy at his mention of dying things.  He pictured her den would soon be a colorful place of many colors.  “Sure,”  Outlaw chipperly agreed.  Outlaw reached down to start plucking out flowers like the one she’d mentioned. There were a million billion zillion types of flowers out here so Outlaw added some other flowers into what they’d take back.  He also added in periwinkle.  Tail flagging high he also added some wintergreen to the list.  The periwinkle was good for medical stuff and it was pretty for potential dying.  The wintergreen made him come up with a thought that earlier hadn’t occurred, “Oh, and be careful with the plants.  Don’t swallow anything you don’t know about.  Some of them won’t go down well.”  The wintergreen was a prime example and he’d want to fold the leaves up in something for the trip home.   Speech:"Life is but a game " Think