The moon had long since started it's nightly ascent towards the apex of the sky, it was nearly there, the highest point it would reach with many hours still remaining before it would fully disappear, the cool of autumn making the nights draw longer again, when the young Destruction boy would leave the den. His family was, as far as he could tell, still asleep. He had promised under his breath that he wouldn't go too far outside the den but he had gotten a curious bug, it had been hard to confirm as his parents often ushered them into the den shortly after proper nightfall but Haüyne had a hunch that the stars seemed to move across the sky, not a lot but when he'd been able to draw patterns with some stars during the late hours of twilight when they would seem to shift slightly, though not enough to notice day to day... So he was hoping to get a better view of the night sky now that the sun had fully descended and the stars were more visible. Or that had been the plan. But as he'd noticed how much the dark branches of the trees blocked out the sky he'd wandered further and further from the den, though he never left the pines he was soon no longer within easy view of the den. Eventually, he discovered a little clearing, one of the pines felled in the snow, its split stump long since worn smooth by time and animals scampering across it, and almost upon instinct he jumped up onto its smooth surface, his head tipped back as if being slightly further off the ground would make his view of the stars clearer. The young man was fully lost in his wondering, eyes flicking across the sky as he tried to find the little set of stars he'd drawn into a little snake-like design, the body mostly a flat line that curved upwards into a little curve for the head. His head swiveled a few times almost looking like an owl as he searched. Finally, finally he spotted it, further west than he last remembered seeing them the last time he'd made note of where they were. Haüyne cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowing as he tried to ponder out why this could even be the case? Did the sky move? It didn't seem totally impossible, after all the moon and the sun moved along the sky too... But why would the sky itself move? It didn't seem to shift in daytime outside of being able to trace the path of the sun... As far as he could work out while clouds might suggest the movement of the sky that it seemed they were affected more by the wind than anything else... maybe the sky was pushed by the wind too? Well this deserved a little more investigation. Haüyne swiveled his head until his gaze landed on the moon. Huh... If the sun, moon and stars were fixed in position in the sky why was it that the sun and moon could be seen visibly moving at a much faster pace... Come to think of it the sun's movement was also significantly faster than that of the stars which seemed to only move a tiny bit each night rather than moving from one horizon to another in the span of the day. So if they were stuck to the sky like the stars seemed to be, how was it they moved so much quicker, traveling the full length of the sky in a single day when it seemed like the stars only visibly moved over the course of about a week or so? Well, that was confusing... As far as Haüyne was concerned this just meant further investigation, and what better way to try and do that than hunker down for a proper stargazing session. He rolled onto his back, the smooth bark hard against his spine but with paws tucked to his chest and abdomen it was almost cozy, his forepaws lifting occasionally as he set about making new designs in the stars with a foreclaw before they'd fall floppily back to his chest. But the more patterns he could build and recognize the more he could check throughout the week and build a hypothesis. Admittedly this position wasn't exactly conducive to keeping a young growing boy awake well past his bedtime, his lids felt heavy and from time to time even felt them slipping closed before he'd jostle himself awake. If he wasn't careful he would suddenly be woken to daylight out of the den, laying down on a stump... That would probably only end with a bunch of questions from his parents and maybe even being reprimanded. And yet his brain was starting to slow... his eyes starting to close once more and the world starting going dark... WC: 817 "Speech"

Art by Ulfarna

Bronze wasn't sure why he was out tonight but he'd been having trouble sleeping, and wandering the pine forest seemed a suitable alternative to lying awake, tossing and turning all night. At least he could do some patrolling and check on the borders - not that he was really entrusted with those tasks anyway as someone just older than two seasons, but he figured an extra set of paws wouldn't hurt. When he pulled himself away he was too groggy to notice Hauyne missing; in the faint moonlight the mess of mostly-blue bodies made it hard to discern one from the other and his vision was hazy at best.

Once he removed himself from their den he tried to shake the sleep from his limbs by picking up his pace slightly. He had no real goal in mind, he just hoped that by working his body a bit he might find it easier to fall back to sleep once he returned. Large paws carried him through the pines, his eyes slowly adjusting to the near darkness. The moon provided just enough light to make his way around though, streaming in slivers down through the trees. Eventually he made his way closer to the border's edge, though a familiar scent caught his interest. Hauyne was out and about too. Maybe his restless sleep had woken his brother up somehow?

He couldn't ignore the presence of family and he didn't bother to try. He veered around clusters of plants and trees until he spotted his silhouette, propped up slightly on what looked like a fallen tree. It almost looked like he was sleeping. Quietly Bronze crept forward, nudging his brother's shoulder gently as if trying not to alarm him. "Hauyne, hey," he started carefully. "What are you doing sleeping all the way out here?"

One moment Haüyne was fighting off the grasp of sleep and the next he was being nosed awake, or at least that's what it felt like to him. He jostled first, his body reacting before his brain even managed to wake up, his eyes lids fluttered, pale blue orbs rolled before they landed on his brother and slowly the brain fog started to roll away. The boy groaned, rolling over onto his side and lifting a forepaw to rub at his eyes with his wrist. Finally, finally his mind seemed to recognize the words that were spoken to him. "I wasn't sleeping." He said, a yawn pulling at his jaw. "I was looking at the stars." Haüyne tipped his head to the sky to indicate with his muzzle. "I think they move." It was a simple statement but as he looked at his brother Haüyne's eyes were alight, clearly excited by this discovery. "Speech"

Art by Ulfarna

Though he tried to wake his brother up in the least disruptive way possible, he watched as he startled awake before coming to his senses. Bronze's ears flattened apologetically, though the moment faded as quickly as it arrived and soon Hauyne was rolling onto his side and slowly rousing awake, slowly but surely. Bronze was a little groggy himself from drifting in and out of sleep for the last few hours. The crisp night air had a way of rousing even the sleepiest wolf awake though, and he was no exception.

Hauyne said he wasn't sleeping, but looking at the stars. Bronze nodded in understanding, not bothering to argue that he'd definitely seemed asleep. "They move?" His eyes lit up with interested as he tilted his head to the sky to observe. Slowly he sunk down onto his belly beside his brother, happy to sit and watch with him and try to see what he was talking about. "I don't see any movement," he commented after a second, oblivious to what Hauyne was implying. "What do you mean?" Maybe he'd just been dreaming, he thought quietly to himself.

Regardless of if he had been sleeping Haüyne hadn't meant too, though if anyone had pointed that out if he was in Bronze's paws he'd have also pointed out that intention doesn't negate the reality of what actually happened. But he wasn't really even thinking about that. Haüyne watched, pale blues fixed on Bronze as the boy sunk to his stomach and turned his own gaze skyward. Laughing lightly as his brother expressed confusion. "You won't be able to see it." He explained, knowing how strange is sounded. "I've been watching the sky before bed every day and I only really noticed it recently." The young boy rolled so he was on his back again, lifting a paw and pointing his toes towards the serpentine constellation he'd drawn, pointing towards the brightest star at the snake's head. "Do you see the bright star right there?" He asked before tracing his paw away to point approximately where he'd seen it earlier. "It used to be about... here, about a week ago." "Speech"

Art by Ulfarna

If Bronze doubted his brother's words at all, he made no real sign of it. Instead he made himself more comfortable beside Hauyne, his paws stretching out in front of him as he tilted his head back to observe the sky. He didn't follow what his brother was saying about the stars moving, but as he explained it made a little more sense. He didn't mean they were moving quickly - at least not quick enough for them to see - but they were moving slowly, very slowly. "Kinda like how a plant grows?" Bronze mused thoughtfully. "One day it's small and then the next it can be a lot bigger, but if you sit and watch it you can't really see it growing?"

Maybe he was wrong. Maybe it was nothing like that, but it made sense in his head. He let out a quiet sigh, shifting slightly so he was sitting closer to his brother. It was a strange thought to imagine the stars moving in the sky like that - they seemed so permanent and unchanging until you really got to thinking about it more. "Say, do you think we'll be here forever? Looking at this sky? Or do you think we'll end up somewhere else someday seeing a different one?" The conversation was was a casual one but Bronze had gotten to wondering if Incendium would be their home forever. Their parents seemed happy here but he wondered if life might be different elsewhere, if they ended up going somewhere new.