It had been a few days since the birth of her children, and Eden refused to leave their side until now. She curled around them, letting them suckle, to their heart's content before the bundle drifted to sleep. She quietly removed herself from their side, regretting the decision already. Her green eyes finally drifted from their form before she walked out of the nursery she had built. She didn't go very far. Her steps only led her to the entrance and there she sat.

Gazing across the Cavern's location, she spotted a bundle of flame. Her brows furrowed, knowing it was too small to be an intruder. Or, well, an intruder of any malicious intent surely? "Hello?" she called, smelling a familiar scent. Ah, one of Sparrow's pups. She recognized it but also did not know what Sparrow had called him. She left the new mother alone to tend to her duties and her pups, only coming when called. He was a handsome little man, all things considered. Sparrow was a lucky one.

Still. She gave the option for the pup to explore or just roam closer. Eden remained seated.

"Speech"

AS HER OWNER...
ignis praetor is allowed in any thread, even ones marked private
baelfire, diablo, rivin and aresenn are also allowed due to being her children

Ajax had been adopted. Or at least that's what the white pair of ducks seemed to think as they followed him about, quacking loudly when he wandered off too far, waddled after the overly energetic pup as fast as their little legs would allow. He didn't mind them much at all, had even tried to communicate back with yipping barks and happy squeals. But as much as he beckoned them inside, he couldn't quite persuade them to enter the cavern. They fussed and quaked amongst themselves, stomping on the spot as Ajax went inside anyway, leaving them outside as he ventured back into the darkness. Where he was quick to come across someone big and tall- not as much as the food giver but larger than the ducks anyway.

They greeted him with gentle eyes and even kinder words, making him tilt his head in curiosity as the bluest of eyes took her in. Green. She had a lot of green.

Instead of saying hello he just...quacked at her. More of a honk really, the closest he could get to mimicking his ducky friends.

She shouldn't laugh, even if it was hard not to chuckle. The corners of her mouth twitched but she forced her words to be calm and collected. "Honk" Eden quacked back quietly, lowering her voice because she noticed a few shuffles behind her in the nursery. All she needed was her puppies to wake up and she'd be forced to go back. But was it a forced reaction or was it a wanting one? She wanted to speak to the boy, but she also wanted to curl up and sleep next to her children. Decisions.

"My name is Eden" she had no reason to believe the boy couldn't talk, even if a mild panic set in that he could be impaired. That flew away, knowing she had inspected the puppies before. His vocal cords hadn't developed properly yet, true, but she saw no damage from the birth. But would he speak to her - or would he just quack? "did you leave your duck friends back there?" she asked, tilting her head gently. She certainly smelt them on his coat. She hadn't heard of a puppy bonding with a 'wild animal' before they were yearling age though.

Strange, but also wonderful.

"Speech"

AS HER OWNER...
ignis praetor is allowed in any thread, even ones marked private
baelfire, diablo, rivin and aresenn are also allowed due to being her children

Eden. Eee den. He knew what a den was...so what was an eee? Tipping his head to the side, he thought about it for a moment before deciding that she was an Eden. Was that how it worked? Not just the two parts, but the whole. Green and dark, with soft eyes and a question. Duck friends. Duck. It was a lot to put together, pieces slotting as he smushed them in his mind, putting a word to those white, fluttery feathers.

"Yeah." He then said with a nod, confirming he could in fact speak. His voice was high-pitched with boyish youth, fraying at the edges with barely contained excitement. There was a lot he wanted to do, to see and learn, standing around and being polite was hard. Then with all the tact of a boy who couldn't even spell his name with certainty yet, he went onto say: "You smell funny."

Not bad, or not like...really bad. But different and unknown. Funny. You know?

"Do I?" Eden's face split into an amused but kind grin. She raised a paw to sniff at her ankle, finding herself smelling like usual. The scent of puppies, of course, replaced her pregnant scent. "do I smell good" she asked the boy "or do I smell... yucky?" She lowered her paw back to the earth. Perhaps she should take a dip in the pool of water before returning to her children... But she couldn't ignore the boy. She'd wait for him to grow bored and leave.

"You smell nice" she chirped to him with a smile "you smell like your mother. She's my friend" Was that what they were? She had tended to Sparrow before and after the raid, spoken to her a few times... She considered the woman a friend, trusted her... But they hadn't exactly said they were friends yet - or at all "you're a little prince, did you know?" She adds to the boy "your mother is King; that makes you a prince." She wondered if the pups would place stock in it.

"What's your name, little prince?" she asked him.

"Speech"

AS HER OWNER...
ignis praetor is allowed in any thread, even ones marked private
baelfire, diablo, rivin and aresenn are also allowed due to being her children

Ajax let out a pensive hum, head titlting and brows furrowing in very serious consideration. He didn't hate it? It didn't make him feel icky but at the same time he didn't feel like eating her either. It was hard to say, and so Ajax came to the conclusion that it was an okay sort of funny. Something he wouldn't mind smelling again, but not the sort he'd shove his nose into.

"S'okay." He admitted with a shrug.

She went on to say he smelled nice though, leading to the little pup twisting in a circle to try and press his muzzle against his side in an attempt to take a good whiff. It was easier said than done, and he was quick to get dizzy as he span around, stumbling to a stop as he looked up at Eden once more, taking in her words with tilted ears and open eyes. She knew Mum? The rest of her words were a little harder to grasp, but he sort of understood where she was coming from. That Mum was in charge around here and that meant he had some sort of...charginess too? Did he want that? Eh? He was more interested in splashing around in water than telling people what to do, time better spent.

"Oh. Mm, I'm Ajax."

Eden supposed that was fair.

Ajax proceeded to sniff himself, growing dizzy from the action and righting himself seemingly. He was very cute. Not pushy or opinionated, seemed to be very modest and humble. She wondered if her own children would be like that as they grew. "Well, Ajax" she mused "I know a story about another Ajax" She shifted briefly, wondering if he would understand her words "he was a great hero. A prince, too."

He was the grandson of a god, the offspring of a king and his wife. Though the war Ajax fought in was bloody... She decided not to say more about it. The lad may have nightmares. "He was also a big man, taller than most. Maybe you'll grow up to be really tall too. Would you like that?" She glanced back to where one of her pups gave a soft cry. She frowned, turning from Ajax briefly to look in the nursery. Baelfire seemed to have whined softly in his sleep, but he didn't wake up.

"Ah" she backed up, turning "I'm sorry. My pups are inside here. If you want to look, you can. Maybe they'll be your friends one day?"

"Speech"

AS HER OWNER...
ignis praetor is allowed in any thread, even ones marked private
baelfire, diablo, rivin and aresenn are also allowed due to being her children

Ajax blinked up at nice lady Eden. She spoke a lot, but her words brought his ears to tip forward, ocean eyes alight with curiosity and an eagerness to learn more. To take in her words and live up to the name he'd been given. He liked the idea of being a hero, being known for being a good guy, the sort people could depend on in their time of need. Like he could bring smiles and make his family proud. Just good boy things...on a far bigger scale, one he could barely comprehend. When she asked if he'd like to be tall, he thought about it for a moment, strained up onto his tippy-toes as if he could test it out, try it out for size before making a choice.

"Yeah. I'll be big and strong jus' like him." It was decided. Turning to follow Eden's line of sight, he listened to the sound of squirming little things, crying softly in a way that seemed to put Eden on edge. Did he want to see them? Sure, why not. "Mmm." He gave his consent and stuck close to Eden's leg as she led the way.

She let the boy walk in with her. Baelfire had begun to sleep again, quietly snoring against the fluffy bedding she had procured carefully for the pups. "The gold, leafy one is Baelfire" she added to Ajax, blinking down at the red-hued lad "the bluish-grey is Diablo" she lifted a paw to check, paranoid already about little Diablo and his entrance into the world "the brown and red is Rivin" the only girl of the litter, sadly " and the last one is Aresenn." She said the names slowly for Ajax.

"They're too small to play right now" Eden added patiently "but you can still visit them sometimes if you like" She didn't think any of the pups here would be that curious though. No harm, no foul. She preferred to keep her brood away from the rowdy, older ones - at least, right now! "none of them have duck friends though." She smiled, amused still by the boy's keen tune with nature. Perhaps her own would befriend companions like Ignis had.

"Speech"

AS HER OWNER...
ignis praetor is allowed in any thread, even ones marked private
baelfire, diablo, rivin and aresenn are also allowed due to being her children

Four. Ajax counted four. The same amount of his siblings, not including himself of course. He leaned forward, ears titling as he took in the sight of them, noticed how small and....spuddy they looked. Like pebbles on the beach, but furry and wriggly. Had he looked like that once? No way. Ajax couldn't imagine it, figured he'd always been leggy and orange, growing taller with each passing day. He noted how they all had different colours, a mix and match of Eden and something else. Someone else.

Glancing up at the adult once more, his expression dropped a little when he learned they were too small to play. That was probably true, he'd squish them by accident, maybe step on their wormy tails if he wasn't careful enough. And that wasn't something he wanted to do so...he could wait, if he tried really hard to be patient. The thought of visiting them wasn't super interesting, to be entirely honest, this was enough, till they moved about more and were able to play with him in return.

"Maybe something else." He mused aloud. Mum had lots of different animal friends, he knew there were more to birds than ducks. "When can they play?" Ajax looked up to Eden once more, she seemed to have all the answers.

She glanced back at the children - her children - sleeping soundly. They were too small to tussle except among themselves. Ajax seemed keen to be friendly to them, even playing with them. He wanted to include them. There were other pups, of course, but maybe he was just a kind little boy. "Under a month" she replied to him "maybe one and a half weeks if early. It's a long time to wait, I know." She smiled down at him, understanding the frustration and impatience.

"But soon they'll be big, and I'll be crying when they leave" she admitted to Ajax "I bet your mama was sad when you were able to walk around on your own" Though knowing Sparrow, Eden assumed the king was thankful the pups were not pestering her constantly! She kept that guess to herself though "be sure to visit her even if you aren't going to sleep, okay?" It was a gentle request, a reminder that parents still missed their children. Ajax didn't have to though.

"Do your duck friends have names though?" she asked him "sometimes, an animal will let you give them a name. But mostly they already have names for themselves." Sometimes, a wolf didn't care. Sometimes, they used them as tools. It was why Eden didn't want a companion. She'd feel like she was imprisoning them.

"Speech"

AS HER OWNER...
ignis praetor is allowed in any thread, even ones marked private
baelfire, diablo, rivin and aresenn are also allowed due to being her children