Okay, maybe she had wandered a bit far that day... Sniffing out different areas of the castle had been her latest enjoyment, but she had heard that her siblings were starting to practice fighting! Determined to find this one particular room that she had heard her dad mentioning, Bramble set out through the corridors and down the stairs until she found herself on the first floor. Toward the guest rooms, she sought out her father's scent down a long hallway until she approached a closed door. Stopping in front of it with her big eyes glancing down the hallway, she wondered how much trouble she would get into if she went inside... All she wanted to do was practice fighting, it wouldn't be that bad, would it?

Reaching up, she pushed the door as hard as she could until the door swung open. Inside, she saw a room lined with pads with training dummies evenly spaced out and wooden swords hanging from racks. Now, she knew that her father's armory was completely off-limits, but surely these things would be okay! Racing in without a second thought, forgetting to look back one more time to see if she had been followed, she made her way to the racks of wooden swords.

"Whoa," she whispered loudly as her big eyes scanned for the best one. Grabbing a long and thin one with an evenly balanced handle between her jaws, she swung around in a circle. Stumbling on her paws, she let out a giggle before parading toward the dummies. Dashing forward with wild movements, swinging the sword back and forth, she smacked the dummies rather haphazardly. Without proper training so far, Bramble had no real idea what she was doing, but it was fun!

Bramble Carpathius

Thorn’s stick was nothing in comparison to the swords in the armory but it was something he had made all on his own.  It was a fat longer stick with a thin shorter one playing the role of the crossguard.  Vines tied the two pieces together.  It was his attempt at a first sword and he swung it about proudly.

Walking along he paused, the scent of his sister coming to him.  Following Bramble’s scent, he realized where he was going.  Yeah, the thought came she wasn’t supposed to be where she was.  The fact he had once been in it without being caught had meant he wasn’t guilty but this was different.  This would be catching Bramble in the act!

Thorn stood outside the armory door, looking at her gripping a real sword in her mouth!  A part of him was jealous but he had already seen the swords and decided not to pick them up with how large they were.  So why was he still jealous?  Thorn still hadn’t seen if dad or the other wolves could talk well while holding their swords but when Thorn tried the words came out funny.  The boy kept right outside the door, heading leaning in, well with as much neck as he had to lean.  “Hey, Bramble!  We aren’t allowed in here.  If you get caught you’ll get in trouble.”  

How long until he’d be big enough to really pick up one of those swords?  Any chance dad would make one smaller so that he could use it?  Could dad make swords?  Well, they had to come from somewhere, right?  “If you want I can show you how to make mine, well, with a condition attached.” To an adult, it wasn’t much to look at but hey, with a kid's imagination it still didn’t seem all that bad to Thorn.

"Thorn Carpathius"

The wooden sword felt too large in her mouth but was still fun to play with as she crashed into the dummies. Not expecting anyone to find her in here since they were busy doing other tasks, she was surprised when the door creaked farther open. Wide-eyed, she caught her brother standing there. He hadn't dared step in, which led her to tilt her face slightly to the side. Dropping the wooden sword, her expression scrunched somewhat. Glancing around, she wondered why they weren't allowed in the dojo. It was for practicing fighting, wasn't it? Nothing close to as dangerous as the real armory was.

Confused, but not caring to argue with her brother, she picked up the sword to put it back in its holder. Turning back to Thorn, she gave him a curious look. "Crafting my own sword would be cool," she approaches him with her own smile. "What kind of condition are you talking about?" Bramble questions as she slips out of the dojo to face her brother in the hallway.

Bramble Carpathius

Bramble put out the wooden sword and walked out with him.  What was the condition, Thorn looked up at the ceiling as if he hadn’t fully considered what condition he was going to state.  “Well, there’s somewhere specifically I’d like to fight.  You gotta come with me to the beach right behind the castle, not past our boundary lines.  We fight on the sand, I think it’ll be really nice out there.

It wasn’t really much of a condition but it sounded fun.  “Um, after the fight we go to the grove to get supplies.  You gotta help me gather the supplies and there’s a lot out there to use.  We make you a sword and then we fight again, with our weapons.”  Maybe he’d be wrong and the beach sand wouldn’t be fun to fight on, but he liked the way the sand felt and if it made things harder then even better.  It was good practice on all terrains.  “So, what do you think?  It’ll be fun!”

"Thorn Carpathius"

Standing in the hallway with her brother, she eyed him curiously. Both ears perked in his direction as he began to state his condition, her head would tilt slightly to the side. A fight on the beach behind the castle? Well, that sounded like a ton of fun! As long as they wouldn't get in trouble with mom or dad, she would be on board for it. Before she could agree to the conditions, Thorn continued on to explain the rest of the plan. More traveling to the grove to make a sword? That sounded even more fun! Bramble's body wiggled with anticipation as she gave him an excited nod. "Yeah, I like those plans!" She replied with a big smile. "I'll race you there!" The girl called over her should as she took off like lightning toward the area that would lead out to the beach behind the castle.

Bramble Carpathius