Ever since Momma had taken her to the beaver dam in the Aspen forest in one of the neighboring territories, all she could think about was getting out and exploring. Just simply the idea of adventure brought the thrill of wanderlust she was just now discovering called to her heart and soul. So when a particularly slow afternoon came along, she found an opportunity to approach her father and ask that he take her out beyond Hallowed territory. The excitement that engulfed her upon his agreement could hardly be contained- and after a short bit of preparation, they were off.

This time, once they hit the creek, instead of tracing it north to see the dam as she had done with Briar, Talyssa wanted to discover for herself what was concealed in the south. As familiar land fell away, she was careful not to stray too far from Artorias. But just like it had been the time before, the fawn-spotted fae was mesmerized. Leaning forward into each stride as her attention swept from left to right, anxious that if she wasn't careful, she just might miss something important. One thing in particular she noticed was the casual spread of cedar trees slowly beginning to increase in numbers to match the number of Aspen trees. Though, the further they went, the fewer the white-barked trees became, until there were eventually no more to be seen beyond the thick wall of evergreens.

The little stream was no longer a floodplain either. The banks became more defined, and the current picked up as it developed into a full-blown river. And for the first time in their trip, she noticed a faint echo in the background. Something like the crash of waves, but it was constant. Nothing like the ebb and flow that she was used to. As they grew closer, and the noise grew louder, she couldn't help but to ask, "Daddy, what is that sound?"

When he had been a puppy, all Artorias had wanted to do was get out of pack lands and go explore the world. Any chance he got, any opportunity he could seize to see somewhere new or foreign, he would insist and plead and demand that his mothers take him along with them. As he grew into an adult, that wanderlust never left his spirit, and Artorias had vowed that when he became a father, should any of his children show that same yearning for adventure as he did, that he would feed their passions without reluctance. Well, it seemed at least a couple of his little fuzzballs did indeed take after their father! Talyssa approached him one sunny spring afternoon and asked if he could take her out of the Hallows on an adventure, and remembering that itch in his paws when he was her age, agreed without a second thought. Taly's excitement was palpable and made the entire thing worth it for him, even if they hadn't left yet!

Artorias had of course heard of Briar and Talyssa's outing to the Aspen Dam recently, so when offered, it came as no surprise that his daughter would want to continue exploring around those territories. So to the Cedar Falls they set off! Heading eastward from their home and skirting the Wraith's Woods to keep his child safe, Art led Taly along the well-worn path through the forest that soon turned into dense collections of cedar pines. The father and daughter wolf followed the flowing river southward as it cut through the woods, the mellifluous melody of the water creating a soothing and tranquil environment for the pair to enjoy the warm spring day beneath the shade of the leaves. After some time of walking, the sound of the falls roaring in the distance grew louder the closer they got.

The lilting voice of his young daughter caught Artorias' attention, and he glanced down to meet Talyssa's curious gaze. She asked what that noise was and he offered his little girl a smile. "Well, I could tell you, but that would ruin the surprise!" he said with a chuckle and gave Taly a little nudge to the rump with his snout. "Go on, go see if you can find where the sound is coming from! I'll be right behind you." Artorias wanted to encourage his children to explore their world and make discoveries on their own. Sure he could have told her what a waterfall was before they got there, but imagining the excitement that would be on her tiny face when she saw it for herself kept the wolf's lips shut. As Taly walked, Artorias would follow right alongside her, making sure she didn't get too close to the water or run off ahead without him. He was her escort, but this was her day to explore. It was only once they finally reached the first in a series of short waterfalls would Artorias tell her what they were.

"Artorias" | "Carpathian"

When she expected an answer- a definition and description, she was instead met with a prompt. An invitation to go figure the sound out for herself. A lopsided grin spread across her features alongside a narrowed gaze as she looked up at her father. Talyssa wasn't sure if she liked surprises or not. But with a shallow 'huff', the young girl propelled herself forward. Bounding forward at a quicker pace on clumsy limbs she hadn't quite yet mastered.

While she was completely invested in the environment, she was comforted by the echo of her father's stride behind her. She would periodically glance over her shoulder to ensure that he was still right there. But for the most part, her attention remained with the river and its surrounding cover. The crashing noise grew louder as they approached. Talyssa was absolutely convinced that it came from the water. It was too similar to the ocean noises for it not to be. But when the first part of the falls came into sight, she fell to a halt in her tracks. She had no idea what she had expected to find, but this cascade off jagged rock was not it. It was remarkable to see the surge of river current projecting its way off what seemed to be a small cliff, and then ... nothing. "Wow!" Taly exclaimed in awe- completely taken aback by what played out before them. "What is this place?" She asked out loud- a little louder in volume so she could be heard over the thundering roar. She could barely hear herself. Even still, her widened pale blue gaze stayed fixated on the natural wonder before them. Not waiting for a response, she took another couple of steps closer to the more gradual decline off the side of the drop-off that the water had carved. While she didn't begin the descent, she did lean forward to get a better look at where the water was falling. Heavy sheets fell, landing at the base of the crag, only to cause a thick mist to diffuse into the air from the disturbance.

For the first time since arriving at the falls, she sought out her father's attention. "Can we go down there?" She asked, gesturing towards the bottom of the slope with an ivory paw.  

A bold look of excitement and determinism was given back to him from his adventurous daughter, and at his urging Talyssa went bounding forward on clumsy puppy limbs in search of the sound of the waterfall. Artorias gave a mirthful laugh and followed close behind his little girl, casting a daring smile down to the tawny pup whenever she would look back up at him for reassurance that he was still there with her. He was never going to leave her side, not now nor ever. While Taly led the charge forward into the unknown, her sire trailed with much more practiced steps that had walked these lands a hundred times over. The river wound through the cedar forest, and eventually they reached the source of the noise. The rushing cacophony of water as it cascaded from the higher ledge into the continuing river below filled the area, deafening out songbirds in the trees and other sounds of forest life. Mist rose from the edge of the falls where the water went crashing off the edge. To a new puppy, the sight must have been extraordinary!

Talyssa gasped in amazement, then asked what this place was. "These are the Cedar Falls," Artorias explained to his daughter, walking with her along the banks of the river toward the downward slope of the land where the falls began. "This is a waterfall. When water moves from one height down to another, it pours down the earth like this and continues on below." Artorias remained ever cautious as they approached the cliff ledge, prepared to spring forward at a moment's notice in case Talyssa lost her balance or started to get a little too close to the edge. She peered over the side to get a better look at the waterfall, then asked if they could go down and see it. Art smiled and nodded, reaching forward with a giant sapphire blue paw to gently pull his child away from the edge. "We certainly can!" With a flick of his head, the dark-furred father motioned to a more gradual slope a little ways off that led down to the lower-leveled terrain she sought.

Artorias led the way this time for Taly to follow, guiding her down the slope with careful paws until they had come to more level ground. "Mind your footing, sweetheart. If you feel yourself start to slip, lean back and turn your paws to the side." Art then demonstrated how doing this would slow one's descent in case she began to slip. Leading the way down to the pool of water at the bottom where the waterfall collected so Lys could explore some more, Artorias gazed up at the majesty of the short falls before them. Nature certainly had a way of being both beautiful and dangerous at the same time.

"Artorias" | "Carpathian"

Cedar Falls. Even the name seemed impressive. Normally, she would have echoed the words on her own voice. But something told her she wouldn't be able to hear it even if she tried. While her attention was still wrapped up in the current of the river, she was acutely aware of her father as he began to narrate the explanation that she craved. If there was one thing she loved more than a good adventure- it was a lesson. Her fawn-tipped ears were the first to swivel- her pale blue gaze to follow. As she committed each detail he had to offer her to memory. Waterfall. It was certainly a name that provided an adequate description of what was happening. Certainly beautiful at that. "Is this a big waterfall?" Talyssa asked curiously, wondering how it compared to any of the others that her father might have seen in his travels.

When her second question was answered, her tail swayed in excitement at his response. Her eyes twinkling with visible enthusiasm. However, when she scanned the slope for herself, she wasn't quite sure what the best path was to attempt the descent. So when Artorias took the lead, she was eager and thankful to follow. But before she could take her first step down the slope, her father's voice captivated her once more. She watched with rounded eyes as he demonstrated the technique to avoid an all-out fall. "Okay, Daddy." She responded, offering a verbal cue to her understanding ever so lightly. The young Carpathius girl certainly did her best to stick to the path laid out for her following her father down to the bottom of the falls, specifically making an effort to put her paws down where his had been- to the best of her ability of course. The size difference didn't exactly help her cause.

Though, with the shifting of weight, it seemed that some of the smaller rocks and gravel had become loose in time. And as they made their way down to the bottom of the falls, Taly couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips in reflex at the sudden noise of the tumbling gravel rattled behind them.

The enraptured fascination that painted Talyssa's sweet face brought a warm, loving smile to her father's face. Artorias loved seeing his children learn and explore their world, just as he loved feeding that sense of wonder each of them possessed. His own mother had done the same for him and he fondly recollected on all the adventures Tamsyn had taken him on to foreign lands just so he could see more of the wide, wide world. He had never doubted that he would also one day get to share in that parental experience, but getting to live it was entirely different and radically different from anything he could have expected. While they made their way carefully down the sloping earth, Taly asked him about the size of the waterfall. The older wolf glanced over to the falls, which were by no means meager, but also far from the largest he had ever seen. "These falls are not small, but there are much bigger ones out there," he explained,  glancing down to his little pup at his paws. "There's a set of waterfalls just south of our home called the Lazuli Falls. They are much larger than these and flow into crystal clear pools at the bottom." While all of nature was beautiful, there was a certain sort of grandeur that came with large scale waterfalls. Perhaps he would need to take Taly there someday.

During their descent, Artorias kept a close eye on Lys. He wanted to empower his daughter to try things for herself, but that didn't mean he was going to let her get hurt either. As they neared the bottom, the sound of rocks shifting and giving way snapped the alpha wolf's attention back up to his gasping daughter just in time to see her paws slip and the gravel behind them begin to slide. With practiced paws, Artorias turned his feet sideways to slow and stop his descent, reaching out with one dire-sized paw to catch Talyssa around her midsection before she lost her balance, then braced himself. Although it wasn't a dangerous landslide, even a little loose rock could cause a wolf to lose their footing and take a tumble. "Whoa! I gotcha, sweetheart." Artorias held his stance while the loose stones went sliding past them to clatter harmlessly to the ground below. Once the mini landslide had passed and the ground was stable again, Art gently lowered Taly back to her own paws so she could finish climbing down the slope with him. "Okay, nice and easy now. We're almost at the bottom," he said to reassure her with a confident smile, taking the lead once more.

When their paws had finally hit solid earth once more, Artorias breathed a sigh of relief and looked back up to the shale slope they had come down. A close call, yet not too dangerous, but certainly enough to spook a young pup. Amber eyes turning back down to his daughter, Art asked, "Are you okay, Taly? Did the rocks catch your paws?" His primary concern was making sure his child hadn't gotten hurt. The next would be teaching her about the risks of landslides while navigating risky terrain.

"Artorias" | "Carpathian"

The most impressive thing of the day thus far, these weren't even the largest falls- according to her father, at least. She wondered just how much bigger the largest ones were. Talyssa couldn't help but crane her neck to look up towards the sky above in her best effort to visualize waterfalls twice ... maybe three times the size of the one next to her. In her mind, it was amazing. She could only imagine would it would be like in reality. As Artorias described the location of another nearby waterfall, she immediately wanted to go see it. But as she lingered on the thought, that would probably be best suited for an adventure on another day. "Maybe one day we can go see that one?" She asked wistfully, with her attention returning to her paws to ensure she wouldn't make a misstep.

Though, no matter how careful she had been, the thin sheet of smaller rocks had still come loose. As they tumbled down after them, she immediately tried to shift her paws as Artorias had shown her. Even still, her instinct told her she should hug the unstable ground. Just as she began to flex her arms in a defensive stance to get herself lower, she felt the sturdy grip of her father's around her waist. His strength gave her security and total reassurance, as she was reminded that nothing bad could happen while she was with Daddy. After the gravel settled, her paws found footing as she was lowered back to the ground. With further encouragement, she nodded gently in confirmation. She glanced to the bottom of the slope and kept her attention trained between their destination and their path to reach it.

Once they reached the bottom, her breath came much more easily. When she was prompted if the rocks had caught her at all, she quickly looked at her legs- picking each paw up to examine herself for injury. She was fine. "I'm okay!" She reassured enthusiastically. Though after she answered his first questions, her attention immediately drifted back toward the falls and the small cloud of mist that sprayed the air. Little rainbows of light were cast in the haze, feeding her desire to want to go out and try to capture them ... of course, she wouldn't. But maybe it would suffice to get her paws wet at the edge of the bank. But before she moved to quell the urge, she sought the amber gaze of her father's "Are you okay, Daddy?" She asked softly. After all, she wasn't the one who stood against the scatter of rocks. He was.  

Artorias' greatest fear as a father was something happening to any of his children. A grievous injury, an irreparable wound, or anything worse... Watching Talyssa inspect each of her legs in playful fashion before declaring herself to be healthy and whole, her sire breathed a sigh of relief. He knew the worst that likely could have happened was a few small cuts, but he couldn't help but worry that it could have been so much worse. What if she'd gotten her legs caught up in the landslide? What if she had stumbled and twisted an ankle or broken a leg? It was all silly and highly improbable to think about, but that's just what an overprotective father did. Was this how his parents had been with him when he was a young pup—always worried about his wellbeing when he went out adventuring on his own?

Artorias was brought out of his own mental dwellings by his small daughter's voice asking if he was okay. Art blinked to refocus his attention, soft amber eyes meeting Taly's excited pale blues with a gentle smile. "Yes, little love, I'm okay. Your dad's faced a lot worse than a few falling rocks." And he always would for his children. For them, he would defend them against the world if he had to. He chuckled and lifted a giant paw to wiggle his digits to show his lack of injuries to Lys, flashing her a smile as he did before gesturing with a tip of his muzzle toward the edge of the basin at the bottom of the falls. "C'mon, let's go take a closer look." Artorias had seen his daughter looking curiously at the plunge pool, and if she wanted to go dip her paws in the cool river water then he would encourage her to explore.

The sire led his pup over across the soft spring grasses to the silty riverbank where the water was the gentlest and dipped his toes in, letting the clear water flow between them. While he let Talyssa play, he glanced up to the short falls again with a pondering look on his face. "If you'd like to see some more waterfalls one day, I could make that happen for you," he said, responding to her earlier question about going to see the Lazuli Falls in the south of Auster. He knew a new pack had taken up residence there, so they wouldn't be able to just traipse on in. But if he could start some diplomatic relations with the pack, perhaps Taly's desire to see the claimed falls wouldn't be so off limits as it may have seemed. "Would you like that, sweetheart?" Art looked down to his ivory and gold pup with the loving smile that had become a permanent fixture on his face since the birth of his children.

"Artorias" | "Carpathian"

The rush of relief over her father's face on her given report was entirely lost on her. She didn't quite understand what the huge concern was over the shift of gravel, but it seemed that it was in his nature to fret over things- something she wouldn't press him on to avoid causing more worry. At her own prompt to his wellbeing, it seemed to break some of the tension in his face. His grin spread from his expression to hers as he answered. "Good. I knew you would be. I just wanted to make sure." Talyssa answered confidently- giggling at his own display of uninjured limbs.

When he gestured toward a particular spot at the water's edge, she was eager to follow through. She required very little encouragement when it came to investigating something new. Of course, she had to immediately stick her paws in the crystalline pool. The residual mist from the spray of water added a heavy weight to the air with thicker humidity- but she loved it. And the access that Artorias had brought her to was remarkably calm- based on the rather aggressive display of movement coming from the falls. Talyssa couldn't help but wade out a little deeper until the chilling river water reached midway up her legs. Leaning down to the surface, she took the opportunity to get a drink.

However, it was interrupted when her father had mused about taking her to see other waterfalls- at another time she assumed. "Yeah, I would love that!" Talyssa answered quickly in a flash of movement to face her father- water dripping from her lips as she spoke. She ran her pale pink tongue to correct that before speaking again. "I want to see everything, really. I just don't know how badly I want to see something until I actually see it." She attempted to explain with a childlike wonderment. Chances are, there were countless beautiful places in the world- but how would even begin to start? But then the answer hit her. "The other waterfalls are a good start, though." She declared, happy to have a seemingly simple solution.

The sire wolf was eager to feed his children's curiosities and passions, no matter what they turned out to be. While many of his pups had opted to follow their parents' paths as fighters, his sweet little Talyssa had always been a bit of an odd one out. She was fascinated by the natural world around her and learning all she could about anything and everything. Artorias actually found it endearing knowing that not all of his children were like him, and in many ways it made Taly that little bit more special to him. She was a sweet, kind-hearted, gentle being who wished no harm on anyone. In many ways, she embodied the virtues Artorias wished he could be better at. He watched the little tawny pup wade out until the mellifluous waters of the river were reaching up to her knees, sending a silent thanks to whatever deities had blessed him with such amazing children.

Artorias had expected some degree of excitement from Talyssa when he offered to take his daughter to explore more of Auster and see some of the larger waterfalls he knew of, but the way she whipped about with barely contained zeal brought another peel of laughter from her father. She was so dang cute! "All right! We'll go see even more waterfalls very soon then," he replied with a chuckle, stepping up until the river water covered his toes and craned his neck down to lap up some of the cool water as well. That did mean he would need to do some scouting of the pack to the south of them that had claimed the Lazuli Falls and see if they might be open to permitting them a tour. "Then you and I can go see all the corners of Boreas and Auster if you'd like, Taly. Your father has been to many places, but there's still even more for me to discover. We can go see those places together if you'd like."

The lands they lived in were large and vast. Even in three years, Artorias had only seen a fraction of what beauty the world had to offer. But if Lyssa was interested, he would take her far and wide, wherever her heart desired to go.

"Artorias" | "Carpathian"

With the pledge for further adventure- the promise to see more waterfalls and other beautiful places, her tail swayed behind her with newfound excitement. She really had no concept as to how big the world was. The Hallows, and surrounding territories were pretty well it. As he tried to explain that while he had seen a lot of interesting things, there was still much more to see ... she had no idea how to begin to process that. But it filled her chest with butterflies as she came to realize that she couldn't remember wanting anything more than she did now. Looking back to the shimmer of rainbows in the mist surrounding the plummeting river, her imagination ran wild.

It only took a few moments for her to answer. When she looked back, her paws followed- exiting the water to return to her father's side with a fixed grin and a twinkle of determination. "When can we get started?" She simply didn't know how long she could stand the anticipation.


-End Thread-