As days turned into weeks, they were slowly given more freedoms. Just a little bit, but not having both her moms breathing down her neck and watching every little movement she made was nice. She could be trusted, after all - she and her siblings all could be. It wasn't real freedom, but the illusion of a little bit of it was enough for her.

It wasn't like they weren't being watched at all though. Mother lounged near the entrance of their family den, watching over her children as they played in the fields. Her stare wasn't quite as intense as usual though. Her attention kept drifting around, and young Asta swore she saw her dozing off as she lay there.

Stretching as she stood from where she'd been lying in the long grasses, she moved to nudge Bee. "C'mon, let's go see what's over in the trees," she urged him, knowing they might be pushing the limits of what they were allowed to do just a little bit, but as long as they could see their mother she knew she'd be able to see them too. No harm done, right?

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Bub perked his ears up at the suggestion to trot into the trees, they had been beckoning to him for a few days now. He had imagined what lived in them, maybe some colorful, tasty bugs or pretty flowers he had never seen before. But what if they found a bear three times the size of him? He visibly shuddered at the thought. The big, black ones that could eat him in one bite, or that’s what Mommy had told him, anyways.

Mommy probably just didn’t want him to get lost, he thought.

“Yeah, let’s do it, we will be back before Mother even notices!” he exclaimed, moving his tail in fast swishes side to side.

Bub took the lead, padding over to the large, green trees. There’s no such thing as bears.

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Asta was glad when Bee didn't deny her request. Her paws were begging to explore further and further, and it was growing increasingly harder to satiate her curiosity of the world around her by staying cooped up close to their family's den.

She nodded in response, agreeing with her brother. At the worst, they'd just slip quickly out of her view and return before she even noticed they were gone. Astaroth was surprised when her brother took the lead, though followed him gladly, her own tail wagging eagerly as they started off.

She waited for mother to beckon them back, but a quick glance behind her showed her still lying, head on her paws. She'd definitely dozed off. They were safe. Kicking off a little harder, she sought to push past Bee and take the lead, plunging toward the tall grasses that lay at the edge of the nearby field. "C'mon, don't fall behind," she urged him, though he was hardly in danger of that.

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His paws pounded the tall, lush green grass that reached up to graze his chest.

He smiled widely at the feeling of adventure swelling in his chest. He looked over at his sister, watching as she bound toward the little adventure they had found before themselves. There was at least a few hundred feet now between the two and the safe den they had left behind.

The security of it all, the thought Mother could just run over at any time and save them, made him run even faster. What’s just over this hill or between those trees? Bub needed to find out.

Suddenly, the grass felt like it could swallow him. He didn’t know if they had just kept running straight, or if they had fallen to the left or the right. They were racing toward an unknown territory. Instead of letting the feeling of discovery beckon him further, he began to panic. Bub had felt fear before, when thunderstorms had cracked across the sky.

Mother always told him that was just their god, cleansing the earth of what had been sullying it. He imagined curling his body down in the warm dirt against her, hearing her explain away all of the evils that troubled him. She would fix this. He looked back in the direction he thought Mother had been, but she was nowhere on his horizon.

He stopped running and called out to his sister.

“Wait! Asta! Where’s mother?”

He turned to see Asta, finding only tall grass surrounding him on every side.

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