A lovely snow colored tail swished from side to side. Her multicolored gaze of obsidian and gold stared into the shallow stream, not far from the falls. Who was that gorgeous ivory pup staring back at her? Getting to her feet, she growled at the other pup, her right paw dabbing the water. The water rippled. Right, that was her.
Basking in the summer's splendid warmth, the pup took this alone time to listen and observe the natural world around her. She could hear the falls not far away as well as the buzzing bugs and chirping birds. The faint breezes ruffled the shining peridot grass beneath her. She couldn't be any more happier. In fact, she was probably the happiest, luckiest and most exciting pup in all the lands. She had a loving family in her big home with the amazing outside...what more could she want? She had all the time to learn, play, explore and be herself. Varda Destruction.
The children were certainly starting to get a little more adventurous, finding ways to entertain themselves and at times worry their mother as she went about her alpha duties to return to the family only to find her children scattered across the lands. She had even once found Aslan within Sawtooth territory making her incredibly grateful that Threar was between two other Destruction packs. Other packs she was sure were kind enough as well, though she had yet to meet with any of them, still a little fearful of leaving the lands for long. Reluctant to leave her pups and scared that they might try and follow.
It was her turn to follow now, she had caught Varda's scent and was now approaching her daughter. It seemed she wasn't up to any trouble at all fortunately but leaving Frith to deal with the boys for now, Novella would opt to join the girl stopping at her side and nuzzling her lovingly in greeting. "What are you up to, Varda?" She would enquire softly.
She felt a warm nuzzle from her mother, followed by a question. What was she up to? What else could she be doing? Staring at herself in the stream didn't seem to look like much. But she was sure Aslan and Herne were doing the same sort of things, wherever they may be.
"Just enjoying the sunshine." She replied, gazing up into her mother's affectionate eyes. The sunshine was absolutely perfect today and the pup wouldn't be anywhere else but relaxing by the stream. A curious thought formed in her mind. What was mother doing? The pup had come to the meeting that her mother had called not long ago but she wasn't able to understand all that was spoken. Something about Sawtooth, Abaven and how the pups were called drafts.
"What are you doing, mama?" The curious pup would ask. It had to be something important or otherwise she wouldn't have called that meeting.
She of course couldn't remember a time where packs made little sense to her, where duties and responsibilities just seemed like silly words but there had very likely once been an occasion she was just as confused by everything as Varda was now. She too had grown up in a pack with her parents ruling, she thought nothing of it now but probably had when she had been Varda's age.
The youngster wasn't up to a lot at all then it seemed. With Herne a little worried about the world and Varda hardly particularly troublesome it seemed that it would be Aslan that would provide her and Frith with more than a few moments of worry as the three children grew and went about their own activities. This enjoying the sun was a far more relaxing answer for the mother than the "I was looking for you but look who I found instead!" That she had once received from the larger boy.
"I think I might sit with you for a while." She responded simply. Already Frith had stressed that she needed to calm herself once in a while. She could argue quite easily that she was going to now, but this way she could also enjoy some time with her daughter.
The pup gave a faint smile as her mother decided to sit with her. Whilst her brothers were probably doing something boring, she was spending time with her mother. Perhaps she was a little closer to her mother than anyone else but then again, her brothers could be close to father.
She lifted her snowy head to the powerful blue sky, watching the fluffy ivory clouds pass by. Sometimes the clouds resembled animals or plants and she would try to name each cloud.
"That one looks like butterfly!" She would whisper loudly, her multicolored eyes fixed on the butterfly-shaped cloud before it faded into a completely different form. Her eyes would watch eagerly for anymore interesting clouds, or anything else out of the ordinary.
It had been too long since Novella had sat and watched the world go by whilst her mind focussed upon far more menial matters than the worries that had troubled her as of late. There had been a brief pause in serious thoughts upon meeting Frith, though with her mother's pregnancy and her own those happy moments of relaxing had faded away. Of course she wasn't constantly up and about, there had been times she would try sit with Frith or the children though her mind had always found something to bother her with, expectant fears that something would go wrong. Already settling into motherhood and leadership however those worries now would be the things to fade and she could genuinely enjoy a moment of peace with her daughter or any of her family for that matter.
Mismatched eyes would follow her daughter's gaze to the clouds as she pointed out one looked rather like a butterfly. "So it does." She would agree, watching it for a moment and gaze scanning the clouds for another shape she could point out to participate in her daughter's game. "I can see a bird." She would comment, attempting to point out the cloud to Varda. "Can you see it? That cloud there."
She didn't expect her mother to join in with her "cloud hunt" but four eyes were better than two. Her mother had spotted a bird shape, pointing it out where it was.
Wait, where? She thought as she frantically searched for the white cloud. Her eyes soon rested upon the bird. Oh there it is!
Whilst her amber and blue eyes searched for another cloud, she felt a prickly sensation crawl up her right forepaw. She tried to ignore it but her orbs soon quickly examined her paw. Amongst her silken snow fur a caterpillar made its way around her paw. Curious eyes stared at the slithering green creature, the same color and length as a blade of grass. She didn't know much about bugs, though this one didn't seem to be hurting her. It only tickled. All her interest laid on the little caterpillar, that crawled on her paw in circles and circles. Who would crawl around on a giant?
The hunt would pause at the bird cloud it seemed, for out of the corner of her eye Novella noticed her daughter suddenly looking down. Her own gaze now would move from the sky and instead switch to Varda following her eyeline to look at the girl's paw. The irony of it would make her smile softly as she watched the caterpillar crawl around. "That is a caterpillar." Novella would explain. "They grow up into butterflies." She would keep the explanation rather simple though a part of her wad rather prepared for further questions. It made little sense after all how this wriggly little thing could suddenly sprout wings and turn into the beautiful butterflies that undoubtedly Varda had seen plenty of flying around as of late.
Her mother had explained how caterpillars become beautiful butterflies, flying from flower to flower (that's what butterflies did, right?). The wiggly green caterpillar didn't seem to be turning into a butterfly and it seemed a little lost. But how exactly did a caterpillar turn into a butterfly? Does it just say, "Oh I'm sick of being a boring caterpillar, I think I might become something prettier!" and sprout wings out of thin air? That was unfair! Why couldn't she grow wings and fly into the sky?
"But how, mama? They don't grow just like that." The young pup would ask, wanting to know. She looked up at her mother before finding the caterpillar crawling away through the grass. She wasn't going to run after it, as that might scare the poor little bug. She would let the caterpillar live freely before doing whatever it did so it could become another butterfly for her to happily chase.
Nature certainly had some strange developments at times, and amongst them would of course be the mystery as to how a caterpillar became a butterfly. It was no surprise that Varda would question the oddity, looking curiously at the crawling creature mind clearly attempting to decipher how on earth this wiggly little thing became a butterfly.
She would smile softly at her daughter, in all honesty it was a mystery she wasn't even fully sure how to explain so much of the strange transformation was done away from curious eyes. "Well first they surround themselves in a special den called a cocoon. They grow inside there and only come out again when they are ready and are butterflies." It was the best explanation she could give unfortunately but hopefully would suffice.
It was an explanation that she would never expect to receive. It was an unusual cycle, a caterpillar hatches from his egg (she had seen that happen on leafy plants), munches on the leaves and then apparently makes a "cocoon". That sounded a little silly because any bird could easily snatch it off. But if that doesn't happen the caterpillar just grows until it's a butterfly, leaving the den at the right time. So if caterpillars come from eggs...butterflies must be the ones that lay them. No wonder they lay their eggs on leaves, so when the caterpillars hatch, they have food!
She somehow understood that. It seemed complicated but she was pretty sure every animal had their way of growing up. And she liked it that way.
"That makes sense." She would simply remark before looking across the stream. If pups could make their own den and come out as wolves, that would be something.
Varda would comment that the cycle made sense and with no further questions upon the topic Novella would believe the girl had taken it all in successfully. The days when she had asked so many similar questions hadn't seemed so long ago and yet now here she was suddenly playing the part of responsible mother to these children. It was amazing how quickly time flew by, she only hoped that her children wouldn't grow up so swiftly.
Novella would watch now as Varda cast her gaze out across the water, clearly still thinking quite hard on something as she remained in a silence. "What are you thinking of?" She would prompt softly. Perhaps she hadn't fully understood the caterpillar to butterfly concept, or was there something else entirely now upon the girl's mind.
She did understand, if that was what her mother doubted. If she couldn't explain it to someone then that meant she didn't understand it. She could easily tell someone the cycle of butterflies, but who? Alright, so there wasn't anyone who she could explain it to, but she did understand it.
In a soft and gentle voice, her mother would ask what she was thinking about. Of course, she was thinking of something, in fact many things ran through her thoughts. She would reply with her largest, most strangest thought that didn't seem to leave her mind.
"I was just thinking if pups could make cocoons and come out as wolves," She would say with a smile as she glanced up at her mother, a faint chuckle coming to her maw. It was quite humorous imagining Aslan, Herne and herself making dens and soon coming out as adults. That would never happen, even if she was in a rush to grow up. She finished with a sigh. "But we grow...slowly."
It seemed that there was something else that would be forming in the child's mind. Similar to the topic at hand though and yet certainly quite a different thought, one Novella herself couldn't recall ever wondering nor having heard before. She couldn't help but smile, even if Varda corrected her own imaginings, knowing full well that couldn't happen. How she was wrong about them growing slowly though, they grew far too fast for her liking.
"That's right." She wouldn't point out her disagreement on the word slowly and instead simply agree with her daughter. "No cocoons for wolves" Though Varda's own smile would fade towards the end of her comment, Novella would keep a small one in place as nuzzled her gently. "You don't want to rush growing up anyway" She informed her softly. "Just look at Aslan, he's all paws and head where he's trying to grow too quickly!" Her firstborn was indeed growing at an even more alarming rate than his siblings.
Novella would assure her that there was no rush to grow up. Perhaps there really is no need. What if her pup-hood is just as important as her adulthood? It probably is. Even if becoming an important member of Threar did sound exciting, a wolf without a pup-hood isn't a wolf at all. Aslan was the perfect example and the girl had to agree with her mother. Why was he so big? Why was she around the same height as Herne? Alright, she didn't want to be as tall as Aslan anymore, or grow that fast.
"Yeah, Aslan won't stop shooting up." She nodded with agreement as she tried to lift her paw to emphasise the height of her brother. She quickly put her paw down, a silken tail warmly wrapping her paws.
Who in her family was once as tall as Aslan? All of her family in Threar are about the same height, so where would he have inherited it from? Or maybe he's made his own cocoon and already made a head start?
Aslan's height was a mystery. Whilst some of the previous generations of Destructions had been slightly taller Novella certainly wasn't aware of this, only knowing the same as Varda, that many in the family were similar height to one and other. Frith too wasn't particularly tall but she could only guess that perhaps the height had come from somewhere in his family.
She would smile at Varda's attempts to stretch up to Aslan's almighty height. Perhaps he would slow his growing soon though by the look of his paws he certainly had plenty more to grow before he was in proportion once more. Varda and Herne grew at a much slower rate in comparison, one that could only make her assume they'd continue to be far smaller than their brother but perhaps reach a slightly more normal height than him.
They would all get there in time, to growing up properly, for now she would have to savour their youth. Perhaps they wouldn't do the same but as their mother, Novella wasn't sure she could ever stop thinking of them as the tiny pups, the amazing little beauties that had been born one Spring.
"Come on my little butterfly." She would speak softly, giving her daughter a gentle nuzzle. "Shall we take a walk?" She wasn't quite sure where they would go, perhaps just enjoy a wander around the lands in the sunshine.
