After casting a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure no one was looking Taufr snatched up his hidden prize and skittered off in search of a private place to chew on it. It was a bone of some kind, kinda long and heavy for a pup his size, but just thin enough for him to fit his mouth around its middle. The boy had no idea where the bone had come from, but the moment he laid eyes on it he knew it was his, his, all his and no one else's! So he'd stashed it and oh boy did it feel like it was worth the wait already! His mouth watered. This wasn't just any old bone, no, this was a new bone. It still had little bits stuck to the outside! He was going to get some really good chews in, he could tell already! At last! The boy flung himself down behind some low growing scrub brush. With haste he carefully positioned the bone between his front paws so that one end was grounded and held firmly while the rest jutted upwards at an angle and lay across his right foreleg. He sank his tiny teeth into the gritty, squishy stuff at the end and set about chewing on it merrily.

Naudir wasn't so sure about this. Her little ears pinned to her head at the cold breeze that whisked through the gorge. She hid behind a small fir tree, just outside the den, taking shelter from the wind that nipped at her ears as she eyed the outside world around her with a mix of longing and fear. She wanted to go exploring but she didn't want to go without mom. It was to scary! There could be bad things out there or weird things like the things in her dreams or the things Runa saw. It was just to risky.

Absently the girl reached out to chew on the needles of the little tree before wrinkling her muzzle. Ew… plants were not very good at all. Brilliant sapphire eyes soon tracked the form of her brother dragging something… hmmm… She glanced back at the den then again at the wide space that separated her from Taufr. She didn't want to go with out mom but… well, if Taufr was out there then surely she was safe?

Getting to her paws she scamped quickly towards her brother, ears alert and eyes glancing around nervously. "Tau! Tau! You see anything weird?"

"Speech"

Ræ poked her nose out of her hiding spot and watched Tau trundle past. He had a new toy and she put her designs upon it immediately. Only... To get the toy, she'd have to leave her hidey-hole and that was just not an option. After Momma had left that morning she'd poked her nose out into the world and decided that she quite liked it out there. She nosed around the entrance to their home, and had continued doing so until she'd come upon the roots of a cedar tree so gnarled she could worm her way inside. She'd spent the better part of the morning digging out what little bit of dirt she could to make it more comfortable. Oh man, she was gonna get cool rocks and some fur and maybe even a beetle or two for a pet. It was going to be the best fort ever! It wasn't until Naudir rustled past as well that leaving got really tempting. Because now there were two siblings she might be able to entice with her cool place but they'd probably need to be dragged there. She was comfortable with that... But the leaving? She hissed while her sister passed, "Hey. Hey!" She did not seem to be heard. Ræ grumbled out her frustration, followed by a groan as she wormed her way out into the open! "Hey!" she called out again, this time at a proper volume. "Wait up!" She raced after her sister, and ultimately after Taufr as well. She decided that yes, Tau could keep the stupid bone because, obviously her thing was better. Mostly because it was hers. She moved to nudge Nau in the shoulder, an affectionate hello. Where'd she been all morning? "Talk" "You" Think

Ásvor still wasn't entirely used to this world-outside-the-den thing. She was used to staying inside with her siblings and with her mom, but the very prospect of staying inside while they all went out and played was just silly. She'd been napping inside the den, but when she woke up.. she was alone. Immediately she found herself frowning, groggy from sleep but very displeased that she was left out of whatever plan they had today. Her tiny paws scrambled to pull her upright, a tiny yawn slipping from her lips as she quickly stretched and shook her pelt out. This was not okay! Their scents were easy to follow, and she ambled clumsily away from the den - where was mom today, anyway? - and toward her siblings. She didn't really think about the fact that maybe they weren't supposed to go out on their own, but it seemed like a good idea to her! Her brisk walk increased to a puppy run as she tried to catch up to them, seeing Ræ first and panting as she caught up to her. "What're we doing?" she asked her sister, head tilting as she moved to walk alongside her, noting the two ahead of them. "Going on a adventure?" Maybe like one of the adventures in the stories! Mom had only told them a few stories but she knew she was smart and that she had a lot more stories. Maybe they could be the one telling the story to her later!

"Tau! Tau!" Gasp! They were onto him! Quickly the boy dropped his new toy and then scooted over it so that the majority of the bone was hidden beneath him. The only thing not covered was one knobby end that poked out from under his right armpit. It was very uncomfortable to lay on, but Taufr was determined to keep it all to himself. By the time his sisters caught up to him he wore an expression of innocence. Bone? What bone? There was no bone anywhere. Even if they'd seen it - and they probably had - he would deny it until it was wrestled out from under his belly. He answered Naudir's question. "Nope! Nuffin' weird." His gaze shifted to Asvor as she spoke. An adventure? The idea tore him straight down the middle. It sounded like a lot of fun, but he'd have to leave his bone behind. If he did that who knew what would happen to it! But he couldn't just let them go either. What if something happened to them? Either way something he didn't like was bound to happen! "What about Alfy?" They couldn't just leave her behind, could they? All the more reason to stay!

Naudir looked up as she heard Ræsa call and run out toward them. "Ræ!" she chirped in greeting as her sister bumped her shoulder.  Naudir leaned out to nuzzle the girls cheek, grateful for the comfort of not being alone as well as Tau's words that he hadn't seen anything weird.  Ásvor followed shortly after and Naudir shrugged.  "I don't know, what do you guys want to do?  Do you want to explore?"  Surely, mother wouldn't be upset with them?  Katja seemed to give them quite a bit of freedom but Naudir always felt nervous about not asking permission first.

Naudir turned to Tau and eyed the bone he was hiding. "Hey!  Where'd you get that?"  She didn't dwell on it for long as he mentioned Runa. "I'll go get her!  Don't leave without me!"  She raced back toward the den, diving quickly inside it.  "Runa! Runa!  We're going to go exploring!"

"Speech"

Runa had not yet, unlike her siblings, made it out of the den that day. As they one by one made their way by stealth or otherwise out to play, she had begun to follow - but at the entrance to the den she instead slid down to her belly and just lay there basking in a sun beam and watching, blinking docilely. That is, until Naudir came racing back up and dove down beside her, calling her name. "Hello, Naudir," she said breathily, smiling up at her older sister with a soft smile, though her smile was as odd as always with the split in her lip pulling apart to show crooked teeth. The hole in her palate had closed, but her lip remained deformed on that side - she was used to it, and it never bothered her. She watched as a wisp darted across the entrance to the den and smiled fondly at it, too. "Are we? That sounds like fun." Without waiting, she drifted out of the den and down the slope towards the rest of their siblings. "Did the nisse give you that bone?" she asked Taufr dreamily, hardly even giving the impression of having seen his toy at all as her gaze went distant and unfocused. "I made sure to leave him a present yesterday. He must have liked it. I'm glad. He's very nice."