After the meeting, Kass had been torn between staying in the pack lands to make himself more obviously visible to avoid that embarrassment and shame he had felt at Sparrow's obvious disappointment in his lack of activity, and the absolute necessity of travelling abroad for the items he would need both for crafting and brewing, and for healing. In the end it had been Rommel speaking sharply to him to remind him of where his duties actually lay that had brought his internal struggle to an end. Normally he would have left Remy behind, for the mouse lemur was really much too small for long journeys, but since he planned on looking for clay for new pots he thought it best to bring him along so they could stop at one of the places in the north or east where the earth's fire ran close to the surface and they could fire them there rather than needing to return to one later anyway.

So it was a strange procession, the graying Xanilov and his arrow-marked fox friend and the little primate clinging wearily to the fur between his heavy shoulders as the healer loped further into the north. The clay deposits here weren't as good as in the south because of the rocky terrain, but he thought he could remember the location of one in one of the pools further down the falls from when he had been part of Yfir. He had been chagrined to discover that the falls had been claimed by a pack, though, and he had needed to skirt the border and go further northward. Luckily the redwood forest that had been another of Yfir's lands was unclaimed, and the river that ran through it had more deposits in the more loamy soil.

With a sigh of relief he stretched tired muscles out beside the water to rest before he started looking. It had been a pretty long journey, though not the first he had made he was older now than he had been when Yfir first made the journey from the east to here and he was beginning to feel that age. Val would laugh to see him now... growing old. He couldn't help but smile to think of it. Remy had curled up between his forepaws and was sound asleep, his squeaky snores surprisingly loud for such a tiny creature. Rommel, pressed against one of Kass' shoulders, had taken the opportunity to rest his aging body as well. Kass lowered his own head down to one side to avoid disturbing the lemur and with a sigh went to sleep himself.

With a cackle Jupiter sprang forward suddenly and took off running. He'd lulled Amadeus into a false sense of security by being agreeable the whole time they'd been in the packlands, but it was all a ruse to get the tamarin to loosen his grip on Jupiter's scruff. No more. He'd threatened to tattle on him one too many times and it was payback time. A little terror might do him some good. After bucking like a broncho Jupiter chased after his tail for several rotations before suddenly jumping straight up and taking off again. For the life of him he couldn't run a straight line and - still cackling - almost ran head first into a tree. He just barely scraped by; so close in fact that the usually stoic Amadeus squealed and buried his face in Jupiter's scruff. He could see a pool up ahead and that gave him an idea. Amadeus had made his disdain for deep water known. Wouldn't it be fun to go for a swim? He might even dive for fish... Laughing maniacally, Jupiter veered off suddenly and dove towards the pool. As the boy became airborne, Amadeus worked up the courage to bail. He was afraid of jumping off when Jupiter was running flat out, but he was more afraid of the water and there was no way he was going for a swim. Amadeus was clear of the pool and up a tree before Jupiter hit the water. He became aware of two things as he climbed: they weren't alone and the 'others' were in the splash zone. "Jupiter"   "Amadeus" ”You”

Waking up suddenly is always a startling experience. Waking up suddenly to a tsunami of water smacking you in the face and the shrill squealing from a tiny primate right in your ear was disorienting in the extreme, and Kassander jerked back from both with a gasp and a wince. Rommel had leaped to his paws and sideways, getting his own newly-dampened body out of the way and was now staring into the water with a look of faint exasperation and amusement. With his foxy fur slicked down by the water, Rommel looked smaller and much scrawnier than he usually did, and his sharp black markings barely stood out against orange fur that had been darkened by water. Remy, on the other hand, was clearly not amused. The tiny primate between Kass' paws was dripping wet, shaking tiny clenched fists towards the water and shrieking in angry, high pitched foreign words that Kassander was certain he didn't want to know the meaning behind.

Kassander blinked water out of his own eyes and peered into the water. What he saw there made him do a doubletake. Artemis? No, too young, male, and more brightly colored than the former Crew huntress, the exuberant cannon-baller was clearly not actually Artemis, but the color palette and markings were so nearly identical that Kass almost called out automatically in his surprise. Instead he just squinted in concern at the pup. Wasn't he a little young to be all the way out here by himself? Granted he remembered Katja's pups being similarly adventurous but the viking's culture had also encouraged pushing them to adulthood sooner than most he'd encountered, so it was a surprise to see another pup exploring alone. Or was he lost?

Clearing his throat in an attempt to get the boy's attention, Kass pushed himself to his paws. Remy, who had left off shaking his fists at the culprit, had tangled those paws in Kass' ruff to let himself be pulled upwards along with the wolf where he could safely resume glaring at Jupiter from the relative safety of a perch between Kassander's ears.

Jupiter surfaced with an exuberant whoop and immediately cast a smug glance in his companion's direction. That had been a lot of fun. Maybe now Amadeus would know what was at stake next time he decided to rat his friend out. Equally smugly, Amadeus directed the boy to look towards the other side of the pool. Jupiter swam around and the moment he spied the trio his smug expression disappeared. Uh oh. Well... - he wracked his brain for an appropriate bad word - poop. This wasn't good. "Oh, um..." he cleared his throat. "Sorry 'bout that. Didn't see you guys there..." "Jupiter"   "Amadeus" ”You”