Mortis had crashed in Asla’s room, cuddling his sister. At some point in his life, they had gone from nearly equal height, to him towering above her. It meant she fit nicely into the crook of his arm, and that his ing could fold over her like a blanket. He kept her warm in the feathers of his wings. The other one folded across his back, offering him a measure of warmth. The nights were starting to get colder, for sure! When he woke, and stretched, and gently untangled himself from his sister, he made his way to her door. He opened it gently, and looked out, only to find that something had happened to the world in the night. He squeaked in surprise, turned, and ran back to Asla, nudging her gently. “Come quick and see this!” "Mortis"

Curled up asleep with Mort, Asla didn't think she'd ever been so warm. His feathers were the perfect insulation to block out any rogue breezes that might find themselves into the den. Plus he was huge now. All of her brothers had grown so quickly and she was still a little runt. It kind of suited her though. Aslatiel had never let size determine what she could or couldn't do. And if you told her that she couldn't do something... you bet your tail she'd prove you wrong. The stirring of her brother as he released himself from her sleep grasp brought a murmur of grumpiness from the girl. She'd been having such nice dreams. When he spoke, pulling her completely from sleep however, that grumpiness was forgotten. Blinking open sleepy lavender eyes, Asla yawned and sat up. "What are you talking about?" Rubbing her sleepy eyes for a moment, the creamy girl rose, shook out her coat, and padded to the door. Head poking out into the night, the tiny fae gasped aloud, her jaw dropping in disbelief. Little white flecks were spiraling down from the sky. Never in all of her life had she seen something like this. Casting her gaze towards Mort for just a moment, she spoke. "Mort, it looks like the stars are falling!" "Speech"

He danced about Asla as she got to her feet, sleepy and yawning. She questioned him, but he didn’t give her any answers, not until she moved to the door herself, and looked outside. He stood beside her, just watching, as she took it in. when she looked back to him, and commented on the stars, and he grinned widely at her. “Do you really think its stars?” he asked her. She would definitely be the expert, she knew all about them. “But theres so many?” he ointed out, moving through the door, and down the side of the house. He leaped at the end, and landed in a pit of white. “It’s soft!’ he called up to her “A c-cold!” "Mortis"

Mort asked if she really thought that the stars were falling and the girl shrugged. She didn't know enough about the falling flakes just yet. When Mort stepped out into the white powder, he exclaimed just how cold it was. Interest piqued, Asla stepped out into the cold as well. Coming up to a little pile of the stuff, she placed a paw upon it. The warmth of her tan pads melted right through. Dark ears flicked forward and she gasped. "Mort. We can make it disappear! I think its weird water." Lifting her paw, she showed him that it was now dripping with water. She was even more confused than she had been before. Padding out into the open, Asla continued to look up into the sky. The white stuff fell down, landing on her nose and eyelashes. The girl giggled and gave a little spin, sending up spirals of the white powder. She didn't know at all what this stuff was, but she liked it. Little tendrils of steam sneaked from her nose and mouth. Turning to her winged brother, she grinned, tail wagging happily. "Speech"

He watched as his sister came to join him. She stepped about in the funny stuff, and began to offer an explanation. funny water? that sounded weird to him, but he wasn’t going to argue with her. For the sake of science, he bent down, sniffing the snow, and finding it had no odor. He opened his maw, and crunched down on a small section of it. He yelped in surprise, dancing away “‘i’sh so cold!” he explained, poking his tongue out between his muzzle and panting a couple hot breaths to relieve the cold feeling from his fangs. “It tasted just like water tho.. I think you're right!” he explained. With Asla giggling and spinning in the stuff, an idea came to him. Ensuring her attention was on the sky, he scooped up some of the stuff, and discovered that if he padded it down, it could keep its form upon his paws. With his tongue slipping from the corner of his muzzle in concentration, he padded it down, rolled it up, and tossed it right at his sister! "Mortis"

With Mort declaring that it tasted like water too, Asla had no choice but to investigate this claim for herself. Her little pink tongue protruded, swiping through the white powder and pulling it into her mouth. It was cold, just as he'd said! She didn't mind it though. It was very refreshing and she found herself taking another mouthful. What was this wondrous stuff? Who knew that water could do such a thing? Her brother had been quiet for a while and, when she turned to see what he was doing, a wad of the white powder smacked her right in the face. Asla yelped in surprise and jumped back, wiping the stuff away from her eyes with one paw. Her jaw dropped and she stared at Mort with indignation. "I can't believe you did that!" Already she was forming her own snowball. Ohhhh, she was going to get him back good! "Speech"

The timing was perfect, she turned to look at him, and his snowball landed squarely on her face. With melting snow dripping down her muzzle, he had to fight not to topple over in laughter. The look of surprise on his sister's face made his whole day. It was a bit of harmless fun, and he could see she was already copying his motion, scooping up some snow of his own. He yelped, and tore a few feet from her, and threw himself hard against the snow. Creating a little pocket for him to hide in. From in there, he would start forming balls of his own. Not one, nor two, or even three. He was going to be so ready for her when she came for him. "Mortis"

As Mort turned to run away, Asla chucked one of the balls at him, aiming to hit him squarely in the rear. He dove into one of the piles and the little child growled, baring her teeth at her brother. "Coward!" She called out to him before scrambling to get behind her own drift of snow. She began making the balls as well, amassing a little pile. She knew that it wouldn't be terribly fair. Mort was so much bigger than she was. He was big and bulky though. She was already forming a plan to get the best of her giant sibling. Peering over the top of the drift, Asla sent not one or two, but three balls flying in the direction of her brother's hideout. With hope, at least one of them would hit him. "Speech"

Ohh, she was going to pay for that! Laughing softly into the snow, the boy kept low, making and rolling up his weapons, and placing them in a tidy row before him. When she started to unleash her own volley, he waited until she was out of ammo. Because he was so big, his cover wasn’t very good, and more than a few splattered against fur instead of snow. When Asla stopped throwing them, Mortis would surge up out of his alcove, bringing himself to his full height, and began throwing his own as high as he could hoping to toss them over his sisters cover, and amass some good shots of his own. Melted snow was running down his coat, and soaking into his fur. One particular hit showed in how almost fully white ear. He ignored the sensation of the cold, and continue to throw like his life depended on it, until all his snow balls were gone. "Mortis"

The pair of pups threw their snowballs back and forth. Asla got thunked hard in the shoulder and right between her ears on the top of her head. She was getting annoyed, but still found some fun in it. She was outgunned in this fight, but perhaps she wasn't done just yet.

As Mortis began making his next round of snowballs, Aslatiel gave up on the white stuff. The girl crept wide around the area where they'd been battling. The next time that he would rise to throw snowballs at her former bunker, she would leap on him from behind. With so much practice, the girl could move in almost complete silence when she chose to. This time, she definitely chose to.

He worked quick and hard, digging the snow free with his feline-like claws, before rolling his paw over it to form a ball-ish shape. He was lining them up, tongue sticking from the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on his work. He waited for her to unleash her own volley, but when it didn’t come, he cautiously raised his head - only to yelp in surprise, biting his tongue, when something leapt on him from behind.he recognised the tawny paws of his sister as they wrapped about him, and he tried to buck her off. He had never even seen her coming! "Mortis"

Leaping upon her brother, Mort instantly started bucking. Reflexively, claws sunk in and she bit the thick fur of his ruff. She was bound and determined to hang on to her prey. This had gone from a friendly romp in the white powder to a sort of competition for the girl. He had started the war by chucking snow at her face, now she was using her own prowess and small stature to do what she did best. She rode the bucking bronco that was Mortis, hanging on for dear life. If he sent her flying though, at least it wouldn't hurt much. The white flakes that were falling were making the ground rather soft. "Speech"

He bucked, expecting her to fall free, and was rather surprised when she stayed on. Her claws had sunk into his thick coat, and her teeth held tightly to her ruff. He felt the light pains of those sharp weapons, but was laughing, not angry, as he continued to try and shake her free.

He shook his whole body as though he had a chill, and then bucked in the same motion. He managed to knock her free at last, and she fell lightly into the soft embrace of snow. He took advantage of the moment, and attempted to jump onto his sisters prone form and pin her down.

Mort landed on top of her a moment later and Asla made a woosh sound as his heavy body squished her. Asla bunny kicked her giant brother in the belly, though she was careful to keep her claws sheathed so that she didn't hurt him. The girl wiggled in the snow, but there wasn't much that she could do. She was defeated.

Stilling, she frowned up at her brother. "You're too big. I give up." She'd lost the snow ball fight and thought that she had won their little battle, but she was wrong. Would she ever be big enough to beat her brothers? Maybe she would still grow some day? Or maybe she would just have to be smarter than them to beat them. Well, that much she could do.

Asla wiggled beneath him, and he took advantage of the moment to run one big cold tongue across her forehead, ensuring with the lick that her fur stood up on ends. “I’m too big, but you're too crafty” he pointed out with a warm smile, getting to his feet at her wish. He would never hold her down once she had told him to get off. “How’d you learn to walk so quiet, anyway?” he wondered, through he supposed he already knew the answer. Little Asla was the best hunter among them. She had even taught him, and helped him gain the confidence he needed to get started. She was also the only wolf in the entire world who knew how he had hit his head as a very young child. "Mortis"

Asla released a squawk of indignation as her brother licked her fur at an odd angle. She hated that! Once he got off, she sat up, shaking the snow from her fur. At his question, Aslatiel lifted one brow and grinned. "Lots of practice." Lifting one paw, she wiggled the pads. "Walk on pads only. No claws." She took a few quiet steps. "Dad taught me to look where I'm walking and try to choose the quietest path. Don't step on leaves or things that look like they'll crunch. Stay out of sucking mud and splashing water." She'd practiced it so much that it was just second nature to her now. She did it without even thinking. "Have you been hunting? What have you been learning?" They didn't spend as much time together as she'd like. All of them were busy learning from various members of the pack. It was nice to touch base and compare notes every now and again though. "Speech"

Mortis grinned impishly at her, the behaviour gained from observing his father with his sister. He had seen dad pull that move too many times. He knew how close Sirius and Io was, and he was all too happy to mimic that happy relationship with Asla. he contemplated her words, and realised that he and Asla had an advantage, with the way their claws were retractable. Most wolves were forced to walk with that faint click.

“But you walked over snow like you weren’t even there… I don’t think I could mimic that, i’m too heavy” he pointed out. Happy to learn from her, but knowing some things couldn’t be learned. He would always be a heavy hitter, and she would always be as quiet as a cat.

“I have been hunting, but i’ve been prioritising fighting. I know I need to hunt more…”