Set before the Aerie Trade Fair <3

Aurielle Adravendi

She was well enough now and the pups were old enough. It was finally time to take the brood of excitable pups out of the cave system for the first time. She figured they would start small. The ravine was full of enough wonders to keep five young minds occupied while also keeping them all safe from birds of prey in the sky. If they behaved well, and no catastrophes of puppish proportions – stubbed toes, tripped over the steps – occurred, then they might well get to venture out into the wooded hillock. And then she and Red would go from there until the children were tired enough to sleep like five slick, pudgy rocks for the night. As it was, it was nearing the end of naptime, about noon, when she nudged each child awake with her nose and soft, sweet words, starting with Ardyn. “Come loves, we’ve got a fun day ahead. Are you ready to see the ravine?” She slid to her paws and stepped from the alcove, waiting for each child to follow. To no one’s surprise, Ardyn was the first to scamper and toddle out in small front-end leaps. Her foreleg stopped further progress down the cave steps as she bent to speak to the five pups gently, but firmly. “We’re going to start with the ravine, and I expect you to behave. If you do well here, we might get to explore the hillock today as well. No sneaking further down the ravine without either your father or myself with you. Understood?” She waited for their agreement before she grinned and led the way down the steps, waiting at the bottom for each pup, ready to catch anyone who might trip. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Ardyn Cadeyrn Aodhán Phoenix Adravendi

He’d been having a good dream. Twitchingly, spasmingly good. He was a great warrior, years of training turning his puppy pudge into hard muscle. A ripple of light sparked and flickered over his ribs as he drew in a deep sigh, ink-black, fire-shimmering fur brushing against each other as he breathed. The dream exploded as a gentle nudge sent him blinking upright, a huge yawn cracking his small jaws apart before he squinted after his glowing mother. Then her words registered and he was on his paws, fully awake. “Really?” She was already leading the way. He twisted around and shook his siblings with a hand-like paw, giving an excited, “C’mon, we’re goin’ out!” He barely gave his brother and sisters a chance to respond before he scampered after his mother’s brilliant paws and tail, tripping over his front paws before shooting back to his feet and bouncing after his mother, before her foreleg brought him to a sudden halt, hind end elevating before he dropped back, sitting to stare at her, mismatched eyes wide before he glanced back at his siblings. When he looked back he nodded solemnly, adding, “Yes’mum.” They were soon rewarded with their first legal view of past the hide drape that had been tucked to one side of the cave mouth today. It was a lot brighter than he expected, and he blinked in the light before he ventured forward, peering down at the steps. Soon he couldn’t help it, crowing with delight before he leapt forward, hearing a slight hiss of alarm from his mother. He hit the sand with a thump and an oof, scrambling to his paws with a shake of his coat. He missed his mother’s worried look as he stared around, lower jaw dropping, tail beginning to sweep a furrow in the sand. It was big out here, but he felt a thrill of excitement. He spotted the spring-fed pool and bounced toward it. His mother didn’t say no, and he splashed right in with a flop and a yip. He had seen water in the bowls and tortoise shells Paladin occasionally brought while his mother was with them and needed a drink, but he’d never seen it like this. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Laoise was quick to roll onto her feet, her head cocked towards her mother in a silent question. After the details of her sudden awakening were explained, Laoise was quick to bound after her brother, a wide grin upon her lips. The girl hadn’t developed muscle yet, and was a bit of a chunk compared to some of her siblings. However, that didn’t dampen her enthusiasm in the slightest. She eagerly padded up to both her mother and Ardyn, giving them affectionate boops with her nose. The girl then plopped onto her rump to satiate an itch behind her ear with her large back paws. Laoise’s proportions were a bit strange, but one could tell she was well taken care of.

“Are we hunting yet? I bet we’re hunting. If it’s a competition I’ll win,” She rambled excitedly, her short tail waggling behind her. The girl stopped to peer back towards her siblings, stretching to her full height beside her brother Ardyn. The girl gently nudged her brother playfully, before darting behind one of her mother’s forelimbs. She giggled softly, peeking around the shimmery fur of her mother.

Even with the gentle prodding of her mother -- and the not so gentle shaking of Ardyn -- it was hard not to backslide into unconsciousness, and settle back into the warmth of the puppy pile. Amorielle made a noise of protest, her head twisting up to press against the nearest bundle of fur.... until an ear swiveled upwards, one dual-toned eye popping open at the sound of that magical, magical word -- "The ravine?" That meant they were finally allowed to leave! And already the bundles were pushing back, her siblings beginning to scuttle away one by one.

Her paws scraped clumsily across the floor, gaining an unsteady purchase as she pelted after her them, beaming with delight. She nearly bumped into her eldest brother as the five of them came to an abrupt halt. Well, it sounded like Mother was serious about this... and Amorielle was vibrating out of her fur, hearing only the generic "behave" and conveniently tuning out the rest. "Yessss, mom."

The opening hardly stopped her, but it slowed her roll. She toddled past the curtain, eyes slowly adjusting to the light and the world beyond the steps, and... oh. Was everything outside the cave this big and wide and open? She looked this way and that way, wide-eyed, even as her paws carried her unwittingly forward. Amorie teetered at top, near the doorway...

But her sisters and brothers were rushing past, and by the gods, she wasn't going to be left behind. "Wait for me!"

Leaning forward, her rump wiggling in the air, she braved the first step, gaining confidence as she quickly descended the rest. She stuck her tongue out at Laoise -- "No, I’m gonna win!" -- and paused to bat affectionately at her sister, give her mother a kiss, and turn tail in a beeline towards the pool. Her paws slammed into the pool with an upwards splash, drawing out a yelp that was more than a little surprised — cold!!



"Speech"

Aoife, despite being the smallest, always slept quite happily squashed beneath the bulkier forms of her older siblings - a fact that likely gave her parents a fright a time or two when she was seemingly nowhere to be found, and that her siblings were likely to resent if one wiggled wrong and got a quill for their trouble.

That day was no different, with the prickly runt happily ensconced at the bottom of the puppy pile. Her mother's soft nudge and quiet words made her do no more than burrow deeper at first, until the sudden departure of her siblings one after tbe other let in a draft to her previously cozy nest, now inhabited only by her and her second brother. "Hey!" she yipped in outrage. Then... "Outside?" With a carrying, ear-splitting shriek she flailed under the sibling pile. "Lemmeout lemmeout, I want t' go too!"

She managed to squirm and push her way out, but only after all her siblings but one had already abandoned ship. "Wait for m-" Her hollering, headling gallop after them was abruptly arrested as she slammed into the backside of siblings who had already been brought to a halt by their mother. "Ok ok let's go," she huffed, her odd paws clinging to one of her siblings as she tried to climb enough to see over them.

And then abruptly they were moving, leaving her sprawled spraddle-legged in a heap when her ladder was suddenly not there. She was quick to scramble back to her paws though, and determined to not be left behind the far smallest sibling sprinted headlong down the stairs after them, only to trip and tumble down the rest of the way to land with a thwack on her belly, leaving her sprawled out for the second time in only seconds. It took her just as little time to clamber back to her feet as it dis the first time, though, and to bound off after her siblings who had already found something interesting to explore. Aoife didn't even stop before she charged in determinedly after them, though she skidded to a halt to spray them with a tiny sheet of water when the cold penetrated her dark fur, and ended up inadvertently rolling from momentum right into the water, soaking herself further with the cold water.

That Sea is just a Gambler at Heart

Dómari panted as he worked his way back across the plains. He'd been working hard and the spring sun shining down on his dark pelt didn't help matters. It was getting far to warm for his liking. With his kill safely stashed in the storage den he started heading toward the stream to get a drink when he spied Aurielle. Oh, it was good to see her out and about! Not far from her were four little shapes, slipping through the grass. That had to be the puppies. With a grin he strode toward the group.

"Good afternoon, milady! How are you and the little ones this fine morning?" He spoke to Aurielle first then gazed about at the small pups. Goodness they seemed to be getting big already.

Aurielle Adravendi

It seemed Domari would be first to meet the pups, though it took Aurielle a moment to answer as she studied each child, looking for mischief before she grinned at Dom, chuckling. “We’re positively blooming with health. This is their first time out of the caves. Though Coran seems to be more interested in sleeping.” Her tail swayed softly, long hair trailing through the sand before she took a seat and kept a watchful gaze on the four that had come out to see the world. “Smells like a good hunt. How are the prey herds doing? I haven’t had much of a chance to check them myself yet.” She flicked a glance to the pups with a rueful smile. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

His first trip out of the den was turning out to be a roaring success. Laoise was quick to distract him with a tag as Amorielle splashed into the spring-fed pool beside him, all the while the sisters chattered about who would win… hunting? Hunting sounded fun… However he had a goal and that was to playfully bop Lisha on the nose with a wet paw-hand and dash out of reach, tripping and tumbling on still-clumsy paws, back to the pool in time to attempt giving his smallest sister a quick splashing on his way into the water. It was cold, but it was a lot of fun. Unfamiliar paw-steps brought him around, bristling with a flash of puppy teeth as he charged out in front of his sibs with a high-pitched growl that was really more of a purr before he realized the male was friendly, and his mother wasn’t alarmed in the slightest. His hackles dropped and he grinned at the man, pouncing lightly toward his paws. “H’lo! I’m Ardyn.” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Laoise was puzzled for a moment, peering at her sister with a furrowed brow. She snorted at her, giving the smaller pup a Cheshire grin as she plopped into a play bow. The girl had forgotten she had even booped Ardyn, and the sudden tag from her brother startled the girl. She jumped to a rigid position, her short tail waving high in the air. She was about to spin around to leap on Ardyn, but his sudden change of demeanor alerted the girl to a new presence.

Laoise spun around to stand defensively behind her brother, eyes peering up at the new wolf. Seeing her mother so relaxed, put the girl at ease. However, Laoise still stood with her tail fluffed up next to her mother as she watched them converse. She eyed the stranger carefully, peeking up at her mother in a silent question. Laoise trusted her mother to keep them safe, but Laoise wanted to help keep her siblings safe as well. Thinking of her siblings, the girl turned to peer at her other siblings, giving them a gentle smile and wag of the tail as her focus shifted away from the stranger.

Aoife bounded back to her paws with a gasp at how cold the water was, only to find herself soaked further as Ardyn galloped back into the water and sprayed water all over her. "HEYYYY," she squeaked in complaint, one paw lifted with the intention of splashing him back, a motion that was arrested by his sudden movement and baby-growling. Aoife spun around, her quilled mohawk sticking straight up as her hackles rose in response to her brother's growling. But the long hair relaxed again into its usual messy mohawk at the sight of the wolf there. Why, Ardyn was just being silly. It was just a new friend, not anything dangerous! Without a second thought Aoife bounced up to her new best friend and reared up against his foreleg. "Hi!!" she chirped. "You wanna play with me? Hey d'you know your paws is all muddy? I'm Aoife, whassyer name?"

That Sea is just a Gambler at Heart

Dómari grinned as Aurielle answered him and the pups drew closer. "The herds are doing well, they are refreshed with the coming of spring I think." He didn't get much of a chance to delve into further detail as the pups begin to speak. A large, dark-pelted boy introduced himself as Ardyn while a small, girl introduced herself as Aoife and he struggled to keep up with her. She was talking a mile a minute but he got the gist of what she was saying. The third pup seemed a bit uncertain of him. He couldn't blame her.

"Hello everyone. My name is Dómari. It is very nice to meet you all." He glanced to Aoife. "I have been making sure the borders are safe and I walked through a muddy spot left by the rain."

He looked to Aurielle. "I'm not interrupting am I?"

Coran was dreaming, one of those muzzy warm sort of dreams filled with all sorts of good things.  The good things had no names or scents or anything to remember when waking, but it always got the tail whacking into the ground and that was often what would wake him up.  Coran’s head jerked up, as quite normal it was the sound of his tail which woke him up.  Wait, where were his sibligns? Leaping up the small pup looked about and noticed no mom, dad, brother or sisters!  What the ? Coran started for the entrance, head low as he nervously peered out.  He wasn’t scared, just because he’d never been the only one alone in the den before.  Coran was brave and being alone meant nothing. Looking outside though he saw them all! The pale coated pup looked down the steps and then to where his family was near a gigantic pool of water. Woooahhh. There was a stranger with them.  Coran watched for a for seconds then hopped down the first step, “Wait for me,” hollered out at full pup-voice.  Each step got a moments thought before he took it.  He was doing it all on his own though!  “Momma, Ardyn, Aoife, Laoise, I’m commin too!”  Coran stumbled on a step, skittering back before he fell down it.  Whew, that was close. He made his way down the last treacherous step then leapt over to join his family and whoever this wolf was. “I guarded the den when you left mom!” Yup, he did a great job guarding it. . Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think