They'd been told not to get too close to the falls of course, and for a while, Emile had been able to restrain his curiosity for a while he's quickly worn through all the things that had caught his eye, his questions being answered... And now everything he was yearning to know was beyond the bounds his parents had put on him. Emile paced the soft line he knew he wasn't supposed to cross, back and forth, back and forth. After a few more rounds of pacing, the boy stopped his whole body alert for a moment, nose twitching slightly. The scents of his parents were stale, and he couldn't hear any approaching paw steps over the distant rumbling of the falls. He glanced back at the den, and with none of his siblings in immediate sight, the boy took a tentative step away from the line of sight of the den. With each step his speed picked up, at least until he found himself near the base of the falls, the pool the crashing foaming water poured into. For a moment the boy stood agape, green eyes wide-eyed. His mind already abuzz with questions with no outlets. "Speech"

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"Bowen" The girl had been watching the boy. His exploration out into the world was very interesting. Bowen knew that the other puppies were a little younger, but already he was bigger than she was. The caramel colored pup was going to be very small when she grew up. Slowly, but not really trying to hide herself, Bowen followed him as he moved to the base of the falls. She was outside of the boundaries before she even realized it, but once she did, the girl merely frowned. She had already broken the rules, so she couldn't break them anymore than they were already broken, right? Moving closer to the sand and white boy, the small girl climbed upon one of the flatter stones and sat, her head tilted slightly as she watched him. Eventually, after she'd decided that he didn't really know what he was doing, she cleared her throat politely. Vibrant green eyes were wide as she looked upon him. "Who are you?" Her voice was sweet and soft and slightly lilting. Thick lashes batted lightly. Light russet ears flicked forward so that she would be able to hear him over the rumbling falls.

Emile was probably a little too distracted for a pup who was breaking the rules, but he practically jumped with another young voice broke through the crashing of the waterfalls. The boy scrambled back from the edge of the pool, bright green eyes growing wide as he looked around for what he assumed was a pack member chastising him, his heart only starting to slow and calm when he spotted the other pup. He knew there was another group of pups in the pack, but hadn't had much chance to meet any of them yet, he was only just now pushing the boundaries of his freedom after all. It took a moment for his brain to catch up to what she'd said and the boy ducked his head, trying to force his shuddering voice to be loud enough for her to hear. "I'mmmmmm... Emmmmmmile." He said, feeling his face flush as his tongue once again tripped over his words. "Who're.... you?" "Speech"

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Russet dusted ears perked as the boy began to speak. Bowen felt a little bad for having frightened him, but he seemed to recover well. He gave his name as Emile and the girl smiled, almond shaped eyes lifting with the action. "Hi, Emile. I'm Bowen. You can call me Bo." Tilting her head, she looked around the side of him towards whatever he'd been interested in. "What are you doing?" Maybe he was touching the water? "My mom says that water is dangerous when you're small. Sometimes it can swallow you up if you aren't careful, so be careful, okay?" She offered another smile to the pale boy. As Bowen sat and thought, she tilted her head in the opposite direction, one tall ear giving a little droop. "Emile," she liked the sound of his name, so she would say it as often as possible. "Would you like to hunt for treasure with me?" It would be nice to play with someone that wasn't her brothers or sisters. "I bet we can find all sorts of shiny things if we work together." Vibrant emerald eyes looked upon him expectantly. How could he say no? "Bowen"

The girl didn't even bat an eye at his stutter, which was all the same to Emile. His family hadn't ever seemed to notice it much, his siblings seemed to just assume that was just how he spoke... which was in a way correct, and so for now the boy would go on mostly assuming it was a non-issue, his confidence, and feelings of childlike desire for fun and friends unhindered by the girl. Somewhere in the back of his mind that would stick, that and the notion she was pretty but for now the boy was too young and simply too curious about the world and his new friend to even really notice any shift in his thinking about her. "Hi B-b....o!" He said, happy to already have a friend with a nickname. She asked what was he was doing and he looked back up at the falls again. "Try-try-trying to figure out wwwwwhere the wwwwater comes from." He gestured with his head towards the waterfall. She offered him more cautions about the waterfalls and he nodded, somehow it felt more real coming from someone his own age rather than just an adult... maybe it was just that it didn't feel like his parents just trying to ruin his fun. Bowen said his name and the boy perked, looking at her expectantly, and when she asked if he wanted to go treasure hunting with him and he nodded excitedly, bouncing on his paws and tail wagging. Already his mind was running through all the things they could probably find together, probably a whole bunch of the flowers his mother seemed to value, or maybe a bunch more bug he could show to Jane! "Speech"

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Being so new to the world, his stutter didn't even register as anything bad or foreign. It was just the way he talked. She kind of liked it, actually. As Emile told her what he was doing, the tiny girl's face lit up. "Oh, I know this one!" Motioning him forward, the caramel cream child pointed up stream with one dark little paw. "Mom says that the water come from waaaaay back there. It's called a river and it stretches forever. So the water comes from there and ends up here." Then she pointed to the edge of the falls. "Then it falls over the side and keeps going somewhere else." It was one of the first thing that they'd learned. The big, snaking body of water had interested all of them and so they'd received a lesson in rivers. When Emile nodded, agreeing to treasure hunt with her, Bowen grinned. "We're going to be good friends, Emile." If he liked treasure hunting as much as she did, they would be fast friends. They could treasure hunt all the time! Bowen's own white tipped tail began to wag furiously. "What kind of treasure do you like? What should we look for?" Bowen was up for hunting any kind of treasure. She liked shiny things and things that were special. "Bowen"

Emile listened intently as Bowen explained about the waterfalls, his mind already jumping to the next obvious questions, like where does the water in the river come from? Where does it go? Why was there a cliff for it to fall from? But he wasn't going to bombard the girl with these questions, no those would be saved for later tonight when his poor parents would try to get him settled for bed. Bowen seemed excited by his response to her question and his own excited movement grew bigger, tail helicoptering so fast it was a surprise he managed not to fly away. She asked him what he liked to look for a Emile stopped suddenly, tipping his head to one side and a ponderous look moving over his face. "I like looking ffffffor pretty ffffffflowers." He said, thinking of how he'd already taken up looking for plants just like his mother did... though he had no understanding of the importance of the plants she gathered instead he valued the bright colors and the way his mother lit up when he gave them to her. "B-but wwwwwe can look fffffor anything!" "Speech"

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Emile said that he liked to look for flowers and Bowen's viridian eyes grew wide. "We can look for flowers! I'll help you!" She didn't mind looking for anything. Looking for things was her favorite thing to do. "Do you know what kind of flowers?" Head tilting to the side she looked around. There weren't many plants in this part of the falls. Maybe they would have to go into the woods? Bowen bounced away through the grass and towards the woods the lined the edge of the river, looking back over her shoulder to make sure that Emile was following her. The little pups tail was wagging furiously as she began scanning the area for flowers. Instantly her gaze landed on a few tiny purple flowers. Violets maybe? "Oooh, look at these purple ones! Do you like these, Emile?" Bowen's eyebrows raised as she looked upon the boy hopefully. "Bowen"

Emile couldn't help but smile as Bowen excitedly accepted his suggestion she asked what type and the answer was quick to follow. "B-big ones!" He practically jumped as if in gesture of just how big. "And b-b-b-bright." That was the best plants he'd found at least and the boy toddled after Bowen as she raced away. She asked after small purple ones and Emile immediately felt a little guilty for specifying big flowers, but they were bright, and very pretty. He smiled and nodded. "They're pretty!" He said, nodding emphatically. Then without saying anything else he started pawing gently at the base of the stem of one of the flowers, gently scraping away the top layer of dirt to begin digging at the roots. "Speech"

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Just as she had asked about the tiny violets, Emile said that he liked big flowers. Bowen laughed and was ready to suggest that they look for other flowers, but he had already begun gently scraping the dirt away from the roots. "Ohhhh, you like collecting flowers like my sister, Gwyn, likes collecting flowers. You plant them again somewhere else?" She had seen Gwyn many times moving plants and flowers from one place to another. Gwyn was going to be a great healer some day. Little ears perked as she took a step closer to Emile, her shoulder touching his lightly. She watched with interest as he worked the flower from the ground. "Are you going to be a healer some day, Emile? Mom says that being a healer is hard work, but every warrior would be lost without a healer." Taking a step away, Bowen bounced after a beetle that was flitting around the grass. "I'm going to be a treasure hunter. A traveler." The beetle landed on her nose and she sneezed, sending the bug flying off into the grass somewhere. "Maybe I could bring you back neat plants from my travels!" She looked to him with a smile, green eyes closing as her tail wagged. "Bowen"