Balthier had been growing more every day, not to his recognition. Perhaps not even his father since when you tended to live along side your children, it was like you woke up one day and you noticed just how much they had grown. That didn't mean Balthier was any less like a kid. He still craved adventure and and wanted to please his father and elders. Balthier wouldn't grow into a rebellious phase to luck of Allegro, even considering the absence of his mother. Before Poem had given birth, they had talked about what kinds of things they would need to build the real raft for the ocean. So while she was in her early stages of motherhood, he took his free time, he did happen to have a lot of it after all, to gather the logs and planks they would need to build. He kept the spoils near Poem's den so that when she was well enough she wouldn't have to go far to help him craft the raft, or at least supervise. He didn't mind her company, in fact any company at all was hard to come by these days. Balthier was old enough where the cold wouldn't bother him too much, but young enough he wouldn't want to get caught in a blizzard. And while the spring months came in but the harshest winter still continued on, most wolves tended to stay in their dens or were out on errands to provide for the pack. Allegro himself had to spend more time hunting while prey was scarce. Balthier tried not to let it bother him. His father after all spent all nights with them. But soon they would be big enough to have their own dens, and Balthier couldn't help but feel like he was missing a portion of his life with his mother gone. He almost didn't want to grow up. With a large cloth his father had brought home for crafting, he walked around the lands of Abaven gathering thick sticks and logs and pulling loose bark off the trees. He put everything on the cloth-tarp to drag it back towards Poem's den to set it in his pile of supplies. The only thing he didn't have was something to hold the raft together. Perhaps Allegro would be able to go out and find rope in the ancient ruins, or maybe some vines off the willow trees. Walk "Talk" Think

Poem settled into motherhood quite well, she had plenty of support all around her. Sparhawk was a doting husband, her father and grandmother did what they could for her as well as Theory when she could. Mostly Poem was enjoying her time with them while she could. They wouldn’t stay small forever, she doubted any of them would be too much shorter than their parents. The woman was sitting at the entrance of the den now, there were a couple of puppies napping in one of the rooms behind her, a couple more were out with their dad, and Shae was curled up between her paws.

She was humming softly to herself and the tuckered child when she saw the young Balthier pass by. He was laden with materials she had to assume were slated for the pile he had going near her family’s residence. He was serious about building a raft, and she was sad that she couldn’t uphold her promise even now in this icy Spring.

She nudged Shae lightly so she wouldn’t startle her as she called out to the swiftly growing boy. ”Balthier?” She invited him closer. ”Would you like to meet the newest raft builder?” Poem chuckled slightly as Shae’s eyes blinked open and those blue and lavender gems searched for Balthier’s features.

While Balthier unloaded his supplies, his head would move around to search as Poem sent him a quiet call but she was easily spotted by her den. He put down whatever he had in his mouth to go over and approach her. Almost carefully before she could even ask for him to meet one of her babies. His blue gaze went down at the tiny pup, and it was natural instinct for him to smile as he put eyes on her. "H-hello there!" He kept his voice quiet but was no less than excited as the little creature looked back up a him in return. "What's your name? Mine's Balthier." He crouched down low while he had been growing himself and he felt like the pup was almost unrealistically small. How could he have ever been that small? "You have a good mama, did you know that?" Balthier was simply a family man as his father was and raised him to be. Seeing such a young one wouldn't make him competitive or jealous and in fact while he wasn't old enough to think about kids of his own yet, he certainly wouldn't have minded some younger siblings of his own. Learning about Nuada was troubling and he didn't quite know how to sort that out yet. But the thought of him watching after young ones like his father had for him and his siblings filled him with some kind of emotion he couldn't describe. He may not have been entirely used to pups, but that didn't mean he wasn't willing to try and get to know the ways of an older brother-sort. Walk "Talk" Think

Shae felt a little shy as her mother called someone over. The tiny Destruction girl was much more subdued than her siblings and quietly observed with blue and lavender eyes as the boy beamed down at her. Slowly her slate marked tail began to wag at her mother’s paws as Balthier greeted her and introduced himself. Shae needed a little encouragement from Poem and looked up at her with uncertainty. Poem grinned and nudged her forward softly. Shae didn’t resist, and got to her paws as Poem pulled away to watch the interaction.

”Hullo.” She returned bashfully, blinking big doe eyes as she summoned her courage. ”I’m Shae.” The girl offered with a more confident wag of her tail. Her features seemed to brighten and she blossomed slowly as he mentioned her mother. ”Yus, I love her.” She confessed warmly and looked back towards the woman. She didn’t quite comprehend the concept of other wolves having mothers. She kind of got that Rhyme was her mom's dad, like Sparhawk was to her. But that didn’t mean the concept continued past that point.

”You build rafts?” Her features turned back to Balthier. Shae hadn’t built much but she watched her parents do so. She was usually too restless to join in, but a raft sounded perfect as a tool to help her explore.

Balthier gave Shae an approving nod as she agreed and noted her love for her mother. He relaxed, standing back up to a normal height. Seeing Poem with Shae made him miss his own mother, and almost feel robbed of the days he had lost with her. Poem seemed to be an excellent mother, not that Balthier was going to bash Aranea. Shae asked about the rafts, and Balthier kept the gentle smile on his face, "Yeah, your mama taught me how. We are going to build a raft for the ocean soon." He didn't want to give a deadline for Poem, he didn't want her to feel pressured. He wouldn't have even cared if they never built the raft. It still gave him plenty of stuff to do in his free time. He was tired of sitting around do nothing, waiting for his dad to come home everyday. Collecting the supplies for the raft was hard work, but it was tons more fun than being back at the den. He was getting older after all, so he had more freedom to get out and do more things, not that he wanted Allegro to feel he was slowly loosing his children. "You can help us too if you'd like." It was a genuine offer, even if she was too small to do most things. Surrounding himself with more company wasn't a bad thought. And he liked the presence of the young one. Walk "Talk" Think

Shae had dreams of the stories her father told her, about his homeland and the wolves that lived there. She clung to the thought of valiant heroes that explored the world with the sun on their face and the wind at their back. That’s what Shae wanted, to go and explore to show the world kindness and to do what’s right. Her parents encouraged these feelings within her, with their praise and their stories. The little pup wanted nothing more in life than that, to share her smile and love with anyone who needed it.

The young girl’s blue and lavender eyes shifted from her mother to Balthier as the boy explained that Poem was the one to teach him about rafts. Shae couldn’t even imagine how much she could see from the platform of a raft and her sense of wonder would be far from diminished as they spoke. The girl wanted to build all of the rafts with Balthier and do all of the exploring.

”I want to, I want to!” She accepted his offer with an eager smile and a little twirl as she could hardly even contain her excitement. The girl looked up to Poem with a pleading look on her face and the slate woman returned her gaze to Balthier. ”Momma can we build a raft pleaaaassseee!” Poem chuckled and nodded her head ”Balthier, do you want to teach Shae how to build a raft?”

Balthier could only feel happier as Shae found joy in wanting to help build the raft. He was still exploring this new found love for young children. But he was hoping one day he would have someone to look up to him like he looked up to his father, whether that was Shae or not, or more than just one simple wolf. It was starting to be on his lists of goals. He didn't want to be famous or anything, but he wanted his own name and face in the history of others. He wanted to stand out, he didn't want to be part of background noise. Poem asked if he wanted to teach Shae how to build the raft, and his head nodded eagerly while his gaze moved from Poem to Shae, and he lifted his paw out to help guide her over to the supplies. He walked slow beside her, even if she was eager as a pup should be to learn and explore. He moved to the pile, making sure Shae wasn't in the way before putting his paws on the logs and rolling them across to knock some of them off the pile. "Your mama showed me a little test run with a tiny raft. But here," He started moving the logs evenly together best he could, "we are going to put these side by side like this." His paw pushed them together tight, just as a reference. "And then I just need something to hold them together. I was thinking a rope, or vines." He pointed his claws at each end of the half dismantled raft, "Here and here." It seemed pretty self explanatory. The raft was much more life sized compared to the little prototype he and Poem had made prior. He looked up where a pole should be right in the center. "We'll need a sail too, but I haven't figured out how we are going to do that yet." He wasn't disappointed, just letting his brain wander the possibilities. It would still be long before they could even consider using the raft, especially with Poem here mothering her children. Walk "Talk" Think