Walk | Talk | Think The sun was high in the sky but already the heavy heat that it had been bathing across the world was beginning to lessen. Summer was on its way out, making way for autumn in all its golden wonder, but it had not left without giving them something to remember it by. The earthquake had been strong and startling, frightening Anais when the ground which had for her entire life been stable suddenly shook and shifted beneath her paws, toppling her to the ground as she screamed in fright. But that had not been the worst of it. When everything had settled she ran in search of her family and found that her mother had been injured, blinded in chaos that had unfolded. Her mother had taken the loss hard, and Anais was upset for her. She had come out this way as a means to clear her mind of the events, but still they lingered. She lay sprawled upon her stomach, forelegs crossed with her chin resting atop them. Lemon-gold eyes stared ahead into the rippling surface of the lake while her mind remained inward, wondering if there was something she could do to cheer her mother up. She knew she liked pretty things and if she searched hard enough she was sure to find a lovely flower that would have appealed to the woman but a flower seemed too silly. She wanted to do something more, something that would mean more in the giving of it. Quite suddenly she had her answer. Ears perking atop her head the yearling pup lifted her head as the thought hit her, eyes beginning to stare into the water with renewed interest. Of course! A fish! Tahlia always prided herself on her fishing skills and had done all she could to instill the same talent in her daughter, and while Anais herself could barely stand the wait attached to her mother's teachings she had been successful a few times. Maybe, just maybe, she could prove to her mom that all her training had not been for nothing. Tail wagging, the grinning girl lurched to her feet and took those last few steps that separated her from the water. One paw went in but as the other rose to follow and her golden stare finally took in where she intended to walk she froze. There within the shallows, curved and anchored amid the rocks, was a small snake. Being unfamiliar with the creatures Anais dared not try to walk around it but stared rather intrigued at it, watching as it minutely turned its head as if surveying the water around it. Carefully so as not to upset the little creature, the grey-gold girl lifted her wet paw from the edge of the lake and backed away, deciding against the fish or at least from this location. Lot of good it would do for her to get bitten while trying to do something nice for mom. -- anais brb: adventuring

Man, what was she thinking, coming down this way again? The last time she had gone off on her own on an adventure toward the south in ended up being nothing but trouble for her. And yet, here she was, making the trek with a little nervousness. She didn't know what made her so curious about talking to her father again, but none of the less she wanted to do it so here she was. Of course, this was assuming that her father still lived where she saw him last and that he was still alive. She caught the scent of another wolf on the air and she would have just ignored the scent completely and kept on her path, but there was something oldly familiar in the scent. Not the whole scent itself persay, but the undertones in it. As curious as ever, Jian stopped and looked around for the wolf in question. What she found was a brown-hued fea, around her age, several feet away with one paw in the lake water. Jian assumed the young woman was fishing so she didn't want to disturb her, but she wondered what had happened when the fea suddenly backed away from the water with no fish in paw. Jian turned toward the girl and padded up beside her, looking out into the water. The snake that had probably startled the girl was clear to see on a rock out in the shallow part of the water. Jian's ice blue gaze glanced over to the stranger with a smirk and said, "That snake can't hurt you, it's just a garden snake. And it's cooler today than it has been so it probably wouldn't bother with you even if it could. Even still, if you wanted to scoot down a bit from it I think you'd be fine." She nodded her head toward a piece of the shore a few feet away where she didn't see any snakes lounging on rocks. "There's probably more where he came from though. If you want, I can keep watch for you while you fish." There were no strangers in Jian's world, just wolves she hadn't met yet. She wondered if she should be more careful with wolves, given her past history with strangers, but she didn't see any harm in helping a young girl catch a fish or two. Speech Thought Others

Walk | Talk | Think Yellow-gold eyes continued to stare at the little creature in the water and watch as it slithered from its anchored position to a different one. Was it dangerous? Poisonous? Did it have a nasty bite? She could recall being warned by her mother once before of snakes who sometimes shared the water with her but during the times that Tahlia had taken her out to fish they had been absent, likely because her mother made it so. Having never seen the ones that she needed to worry about Anais was unsure. She did not want to get bit, or almost get bit. She just wanted a fish to bring back to her mother to brighten her spirits a little. A frown had begun to work itself upon her features, frustrated that her simple plan had been foiled so quickly, when she heard the sound of someone approaching. Her ears swiveled and her head followed, eyes moving to settle upon a large wolf of black and white coloration who was padding forward toward her. The taller girl's vibrant blue eyes were staring off into the water before they came back around to her with a half grin as she informed Anais that the snake, which still sat in plain sight, was no danger. "It's not?" she echoed questioningly, turning her head to peer again at the snake as if to try spying whatever it was about it that this other girl had to realize it was actually safe. A garden snake, she said it was, and though it was likely not to bother her she suggested moving down from it, even going so far as to offer to keep watch. She had not anticipated the possibility of making a friend outside of her new home, but the opportunity seemed to have suddenly presented itself and Anais was too much of a friendly spirit to pass it up. Her expression brightened with a wag of her tail as she answered, "Yeah, that'd be great," and turned to take a few steps away from the rocky shoreline where the snake still rested. Once far enough away, though still where she could see it upon its perch, she tried the water again and was glad to find no more little critters lurked within it. Other than the fish that she hoped to find at any rate. She began to step out into the water, enjoying the coolness as it climbed up her legs, and glanced sidelong at her new company. No talking had been one of her mother's rules, something about it scaring the fish away, but Anais was far too curious not ask a question or two. "Are you a fisher too?" she asked as she continued to walk slowly into the lake, wondering if she had possibly found someone near her own age - at least she assumed the other to be somewhere close to her own age - who excelled in the same craft that her mother did. -- anais brb: adventuring

Jian was happy to hear the smaller girl accept her offer to keep watch while she fished. It gave her something to do at least and Jian enjoyed the company. She followed her new acquaintance down the shore line a ways till the snake in question was a safe distance away and she didn't spot any more in their immediate vicinity. She settled down onto her haunches a couple of feet back from the water line as the girl eased into the lake to begin her fishing. Jian kept a sharp eye out, not wanting to fall down on the job. She glanced from the water to the girl once more for a second at her question, making sure she kept scanning the water as she answered. "Eh, not particularly. I'm more of a jack of all trades. My mom tried to teach me and my siblings a little bit of everything. Wanted us to be well rounded and all that. And even when she wasn't around her friend that watched us taught us different stuff too. I mean, not that she's around now... but you get what I'm saying." Jian didn't really mean to ramble on like she did, it was just hard to explain her early childhood without telling the whole backstory and she wasn't real sure some stranger would want to hear that whole mess. It wasn't exactly a happy story anyway. "How about you?" she asked, turning the question back on the earth-hued girl. "Do you fancy yourself a fisher?" She wondered about the girl's background and what would make her want to specialize in fishing if she indeed did. While she waited on an answer she looked around the water once again, noting that it was still clear of any predators. Speech Thought Others

Walk | Talk | Think The girl's yellow-gold eyes had gone back to watching the water as she continued to walk slowly through the shallows and toward the deeper sections of the lake, an ear perked and angled to receive her newest friend's answer to the question she had asked. She was not altogether surprised to hear that Jian was not a fishing prodigy - there seemed to be few of them overall - but it interested her to know that she knew many different things besides. Anais's gaze lifted distractedly toward the girl as she listened, for the time being forgetting that she was supposed to be fishing as she wondered how much more she might have known than her. Had Jian's mother and their friend covered more things than Anais's own parents had? What might she be able to teach her herself? One part of her story did manage to stand out, intentionally or not. Her mother was gone. Here Anais was with a whole family of parents, brothers, and now sister too, and this poor girl had none of that. A new concern began to form within her as the grey-gold youth considered what that meant for her home life. Was there even a home life? We're her own siblings still around? There were too many questions, each of them touchy and prickly if asked in too careless or curious a fashion, and Anais certainly had no interested in offending her newest friend; their friendship would have been over before it truly began. But the thoughts lingered, and unknowingly she was prepared to be even more open and kind to this girl to make her feel welcome, to provide companionship when she feared she had none. When asked herself whether she had any talents with fishing she grinned somewhat sheepishly, remembering a second after of where she was and what she was doing. Oh right. Fishing. "No, I'm not really good at it," Anais said quietly as she lifted her paws again and picked up where she had left off proceeding into the lake, "It's my mom who's really good at fishing." Finally deep enough in where she thought she might get lucky with an easy catch, she stopped and went still, though she continued to speak and likely lessen her chances for success - she really did have little patience for the craft. "She's tried to teach me, but it hasn't worked. I think she was hoping I would be like her and be really good too." It was not often that Anais got to speak of her shortcomings with others - brothers were not the sort that she wanted to share those things with, but here in the friendly company of her new acquaintance it spilled forth easily, and she hoped the other girl did not mind. -- anais brb: adventuring

Jian's head tipped to the side in curiosity as the girl admitted that she wasn't all that good at fishing, which Jian could easily see when the girl kept getting distracted from the task at hand. It made her wonder why the girl was trying to fish at all. Jian could sympathise, fishing had never been her strong suit either. It had always seemed like so much waiting and patience for so little reward. But, to each their own she guessed. She glanced around once more, still seeing no threats in the water around the girl. She wanted to stay quiet to let the girl focus, but she was far too tempted to talk. It was always so exciting to get to know new people and something about this girl made her even more interested. "How many siblings do you have? Does your mom try to teach all of you fishing like that?" Since she had never really had a whole lot of a family life she was interested to see how other families worked. Surely not every family was a messy shamble like hers. It made her wonder if she might have a family of her own one day... but she quickly pushed the thought away. That was a deep thought for a different time. Now she just wanted to watch her new friend fish and hear more about her life. Speech Thought Others

Walk | Talk | Think She should have been paying attention to what she was trying to do. She was never going to catch a fish if she kept talking like she was, but Lior was not yet old enough to carry on conversations the same way Anais could with her brothers, and honestly she could not say everything that she had on her mind to them. She needed others her age, friends that she could confide in and hang around with and learn from. Here with Jian, almost without realizing, she had gained that, and it was as if all that time she had stayed silent was coming out of her all at once, making it near impossible for her to be still or quiet enough to complete the task she had assigned herself. She just hoped the creepy crawlers of the lake would stay away long enough for them to keep talking and for her to catch the fish she was after. The black and white girl posed a new question from the shoreline, and though she was already able to spy the shiny reflection of fish scales well out of reach Anais responded, "Well now I have four. It was just Nako and Jakart for a while. My brothers," she hastily added for clarification, "but Mom's had two more, so I'm officially a big sister now." There was no hiding the smile that stretched across her muzzle in the telling. She was very much proud of this fact and was constantly at her mother's side pestering her about how big the younger pups were getting and wondering aloud when they would be big enough to go off exploring with her. And hopefully they would want to; Anais was far too excited about it to settle for them saying no. But had her mother tried teaching her brothers too? She supposed she had, though her own training sessions had been with them absent. It was probably her mother's way of trying to optimize her ability to concentrate and actually learn something from what she was trying to teach her, knowing how energetic and excitable Anais could be at times. "I dunno. She's only tried teaching me alone." Her ears perked as another fish drifted closer, more daring than the others that she had spied from afar. If it would only get a little closer... -- anais brb: adventuring

"It was just Nako and Jakart for a while..." That was all Jian heard out of everything the girl said. Jian fell completely silent. Nako? It couldn't be... Jian's brows pulled together in confusion and her thoughts raced as she tried to figure out how it could be that her brother and this girl's brother had the same name. It was a very unique name, it wasn't one that was likely to be copied. It had to be him... but how? Jian couldn't put the pieces together. She looked up and opened to mouth to voice her concerns when she saw a snake slithering toward the girl from the other side of the lake. Jian hopped up, calling out, "Look out!" She bounded without thinking toward the girl, splashing water around her as she ran in, using the splashing of her paws to scare off the snake that had been heading right for her new friend. Once the snake had turned away and decided to leave them be she looked toward the girl, her blue gaze still searching her for some explanation to how Nako would be her brother. "Maybe you should come onto shore for a bit," she said distractedly, turning and going back toward dry land without waiting for a response and without realizing she had scared off the girl's fish. She turned to face her friend once more, plopping down onto her haunches without much thought as she stared at the ground, deep in thought. Finally she lifted her gaze to look at the girl again. "What are your parent's names?" she asked, determined to get to the bottom of this. Speech Thought Others

Walk | Talk | Think She had supposed, as she let her attention return to the fish she could still see swimming out of reach, the girl had grown thoughtful for whatever reason, that something she had said had triggered the sudden reverie. With her gaze ahead and watchfully so, she had no idea of the snake that was creeping up on her, or the danger its quiet approach out her in. It had been so still and silent those seconds before that Jian's sudden, warning outburst caused her to jump in place, turning to look at her new friend as she leaped into the water and raced her way. Where was the danger? She had just enough time to turn her head to her opposite side as the other girl splashed purposefully near her, and as she retreated a step closer to the black and white wolf she finally spotted what had caused the commotion. The snake was already on its way into other areas of the lake, and with her wide eyes staring at its swift progress she wondered if this one had been considerably more dangerous than the last to elicit the reaction that it had. The scare wore off relatively fast as she stood there in the water of the lake, but at Jian's suggestion she gave a quick nod of her head and followed as she led the way out of the lake. They padded clear of the waterline before Anais did as her new friend did and sat there on the shoreline, glancing back toward the lake and feeling a touch of disappointment. Well, so much for catching that fish. Maybe, when she got back home, there would be easier, and safer, places to catch one, even if it was little and unimpressive. At least she would only have the fish to boast of and not a bite as well. It was a little wait before the black and white girl asked another question, one that was confusing and out of place in Anais's perspective. Her brow furrowed gently as she puzzled over it, but her answer came out without much of a delay. "Bane and Tahlia." In that moment she realized that through their entire conversation so far she had not asked for the girl's name, nor provided her own. It was a good thing her mom was not here to witness her bad manners! "I'm Anais, by the way," she added, smiling and oblivious of the revelation she had just led to. -- anais brb: adventuring

Jian peered at the girl as she awaited an answer to her question, realizing when she saw her confused look that the question was a strange one to ask. But, none of the less, her answer explained everything. Well, maybe not everything, but it gave her a connection. The girl went on to introduce herself and Jian realized with a start that they had never traded names. "And I'm Jian," she replied as she tried to figure out how to tell Anais about her discovery. She decided that the easiest way was to just come out and say it. Why beat around the bush? "Anais... I think we're sisters. Bane is my father too, and Nako is my brother. Well, he's your brother too, but he's my littermate." She hoped she had said it as simply as she could, watching the brown hued girl for her reaction. She had known that Bane had a mate and more pups besides her and her littermates, but she never would have thought that she would run into one of her half-siblings like this. Speech Thought Others

Walk | Talk | Think The smile about the girl's face grew at learning the name of her newest friend, her tail moving to add its own beat to her excitement. This was good; she was making a new friend and they were learning things about one another, odd little things that seemed to be of no consequence in the overall picture. And while Anais still thought it a little strange it was no less thrilling for her. It was a learning process, a new experience, and she was all about doing and learning new things. "It's nice to meet you," she answered cheerily, glad that she had remembered her manners even if it was well after the initial meeting of her and her new friend. She thought her mother would be happy. Anais might have been nothing but smiles, but Jian was oddly quiet. Had the family question been a touchy one? Whatever she had been thinking was nothing near the truth that her friend was claiming. Sisters...? Her bright expression faded quickly into one more thoughtful, more confused, as she tried to put things together as Jian - her sister? - had. Bane was her father too? And Nako...he was born from the same litter as her? Had that ever been mentioned by either of her parents, even in passing when they thought their children were not listening? "You're...we're...sisters?" she repeated, the beginnings of brightness coming back to her yellow-gold eyes. Another sister! All this time, she had had a sister! If she was not still trying to wrap her mind around it she would have been ecstatically jumping for joy. -- anais brb: adventuring

Jian watched as the excitement from learning her name faded into confusion and curiosity as the younger girl started putting together the pieces as well. Slowly she watched as Anais's excitement began to return, easing some of Jian's anxiety over the situation. The more she thought about it, the more exciting the thought became. "We're sisters," she repeated, with more sureness as a smile creeped across her muzzle. She loved Lel dearly and no sibling or any other family member would ever rank above him in her mind, but it was very, very exciting to know that there was family out there that she had never even thought to meet. And now she had another tie to Nako! He was the only other one of her litter that she knew where was and now maybe she would have a way to see him again. Her tail wagged behind her as her brain finally wrapped around the concept and she accepted that there were just too many signs and clues pointing toward them being siblings for it to not be true. She grinned, saying, "I have another sister! There was only one other girl in my litter, but she ran off a long time ago." Speech Thought Others

Walk | Talk | Think It was still a struggle for Anais to completely make sense of, but Jian sounded so sure of it when she said it, smiling even as if the news was happy news for her too. Sisters! She had more siblings than just the ones back with mom and dad! Mom and Dad. Did they know? But...of course they had to know. Nako was living with them, and if he had been born in someone else's litter then they would have had to have known about it to know about him. Oh, it was so exciting! She could hardly wait to go back and tell both Nako and Jakart about her finding to see their reactions. Would they be as excited as she felt? Would Nako wish to see his sibling again too? Another sister? The grey-gold girl blinked as her mind again struggled to keep up, realizing as Jian continued that there had been another in the litter that had been separated from the rest. Another sister... How many were there? Anais's own litter had been so small, just herself and her brother, but her family felt quite large. Nako had been there for so long that he felt just as much her brother as Jakart did, and while the new two were still so young she cared very deeply for them and was eager to include them in the mix. But was Jian's family as large? Was it possibly even larger? "What was her name?" Anais asked curiously, wishing to know as much as she could about this family of hers that she had never had the chance of meeting. Was it too late to meet any of the rest? She was so eager her tail continued to wag, her forepaws shifting slightly upon the ground as if torn between staying in place and harassing Jian with all sorts of questions and running off to fetch her brothers to tell them the wonderful news. "Are there any more of you?" How much bigger was her family, really? -- anais brb: adventuring

Jian was happy to answer Anais's questions. It just meant that she wouldn't feel guilty when she began to ask her own questions. Her first question was easy enough: the name of their other sister. "Tocan," she replied, vaguely remembering her gray-hued, blue-eyed littermate. It had been so long since she had seen any of her other siblings, other than Lel, that it was hard to remember them at times. "There were five pups in my litter. Myself, Lel, Tocan, Nako, and Calix. Lel is the only one left in my life though. I have no idea what happened to the other ones. So yes, I guess you could say there are more of me." She chuckled and tried to decide what questions she wanted to ask first. "How many siblings to you have? On your side of the family tree I mean. And does Bane live with you and your siblings?" Speech Thought Others

Walk | Talk | Think Tocan, Anais thought wonderingly, still grinning brightly. Did Tocan look like Jian did? Did she look like their dad? What did their mother look like? Maybe that was too personal of a question to ask, but she was sure there were still plenty of others that were fair game. After all, the children - Jian and her siblings - were related to her so hopefully she could still learn everything about them that her new sister was ready and willing to let her know. The list of pups were named and the grey-gold girl listened with rapt attention, trying to take note of each name so that she would not forget any of them. Would Nako remember any of them? Could he maybe tell her more? She was going to need to make a list of questions to grill him about later too, but not until she found Jakart and filled him in on the news so that they could both listen together, at least if he was interested in hearing about them too. She was asked about her own siblings, and excitedly Anais began to tell the small story of her family. "There's Nako, of course," she started, grinning - was it weird that she counted him? - "and Jakart is my littermate. And then mom had Lior and Kailos here last season. They were a bit of a surprise." she laughed as she considered them, wondering how they would take the news that their family was a lot larger than they had originally thought. Were they too young yet? "Yeah, Dad lives with us. We're in Ebony right now." She hesitated just a little before pressing on curiously, "Where do you live?" -- anais brb: adventuring

So there were three more siblings to add to her list. Jakart, Lior, and Kailos. That meant that all together she had eight siblings that she knew about, four full and four half. Her family was literally twice as big as she had known it to be only moments ago. Perhaps it was easier for her to accept the fact that Bane had been a father to more litters than just hers since he had never stayed with them. The one time she had spoken to him he had mentioned having a different mate besides her mother so part of her had always known, but she had never really expected to meet any of her half-siblings. She was surprised at herself when she felt a small pang of envy at the mention of Bane living with Anais and her family in Ebony. She had never had a real father figure and part of her wondered how different her life would have been if she had grown up with a father, or even a steadily present parent, in her life. Her mother was in and out, getting dragged away time and again by the pack Alena had led for a short time and the new pack that she had eventually taken her and Lel to. Sometimes her mother was there, sometimes her male friend had been there... now neither of them were. Jian blinked as Anais's next question pulled her from her thoughts. Her tail curled around her haunches as she wondered how she should answer that question. Where did she live? Did she have a real home? Shrugging, she finally answered, "Lel and I wander around most of the time. We stay in the Lifeless Caverns a good bit, but no where permanent I guess." She glanced away, making a mental note to ask Lel about finding a permanent den for the both of them soon. She hesitated before looking back to her half-sister, her icy gaze finding the girl's golden one. "What's your mom's name? Is she nice?" She wondered where her own mother was, wondered if the white woman was even still alive. Speech Thought Others

Walk | Talk | Think Jian's answer, though wonderful because it meant she was still very close to one of her siblings, was a little disappointing for her new found sister. She would have loved to hear that the pair lived in another pack, were happy and thriving there as she wanted for all her family, but instead they were loners as she had once been. "Oh." The sound came out surprised, perhaps even a little sad, but just as quickly her thoughts were turning to different ideas, brighter ideas, that were enough to keep her smiling. When asked about her mom, Anais drew in a breath and paused, considering. "Um." Her mother was hard to explain, especially since she tended not always to be the most relaxed of parents. "She can be tough," she began to explain, slowly finding the words as she went on, "she's kind of strict, and a little overbearing, but she's okay. She's better when Dad's around." It was a strange truth, one that she had yet to figure out, but it was something that she had noticed about her parents and tried to use to her advantage when possible. "Her name's Tahlia." Maybe it was too bold of her to ask, or suggest, and maybe she should leave things alone, but the thought had already entered Anais's mind and it was impossible to shake. She appeared to deliberate for a moment longer, biting the inside of her lip uncertainly, until she caved and spoke up again. "Hey, if...if you and Lel," a light pause separating her brother's name as she took a second to recall it, "ever want to come by - or want to look at the pack - you should." She smiled hopefully, praying that her offer was not unwelcome to her newest sibling pair and that it might be received well by those back home too. They were family, after all. She wanted them to feel like it, even if it had taken them this long to find each other. -- anais brb: adventuring

Jian tucked away Thalia's name away in her memories, just in case she happened to run into her. That would certainly be an interesting encounter should that ever happen. Meeting her half-sibling was one thing, but meeting her absent father's mate? Jian wasn't sure she'd know how to react. She doubted it would ever happen, but she had doubted that she would ever meet any of her half-siblings too, and here she was! Jian's black-colored ears would turn forward once again as Anais continued on, giving an unexpected, though not completely unwelcome, offer. Jian had never considered joining another pack after returning to find the pack she had lived in with her brother and mother completely gone. "That's a really nice offer, Anais," she replied, the only honest thing she could say to her sister. "I'll definitely bring it up to Lel when I go back home, but... he didn't exactly like being in a pack when we were younger. Maybe I'll come visit you sometime though." She smiled slightly, hoping she wasn't disappointing Anais too much with her answer. She would have loved to jump at the opportunity and at least see if she liked her half-sister's pack, but she couldn't decide anything without Lel. Trying to move her younger sister's attention from the talk of packs, she motioned toward the water. "How come you were fishing? Are you hungry? Because there is prey that's a lot easier to catch than a fish." She was genuinely curious since she had never thought that fishing gave enough return for the effort involved. Speech Thought Others

Walk | Talk | Think Anais grinned, grateful that Jian had thought her offer nice, and the words lessened the sting of knowing her half-brother Lel would likely not come with his aversion to packs. She could understand it - they were bossy and busy and restricting - but she personally delighted in it all. But not everyone was the same, and though she was sad to know her family, all of them, might never be fully together she had done what she could to try and make it so. And maybe she would even get one of those visits for it. "That sounds really fun," Anais answered with a smile and wagging tail. Already her thoughts were abuzz of what it might be like to show her half-sister around, to introduce her to the rest of her - their - family. It was an exciting thought. With a gesture Jian brought their conversation back to the lake and the grey-gold girl's purpose in slashing about in it. Oh right! "Oh! I was trying to catch something for my mom," she explained a bit of the brightness about her expression fading as she thought of her mother when she had last seen her. Sulking and hiding and looking downright awful at their den. "When the earthquake hit, she was hurt protecting my younger brother and sister. It scarred her face, and she can't see out of one eye. I thought a fish might cheer her up." Fish were, after all, her mother's specialty. "Maybe I should try catching something closer to home," she mused, feeling a little guilty for not staying nearer when she knew her mother needed her help. -- anais brb: adventuring

Anais explained her reason for fishing and Jian's gaze softened, a slight smile coming her muzzle. Jian may not have her mother around any more, but she understood how thoughtful it was of Anais to try to fish for her injured mother. "It was a nice thought anyway," she replied, remembering when she used to do things to try and impress her mother or make her happy. It made a small pang of longing for her mother hit her, but she quickly brushed it off. Alena had run off one too many times. Jian and Lel had eachother and that was all she needed. She was tired of the heart ache and waiting for her mom to come home. "I'm sure your mom will appreciate you trying. I'd probably go back to her though if I were you. I'm sure there are lakes and places to fish closer to your pack that aren't littered with snakes. Getting your mom a fish wouldn't do her much good if you end up with a snake bite in the process." She chuckled and added, "I enjoyed meeting you, Anais. If you need anything just let me know and I'll be happy to help... as long as it doesn't involve fishing here." Speech Thought Others