Bearclaw Valley When bumblebees find out what we call them, there's gonna be hell to pay

Lucas had learned a word. Several words, actually, but one stuck out to him as more fun and fundamentally Him than any other word.

"Hi!" Lucas chirped up at a russet-furred squirrel that was darting along a tree branch. He was some distance from the den, still close enough that he could hear Laurel or Indra calling for him, but far enough to explore their new boundaries. It was proving too hard to stay within the tight confines of the den's entryway, especially with Nunataq and Marten joining them, so the pups had expanded their boundaries. It was only natural and wouldn't be long before they would be old enough to leave the den entirely.

"Hi!" he exclaimed again, this time at the sun in the sky. It was too bright to look at directly for any length of time, so he turned his squinted eyes back to the tree. "Hi!" Lucas greeted the unfurling leaf buds as he stood to wiggle in time with the sway of the branches in the breeze. His wiggling was a little more like dancing these days, with his paws and tail moving as well. At any given time of any given day, it wasn't uncommon to find Lucas bobbing his head along to his own personal rhythm.

A light splash made his ears prick and the fat pup waddled around a bush to see a small, brightly coloured songbird bathing its rapidly beating wings in a puddle. He stood there a moment, smiling in his cherubic and sunny way at it, and greeted it with a gentle, "hi!"