Dawnlark Plains there is a crowd in here

AW! including a few tags for reference / those who might wanna hop in

Though River's encounter with @Aditya had helped him greatly, the once-bubbly Corten had still been rather withdrawn as of late. He spent much of his time with @Kasatka, entirely taken with his newfound role as Emotional Support Animal Brother. Sometimes it wore on him, but for the most part he was quite happy to devote his time to comforting his sister. It kept his mind off the absence of their father, in a way.
His sister was sleeping now, though, so he set off to find someone interesting to talk to; maybe his brother, @Eventide— or maybe Shale, who he hadn't seen in quite awhile. He was actually fairly oblivious to the new pups that had arrived. One of the cons of being a devoted brother; his elusiveness had absolutely nothing to do with any sort of grief. Those types of things didn't affect River at all.

"arrey, mithra!" aditya called out, trotting down the path going the opposite direction. he had spotted little river from a distance, and headed swiftly that way, eyes glowing. it was when he gave the boy an affectionate nuzzle to the head that he realized that river wasn't so little anymore; he was growing day by day, and if one blinked, they would miss a lot.

still, adi bowed low, wagging his tail and stretching before rising to his full height again, beaming down at river. "what are you up to, out here?" he asked, cocking his head in curiosity. since grayday had died, the pups had been withdrawn, kitten perhaps the most of all. eventide was beginning to snap out of it, though, and there was much hope yet for his brother and sister. especially if river had taken the time to go out exploring.

His ears perked at Aditya's call, and he turned, tail wagging. Adi! He pushed his face into the older wolf's fur, embracing him as he bowed and lingering against his chest when he rose. Aditya was easily one of his favorite wolves, and in some ways filled some of the spaces left by his father. Nothing could ever fully do that, but...
I'muhhh... takin' a break, He admitted, glancing to the side nervously to make sure no other was around. It wasn't always easy, dedicating most of his time to soothing his sister's grief; he didn't know at all what to do with his mother's. Kitten's 'sleep, so she's not sad, so it's break time. Oh no; he was being a bad brother, and he'd just admitted it to the nicest adult he knew! His ears flattened as he waited for reprimand.

he greeted the little one with enthusiasm, pushing his nose against the ruff of his shoulders before pulling away, grinning. "everybody needs a break, sometimes," he insisted, seeing the guilt flash over river's face. wagging his tail, aditya jerked his head toward the borders, eyes sparkling in a question. "want to go walk the borders with me?"

adi hoped he said yes; it would be nice to have some company, for once. the dearth of adults in morningside meant he spent much of his duties alone, and he was going a little stir crazy without company, especially considering the shaky ground he remained on with dawn. besides, it would give river a chance to see the wider world outside of the den and its surrounding areas--he would like that, right?

The reassurance worked well enough, and he was more than willing to forget his guilt. His ears perked back up at Aditya’s question and he nodded eagerly. Yeah! He answered in a duh tone, tail wagging involuntarily. At this point in his life, nothing was better than exploring— well, maybe his siblings’ company. Maybe.
He was eager to get going, evidenced by the impatient way he shifted on his paws from the moment Aditya made the offer. Will there be a coyote? He asked after a moment; he actually didn’t know what a coyote was, but he’d heard someone say it once, and he desperately wanted to see one. He added as an afterthought: Can we eat it?

"let's go, then." he began to pad off, but not before river had chirped his two-part question. a smile bloomed over aditya's face. "maybe," he answered to the first, and as to the second. . . "we don't usually eat coyotes," adi explained. "they look like wolves, but smaller and thinner. we don't mess with them unless they mess with us first."

it was too much of a conversation to be had with the youngster that coyotes and wolves sometimes interbred, or that sometimes the creatures lived among packs. for now, they were the other, and he preferred it that way. aditya had no particular dislike of coyotes, but they did have a tendency to bring discord with them everywhere they went.

the pair of wolves padded the border, adi keeping a swift but manageable pace. once they reached the line, he lifted his leg and sprayed over a bush, making sure it was well saturated before moving on. "it keeps our enemies out and lets our friends know we're here," he explained to river, in case the young one had questions about what this was all about. "you can give it a go, if you'd like."