Wolf RPG

Wildfire knew her parents' feelings on leaving the territory, particularly when it came to them (the pups). She knew how much they mistrusted the north in particular. She did not want to go against her parents' wishes, nor deliberately disobey them, yet the juvenile had really begun to develop a mind of her own lately. Furthermore, her inner Outrider was veritably screaming for release. It would be a while yet before Finley could accompany her and she just couldn't bear to wait anymore. It was time to act independently for the first time in her young life.

She moseyed to the borders, peering around and trying to play it casual. The coast was clear, so Wildfire suddenly broke into a gallop, skedaddling away from the caldera. Because she knew she was breaking the rules—something which she did very rarely, if ever—the youth's haunches remained low and her black tail tucked between her legs even as she fled. She did not adjust her posture until she was well out of sight of her homeland.

Forcing herself to relax, she kept moving quickly, retracing her footsteps to Big Salmon Lake. She wrinkled her nose as she hastened around the shore. She knew the way back to Phantom Hollow, the place where she had surfaced after the storm, but she hooked a slight left instead. Wildfire crossed a shallow part of the stream that wound through this region and found herself trotting into a sleepy summer woodland. Well, that was her first impression... until the trees suddenly thinned and gave way to an enormous plot of scorched earth littered with the charred remains of flora and fauna alike.

Humility was also disobeying today. Well, could it be called disobeying when no one had explicitly told her to not leave the mountain? June didn't think so and that was how she justified the entire situation to herself. She had visited the borders with Zhavvi and nothing had come badly of it and now the four month old was heading further afield.

She wasn't trying to be found by grown ups so she stuck to the forests, yet she knew that the forests were also dangerous and so Humility found herself traversing mainly through the bushes. She reached the edge of Neverwinter Forest and wondered where to go next. Another forest caught her attention, the Heartwood. There was a long stretch of open lands between here and there so she ran as fast as her little legs would carry her.

Her gait was still unruly but at four months she had learnt how to offset the rolling nature of it. She may never have the smooth, silky run of most adult wolves but at least she wasn't falling over every two steps any more. Arriving in the Heartwood's undergrowth she skidded to a stop. This wasn't as safe as she had thought after all. Nor was she alone.

Cautiously, June just watched the other pup - paying more attention to the living thing than the dead ones.

She stood there a long time, staring at the ruins of the forest, the smell of stale cinders lingering in her nose. Then, slowly, Wildfire began to pick her way through the wreckage. She had no idea what might have caused it. She only knew about fire secondhand (having asked about her name before); could this possibly be the result of a wildfire? She didn't immediately think to attribute it to the storm, unaware that lightning could strike objects and set them aflame.

She touched her nose to a burnt and blackened stump with bits of gray ash clinging to it. It crumbled, the ash floating into the still air. Wildfire blinked, watching it drift, when her amber eyes caught sight of a pale shape among the otherwise dark rubble in the distance. It was another wolf. Her body tensed, though she licked her lips with interest when she noted the stranger's small size and petite features. Was she a youth too?

"Hey," she called out after a beat of uncertainty, remaining rooted to the spot. "What're you doing?" It seemed a sort of inane question but Wildfire wasn't sure what else to ask right off the bat.

Charon had decided to travel a bit further from home to check out if the rest of the world had been as affected by nature's PMS as Stavanger Bay had. Thistle seemed to have had a wake-up call, which made Charon feel a little more confident that he could leave his home without it crumbling apart under his mother's 'rule' (if it could be called as much). Some days, Charon had considered confronting Thistle Cloud with her depression and force her to step down and let him lead the pack alone, but he just didn't have the heart to. She was probably the only wolf in the world that could lead a pack Charon was part of crappily without dire consequences on his end. She'd pretty much saved him when he was little and his parents had died. Perhaps that was why he was uncharactistically soppy towards her, even in her current state. Still, things were going to improve. She promised. Charon just hoped it was that easy, but he decided to shove his doubts aside today.

A frown found its way to Charon's face briefly when he first stumbled upon a burnt part of the Heartwood. Had all of the forest been this ravaged? The young naturalist sniffed the air around him, and it reminded him of Osprey. She'd never been found... He wondered if the fire that had attacked Blacktail Deer Plateau had taken Osprey, too.

Suddenly, Charon heard a voice nearby. He trotted along a line of trees that were burnt, but still made it unable for him to see who was talking. When he rounded a corner, he saw two wolves in the distance. One of them was light-coloured and looked small, and the other, though larger in size, looked like she was maybe a couple months younger than Charon. He was surprised, since seeing Potema had been the first time he had ever seen other pups around the Wilds, and now it seemed he stumbled into two at once.

Charon decided to approach. As he did, among the scent of burnt stuff, he picked up FitzSomething's scent, the Silvertip Alpha. If he hadn't visited fairly recently before the storm, Charon might not have noticed or remembered at all, but the scent was so strong that he didn't doubt that this pup had to be one of his. "Does your dad know you're out here?" Charon asked as he trotted towards her -- and the ruddy pup, who was closer to his own age and therefore actually captivated Charon's interest a bit more; but he had to make sure that FitzWhatever's pup was okay first -- and he momentarily forgot about his Naturalist quest of checking damaged territories.

Wolves, they loved their words. June looked at the first one who was quite a distance from her. At least that was good. She wasn't a fan of strangers being close. A question was asked of her and she turned her head on one side questioning. What did it matter what she was doing? What was this wolf doing? Lifting her nose, Humility took in the scents and closed her eyes to enhance it. It was a strange one, one she'd never smelled before. Beneath the burning she could pick up how this wolf smelt different from her pack. They all had a common smell - her father's smell - that was missing. She wondered where the red-fur came from when another pack wolf came into range.

This one, too, had no scent of her father and yet had nothing in common with the red-fur. She opened her eyes, looking at the wolf that had spoken only to her. Did her father know she was here? This wolf knew her father, knew their pack, knew her? Had her father told this wolf about her name too? How she hated that aspect of life, giving out ones name like it was some sort of common thing, when did that become acceptable, why did she have to give out anything of herself to others?

What was she supposed to say? June was having a dilemma. She didn't want to lie, didn't think she should lie after Chaska's story - she didn't want to end up on the moon away from Mason - but she feared that the white-fur wolf would just take her home if he knew. He walked closer, she moved away, closer to red-fur yet tried to keep an equal distance from them both.

She would have to use her words. "Does yours?" she asked of white-fur. "Or yours?" aimed in the direction of red-fur. Why was the white-fur focused on her?

Before the younger female could answer her, a third wolf prowled into view. Wildfire's mouth closed, her jaw tensing as she eyed the white male with gray freckles. His eyes were the color of ice, not that Wildfire had ever seen such a thing. She just knew somehow. He trotted closer, causing the pale female to close ranks with Wildfire. They all ended up closer together but relatively equidistant, forming a strange triangle among the charred wreckage of the forest.

"Does your dad know you're out here?" She felt a bolt of surprise at the question, then realized a second later that it wasn't directed at her. "Does yours? Or yours?" the little white girl countered, her blue eyes shifting to include Wildfire. Only now did she realize how much they resembled one another. Were they related?

"Uh," she replied after a hesitation, "that's nobody's business but mine." She wasn't a liar by nature but Wildfire often fibbed out on the road, not wanting to reveal too much about herself or share personal information. With that said, she said it as politely as she could manage, not wanting to sound like a snotty brat, then added, "I'm Dhole. Who're you?" Her amber eyes flicked from one pale face to the other.

It was evident right away from her defensive reaction that Fitz didn't know about his daughter being out here. Charon wasn't sure why he even cared, and then he remembered how often he had gone out at that age. Of course, his parents were both dead at that point, so it wasn't like anyone really cared if he went out, he thought bitterly to himself, but still. He relaxed a little, though he let out a snorted laugh when Fitz's pup asked if his father -- or the ruddy girl's -- knew where he was.

"My father's dead," Charon coldly retorted. Maybe he should've given the same reply as the ruddy girl's, he realised after she had replied, but it was too late for that now. The ruddy girl introduced herself as 'Dhole', which seemed like a weird, boring and unfitting name for the girl with the outstanding fur colours. Of course, Charon had never actually seen a dhole, or he might've swallowed that opinion.

When Dhole asked each of them who they were, Charon spoke first. "I'm Charon, Beta of Stavanger Bay," Charon said, with a tone of pride in his voice that was perhaps a little over the top. He looked at Fitz' kid and decided to be cool as he said: "I know your father, but no sweat -- I'm not gonna tell on you." He knew what it was like to need to get out of your pack and just explore on your own for a little while. The world was a dangerous place and tragedy could always strike, but then again, it wasn't like Charon was there to take care of everyone else, or whatever. Besides, wasn't like she would listen if he told her about how dangerous it could be to strike out on your own. And she wasn't exactly alone now: she had Charon and Dhole.

June let out a little snort of laughter at red-fur's reply. It seemed she wasn't the only one breaking the rules today as for white-fur, he shared that his father was dead. June didn't really know what to make of that, she had lost her mother but felt no sympathy for herself on that matter. In the end, the pack took care of her and it was white-fur's pack responsibility too. She mused that it was possible white-fur was asking only because her father was the alpha, maybe that made her more important than she thought.

The inevitable soon arrived. Name sharing. Red-fur asked and gave her own as D'hole, red-fur was the only name June needed for her so she would always be. Charon. Now that was maybe a name worth mentioning. June had met too many white wolves, she was one of them, and having white-fur in her head made no sense. Her thoughts took her to believe that maybe she needed better descriptions for everyone instead of just going on fur colour. white-fur-blue-eyes maybe, but then she fit that description too.

Caught up in her thoughts, she deigned to not reply. Maybe red-fur would think she hadn't realised she was included in the question - after all June's eyes had been firmly fixed on Charon and she hadn't seen red-fur's eyes moving to take in both of them. No, she would avoid telling anyone her name if she could.

"Why you here?" she asked, still looking at Charon but not minding if red-fur answered too.

Wildfire winced slightly when Charon mentioned his late father. Before she could offer condolences, he introduced himself. He didn't sound particularly upset, so maybe the loss wasn't recent. His rank took her by surprise, simply because Wildfire had gauged him to be only a little older than herself. It was possible she had just made a mistake about his age, though it was just as possible that he was simply a young leader. She had never met or even heard of one, so it intrigued her, as did his mention of a pack called Stavanger Bay.

The two white wolves exchanged a few words that indicated a slight familiarity but nothing more. Wildfire immediately noticed that the girl hadn't offered a name and repeated, "What's your name?" They needed something to call her, even if she only gave an alias like Wildfire had. "I'm here to explore. I didn't realize the forest was this messed up, though," she added. "Do either of you know what happened?"

Not only did Charon instantly notice the lack of giving out a name on Fitz's daughter's behalf, he also noticed how she didn't seem fazed by the tragic loss of his father. Even Dhole seemed sad for him; the least she could've done was look at least a little bit sad. Although Charon was truly sad about the loss of his parents, he tended to use it to win arguments -- such as the "does your father know you're here" argument he'd just won by throwing in the tragic death of his father -- or garnering sympathy and attention.

Subjects passed, but Charon noted that Fitz's daughter also didn't give him any credits about how he wasn't going to tell her father. Charon haughtily considered still telling Fitz. He wished that Saskia were here, so he could show her off, too. Maybe he'd even instruct her to help him bring her back to Fitz, or tell on her, and then his stupid daughter would have to beg for him not to march her right back home. Charon didn't really want to snitch, of course, because snitching wasn't very cool in his book. But she was being obnoxiously rude by not giving his non-snitching-attitude any credits, and it made Charon's blood boil. On the inside, of course. He wouldn't show that he was letting a little kid get to him. Not that she was getting to him, or whatever.

Charon squinted his eyes when Dhole asked for her name, silently saying, yeah, what is your name, you haughty little bitch? Well, maybe if he had decided to speak up, he wouldn't have used those exact words; particularly the last part. He was just extremely worked up about her stupid attitude. Dhole was much cooler than her.

Speaking of Dhole, she went on about the forest in the meantime. Charon glanced around, having momentarily forgotten that they were standing amongst charred ashes due to his frustrations with Fitz's kid. He decided that instead of trying to burn Fitz's daughter in some way, he'd just keep his head cool and be the better wolf... By bragging some more.

"It's from the lightning," he explained calmly, not letting off that he was feeling extremely smart and wanted to be acknowledged for it. "I was sitting on the beach the night of the really big storm, and I saw the lightning strike!" His voice carried a bit more suspense now, because it'd been pretty exciting, and the chronicler in him wanted to enhance the experience even if just by a little bit. "Luckily I was sitting across the beach and was far away enough, so I wasn't in danger of getting hit, but it was pretty amazing to see. There was this blinding flash and a really loud crash, and bits and pieces of a tree flew, like, everywhere!" Never mind how terrified Charon had been to see nature's display of power. "And the remains of the tree were on fire. Luckily it was just a lone tree there, but there were a couple of places in the Bay's forest that looked like a small version of this, so it must've hit in other places. That must've happened here, too..." Except bigger than what he'd seen in Stavanger Bay, so far. Charon looked around, expecting at least Dhole to be the least bit interested in his story -- in fact, he expected her face to be alight with wonder -- and expecting Fitz's dumb daughter to look like she didn't give a shit about nature nor Charon's first-hand experience with how a fire like this started.

Well, she'd tried to dodge it but it didn't work. It appeared Dhole was as smart as she was and, as for Charon, well he seemed quite obnoxious. Regardless, June submitted to Dhole's question. "June" she said, not putting too much emotion into her voice. Her 'real' name was hers, hers and Mason's. Wolves might brandish June around as if it was something to be given away but Humility was her little secret. Her sword.

The conversation changed and Charon launched into an explanation of what had occurred. He might be expected Dhole to appear captured with wonder, but June was just a caught up with his tale. Her eyes widened and a little bit of awe appeared on her face. Wisdom and Intelligence - these were things that she conceded to more than anything. She knew full well that she would never have the powerful hunter's skills, or the fighting seasoning of a warden or warrior, but intelligence could be hers and wisdom could be taught. Anyone who could teach her, or help improve those skills, were immediately elevated to pedestal status.

"How the spark cause that?" she asked, still using the minimum amount of words required. Hopefully her question made sense and she looked at Dhole to see if she was caught up with Charon's words too.

Not only did Charon know, he launched into a descriptive tale about witnessing lightning strikes during the wilderness's recent storm. Wildfire's lips parted as he painted a vivid picture in her mind, though who knew how close her mental image was to the real thing? Her parents had explained fire to her before but she had never seen it for herself. She pictured it sort of like water, only red, like her fur. It would be the opposite of cold and wet too: hot and dry. When it washed over something—trees, shrubs, grass—it left them brittle and black, like the stump she'd touched just a moment ago.

June responded to the story with a question and, as a young Naturalist, Wildfire couldn't resist trying to guess. "The lightning must be hot. Fire's hot, that's why it burns things this way." She gestured at the charred woodland around them. "Is that right?" Wildfire queried hopefully, amber eyes shifting to Charon. He seemed like quite an authority on the matter.

It pleasured Charon intensely to see that not only Dhole's face turned in his direction, but June's as well. She was finally beginning to learn her place, it seemed, as she had not only given her name, but was listening with interest to Charon's story now. Hah. June even asked a question afterwards, which only emphasis how all-knowing she thought Charon to be. Dhole was the one to answer first, saying that lightning was hot. Charon had actually never touched fire, nor had he experienced its hotness -- thankfully -- but his instincts told him to stay the hell away from it anyway.

"Yup, that's right," he confirmed with a nod when Dhole turned to him for confirmation, looking at Dhole when he answered. Charon looked at Dhole and he was reminded of Barf face the bear fighter for a moment -- though he had no clue why -- and suddenly wondered if he'd ever run into her again. He didn't mention it though, having no idea why he thought of her, and anyway, nobody would probably know her as "barf face" anyway, so that was unhelpful. They could sure use a bear fighter about now, though.

Charon decided not to mention any of it, though he considered asking either of them if they knew someone who knew how to kill a bear. He didn't want to seem like he wasn't holding things together back at Stavanger Bay, or anything, even though things were pretty falling-apart-sy, what with Thistle being only half there and all.

After a brief silence in which these thoughts passed his mind, Charon abruptly said, "You know quite a lot about these things, Dhole. You a Naturalist too?" He decided to purposely only say this to Dhole, hoping to show June just how small and unknowing she was of the world. Maybe if ever she'd thank him for totally not being a snitch Charon would decide to include her in the conversation a bit more actively.

Charon explained it satisfactory, or rather - Dhole did - Charon just confirmed it. When he addressed his question directly at Dhole it didn't escape June that she wasn't included. That was fine, she wasn't included in the adult's conversation back at the pack. She wasn't included in hunts, she wasn't included in border patrols. She was used to relying upon herself and Mason. She didn't need anyone else.

Not letting it get to her, for she really didn't care, June ignored the question and walked between the two talking wolves, quite deliberately, and went to inspect a plant the other side of Dhole. Although she fully intended for the distraction, she had let her face show nothing - instead it must have seemed as though she had just lost interest in the direction the conversation was going and found something more interesting in the plant.

The plant in question was quite heavily scorched - the fire must have done that - but even after these weeks since the terrifying event there was no sign of life around. She wondered if life would ever return to the forest. Paying absolutely no attention to any conversation going on around her, June patted the leaves of the plant, wondering if it would crumble like it looked or if it would stay intact and bounce back like a normal leaf would.

She smiled, then nodded when Charon asked her about Naturalism. "I'm an apprentice," she said, eyes shining proudly, though her demeanor was otherwise humble. "I actually started on the trade after watching a storm for the first time," she shared. Wildfire didn't actually remember much about that moment herself—she had been so young at the time—though Peregrine had told her about it and she could easily picture it.

Charon didn't seem to want to include June in the conversation, though it didn't seem the pale girl minded much. She began to poke and prod at a leaf. This inspired Wildfire to do the same. She located a scorched shrub of some sort and brushed a paw against it. It shivered and lots of gray ash fell to the former forest floor. Something about this sight compelled Wildfire to swipe her foreleg in the crumbly pile. The ash clung to her fur, coating her.

"Hey, look, I'm black now," she said aloud to nobody in particular, then on an impulse tossed her small body to the ground and began rolling. Wildfire did this for a minute or two before rising. She had to consciously resist the urge to shake her pelt. "Speaking of dads..." she quipped, referencing their earlier exchange as her eyes flicked from Charon to June. "I look like mine now." She grinned as she looked down at herself and her ashy bodice.

The fact that June seemed like she couldn't care less whether or not she was included in things infuriated Charon. Why didn't she care about these things? Everyone cared about being included and getting attention, which meant that so should stupid little childish June! Maybe it was because she realised how stupid and insignificant she was and just had a lot of self-knowledge, or maybe she was just being a little weirdo. Charon didn't know which was worse.

Charon was distracted when Dhole confirmed being a Naturalist apprentice, like himself (but he, of course, never told anyone he was 'just' an apprentice; he just told them he was a Naturalist). "I became a Naturalist because the stars appealed to me when I was younger," Charon explained, "So I wanted to know all about 'em. Hey, if you ever want to learn about the stars, you can visit Stavanger Bay at night, and I can teach you." The invitation was extended specifically to Dhole, although by now June had gone and wandered right through the middle of their conversation -- ruuude! -- so she probably caught the hint that it wasn't for her. He imagined Dhole would be interested in this, since she was also a Naturalist and all.

While June was inspecting some plant or whatever, Dhole went and got herself covered in ash. Charon stood and watched, not really sure what to think of all of this. He loved playing, but now he was all grown up and he couldn't really waste time out here rolling in ashes.

Dhole brought up the dad subject again. For a moment, Charon considered bringing up how dead his was again to show his unappreciation for her bringing up the subject again, but he didn't. He probably would've if it had been June who spoke up about it. He didn't like June. But Dhole was alright, y'know, for her age and all that. "Cool," said Charon, but he soon found himself staring at the ashes and wondering what he needed to do to look more like his dad, if anything. He found himself realising that he didn't even remember what his father looked, sounded or even smelled like at all anymore, then.

It appeared that Dhole wasn't too above playing with the leaves herself. As June's leaf crumbled into ashes, Wildfire had also discovered the property allowed her to change her fur colour. She exclaimed that she now looked like her father and June rolled in the ash too, turning her white fur a murky grey. "June like Dhole!" she said with a laugh before bounding forward a step, playfully.

She was enjoying her time here, she had forgot to be scared and afraid of the unknown and the desire to play was beginning to take over. She wanted to run over the Dhole, pounce on her and roll in the ash playfully but she wasn't entirely sure that it would be reciprocated. Instead she bounced playfully on the spot, side to side, waiting to see if Dhole would respond in kind.

As for Charon, June didn't bother extending the play invitation. After all, he wasn't one of the ashen buddies.

Her mother had told her a few things about the night sky and, truthfully, it didn't interest Wildfire as much as the other aspects of Naturalism. However, she would never turn down an opportunity to expand her knowledge. She had been sidetracked by the ash but now she looked to Charon and told him, "That might be fun, though I'm not sure I can come all the way to the bay." Besides, she had never visited another pack's territory and wasn't keen on the idea. "You can see the sky from anywhere, right? Could we meet in the mid—?"

Before she could complete her sentence, June began dancing off to the side, sidetracking Wildfire again. She smiled in surprise at the girls's declaration, then glanced at Charon to briefly finish, "The middle?" before issuing a mock growl and playfully swiping a paw in June's direction. Although it was pretty clear Charon and June didn't like each other, Wildfire liked them both and wanted to bridge the gap, so she balanced things out by swatting at the freckled male too.

Charon watched as June toddled along and said she liked Dhole. Ugh, what a kid. He rolled his eyes to clarify his opinion of June, in case it wasn't evident by now, while he watched her toddle around with disgust and misplaced hatred, which streamed from his never-ending envy whenever the spotlight was on anyone but him for a moment.

Dhole was momentarily distracted, but then suggested meeting in the middle. "Yeah, sure. Where are you from?" he asked, since 'the middle' could be a very fluid thing, depending on where she lived.

Charon had just sat down and curled his tail around him, sitting up straight but clearly agitated at June's behaviour, when Dhole swatted at him in the midst of her play with June. The young Beta decided to throw away the burdens that rested on his shoulders alone, so it felt, and he pressed his belly to the ground, butt in the air, which caused his rump to collect some ashes. His father was quickly forgotten as Charon raised a paw above his head, playfully swatting the air between Dhole and himself.

June didn't realise that she had forgotten that there was more than one interpretation to what she had just declared. She had only intended to announced that her fur was now the same as Dhole's, or similar at least, and they were both coloured in ash so she failed to see that both of them had taken it as a declaration of feelings. That's not to say she didn't feel that way, she just never normally declared her feelings at all.

Regardless, Dhole seemed willing to play and Charon was joining in. June didn't care if the male played with them too for once she was caught up in a game all allegiances, alliances, and animosities went out the window to be replaced with only the game. For now she was more than content darting towards, and away from, the pair of them independently. She would give a few swipes - they were all too slow to ever deliberately catch someone - she dart away, taking pleasure with whether she accidentally caught someone or got caught. June never felt like she lost, even though she always did when there was a game with "winning" as an objective.

The plan to meet up for some stargazing was forgotten entirely as the three played about in the forest's ashy remains. In the back of her mind, Wildfire wondered if it was irreverent to mess around in the ashes, though she didn't give it too much thought. Besides, she had enough on her mind as Charon and June took turns swiping at her and then darting out of reach. In her effort to get them to play nicely, she had incidentally invited them to tag-team her!

After taking a few slaps to the front of her body, Wildfire growled playfully and spun on her heel, running along an old deer trail blanketed in cinders. She kicked up a cloud of the grayish black dust as she led the other two on a chase through the blackened wood.

Charon easily allowed himself to be seduced into a game of childish play. He needed this, often getting sucked into being serious now that he was in the adult ranks, and Beta to boot. Playing with other youths was just what he needed.

Even his irritation towards June was momentarily forgotten when Dhole dashed off. Charon followed, figuring June would too but not minding as much as he would have moments ago. He glanced biefly at her from the corner of his eye while he ran, ash flying everywhere while Charon ran after the ash-covered Dhole; splashing himself in ash in the process.

Wildfire took the game to a chase and Charon happily darted off after her. June began to before realising that they were going in a direction she hadn't been before. This clearing was one thing but darting off in a game was another. She felt too afraid to follow. Instead of letting that fear be realised she decided to call it quits and head home. She had made new friends - something that she wasn't sure she would ever do.

"BYE!" she called wildly and loudly, wondering if either of the other two wolves would hear her before happily tottering back through the trees to the edge of the Heartwood. Peering out between them, and making sure the coast was clear, she darted at full-speed back to the safety of the mountain - falling into one of the hot springs along the way!

She didn't know it but Wildfire was headed almost due south. She tipped her ears backward to listen for sounds of pursuit, though it was difficult to make out anything above the sounds of her own heavy breathing and slapping footsteps. Eventually, she slowed down a little, then stopped entirely. Wildfire cocked an ear, then laughed quietly and began running again when she heard footfalls coming closer.

Wildfire galloped at her top speed, somehow managing not to stumble or fall, until she arrived at the corner of the forest, where a stream wound away into the distance and eventually emptied into Big Salmon Lake. With a joyful cry, the soot-covered youngster leaped into the cold water, then turned to face her pursuers. She hadn't heard the other girl's farewell shout, so she kept her amber eyes peeled for both the freckled Charon and the pale June.

June was abrupt to leave, and Charon looked at her as she shouted 'bye' and departed. It was too late to call back to her, and Charon decided to keep racing after Dhole for a little bit. She sure was fast, and while Charon could keep up decently enough, he was glad when she stopped so that he could really catch up.

"June left," said Charon as he came to a halt, hoping Dhole'd stay in place and realise the game was over now. "I should get going home too, actually. But hey, how about that meeting up at a later time, huh? You can always howl for me somewhere in the middle, and if you're ever near the ocean, you should drop by Stavanger Bay so we can go to the ocean together, there's plenty next to the bay, on neutral territories. Where do you live? I'd love to swap, y'know, Naturalist stuff sometime, so maybe I could howl for you from somewhere nearby too, or visit or whatev." Charon looked at Dhole, hoping she'd visit sometime, because, y'know, she was pretty cool and all.