The run-in with the terrifying beetles had not been forgotten. The pup was afraid they'd show up at any time, always looking around the corner and holding his breath whenever he was near any holes they could come out of (he didn't want them to fly into his mouth, after all). What was worse was that there were probably all sorts of other things out there, too - yuck! The little Elwood miniature wanted to explore, but it was also pretty scary and he didn't want the scary parts of it.
And so the pup sat waiting at the den's entrance that day, staring out into the cloudy morning sky and waiting for an adult. Then he could safely go exploring, with a safe adult nearby, and there wouldn't be any unsafe bugs bothering them (and if there were, they'd go back to the safe den). The pup stared ahead stoically, feeling bored, and waited for an occasion for adventure to pop by in the form of a responsible (or less responsible) Redhawk adult.
Something scary had happened to Peregrine, something Wildfire didn't really understand—perhaps because there was very little explanation provided. Even the adults couldn't say for sure what had happened to the Alpha male or why, just that something had happened to his head and his eyesight. He would need to take it easy for a while to recover. Currently, he was resting at the rendezvous site. Wildfire stood vigil awhile, then slipped away, desperate to find someone or something to cheer her up.
Her paws took her to the Betas' den, where she spotted little Elwood Jr sitting in the doorway, peeking out at the world. "Hey there, Elwood Jr," Wildfire said, smiling as she walked up to her godparents' home. "What're you doing?" she asked, plopping onto her haunches, thankful for the distraction from her father's ailment. She didn't want to think about it for a while or what it might mean for the future.
Elwood Junior's little tail started to propellor when he saw the approach of Wifi, one of his favourite wolves. She was pretty big, but not as big as the adults. Elwood Junior looked at her approach, not knowing a thing about the situation with Uncle P, and smiled.
"Hubbo Wifee," he said in his own way, emotions contained. "Ahhummm... Make um walhuk?" Elwood Junior tilted his head and looked at Wifi, hoping she understood what he meant - and wanted.
He was actually speaking these days and even though he couldn't carry on a conversation very well just yet, Wildfire already liked spending time with Elwood Jr much more than before. When he greeted her, she smiled at the way he said her name, then tipped her head when he answered her question. Her lips pressed together as she tried to decipher it, though she had to admit after a few moments that she just wasn't that good at translating baby speak (despite speaking it herself not so long ago).
"I'm not sure I understand. Wanna try again? Or maybe show me?" she suggested. Maybe they could play an impromptu game of charades.
Junior tilted his head in confusion when Wifi spoke, because he wasn't entirely sure what she said. There were a lot of questionmarks in her words, though, so he did realise that she did not understand what he meant. A lot of wolves did not understand what he meant. Elwood Junior shuffled his feet a little, shifting his weight, and he looked insecure as he tried to figure out what to do. She had asked 'show', that much he understood, but how was he going to show what he wanted?
"Uhm," he mumbled under his breath while he got to his feet, an unsure frown on his face for a moment. He lifted a paw, and put it forward a bit further. Elwood Junior then looked at Wifi, to see if she understood yet. "Walhukkin dar," he said, nosing the air as he tried to gesture that he wanted to go 'there', or, well, anywhere, really. He was just bored and wanted to explore, but it was too terrifying to go all alone.
Little Elwood took a very emphasized step, then another, and it finally clicked in Wildfire's head. "Oh, you want to go on a walk?" she guessed, smiling brightly and hoping she was correct. Then the expression faded somewhat. Was she even allowed to take him anywhere? She glanced around the den site. It wouldn't hurt to take him on a quick romp around the surrounding area, would it? He was still so little, surely he would be satisfied with that.
"Sure, let's walk around," she said, springing ahead a couple of feet and then turning around to wait for Elwood Jr to catch up to her.
When Wifi suggested the walk, Junior nodded. He couldn't quite pronounce the word walk well yet; the 'l', and mostly the connection between l and k, got him every time. "Yuh," he confirmed, and he trotted to move by Wifi's side, wanting to make sure he stayed close to her. Wifi seemed unsure about something, but then she seemed to abruptly decide that she would take him on a walk. Yay!
Wifi enthusiastically sprinted ahead. Elwood Junior made huffed "nuh, nuh, nuh!" grunts as he galloped after Wifi, trying to keep up but being much slower. He tripped over his own paws just as he reached Wifi, because he was trying to run faster than he could to keep up and stay safely by Wifi's side, and fell flat on his face.
With big, shiny eyes, Elwood Junior looked up at Wifi as he remained on the floor where he'd fallen. His lip wobbled to express his unhappiness, and he looked about ready to burst into his latest discovery: tears.
The way he ran reminded Wildfire of herself, especially when he tripped over his own legs and face-planted. Wildfire moved closer to him again, her nose touching reassuringly against his head. She had taken many spills and knew he would be just fine. But when he looked up at her, tears shone in his eyes. Her brow furrowed. Had he hurt himself? She nosed him again, her touch gentle as she searched for any sign of injury.
She found nothing and drew back a few inches to say, "You're okay, I think. Don't worry, I fall all the time. Sometimes it can hurt a little bit but that's all. Don't let it slow you down, Elwood Jr!" She flashed him a grin, then bounded ahead again, encouraging him to keep going.
Wifi's touch calmed Elwood Junior down a little, and he stared at her with big dopey eyes as she did. The touch was instinctively comforting, and for a moment he was calm again. Wifi pulled back and she said some things to him, to which Elwood Junior tilted his head, listening intently as he tried to decipher what she said to him. When she said his name, his tail wagged briefly, but then she ran off again.
"Nuuuuh!" Elwood Junior squeaked, his eyebrows knit into a frown, and he quickly started to run after Wifi again with the same grunts of concentration and slight protest -- "nuh nuh nuh" -- as before as he tried his dearest to keep up with her, because he was so far from the den by now (not very far, but in Junior's mind, it was Very Far) that he couldn't find his way back alone, he didn't want to lose Wifi no matter what!
He toddled after her and as Wildfire swung around to face him, she had to laugh at the look of utmost concentration on the pup's face. Rather than face forward again and keep leading him away, she continued to face him and slowly backpedaled, giving Elwood Jr an honest chance to catch up to her.
"Once you've got the hang of walking and running, I'll teach you how to play tag!" Wildfire decided brightly, her black tail fanning the air. "Go, go, Elwood Jr!" she added. It was clear all of this was an enormous effort and he ought to be encouraged and praised.
Elwood Junior wasn't able to keep up with Wifi at all, which stressed him, until she turned around and backpedalled instead of running ahead at full speed. Junior's nerves calmed down a little when he reached Wifi, feeling much safer again now. He was still pretty scared of being so far away from the den, afraid he'd lose Wifi and that he would be all alone and unable to find his way back to the den.
Wifi encouraged him and said some things that Elwood Junior only half followed because he was so focussed on keeping up with Wifi. Elwood Junior really wanted to go home now, because all of this was really terrifying to him, but he had no choice but to keep running, because if he'd stop then he'd lose track of Wifi and he'd be all alone! There was a troubled little frown on Elwood Junior's face as he kept running and looked up at Wifi, silently trying to oblige her to stop moving so he could tell her he wanted to go home.
The expression on his face slowly morphed into one less of determination and more of frustration, even discomfort. Wildfire noticed this and slowed her roll, pausing where she stood and gently patting her front paws on the ground to coax him closer. Perhaps his little legs were exhausted or he just didn't find the idea of tag appealing. She didn't want to push him too much.
She dropped onto her belly, head upright so they were on the same level. "You done?" she guessed, tail still waving despite her lower position. She didn't want Elwood Jr to think she was disappointed in him or anything silly like that.
Luckily Wifi caught on to Elwood Junior's reluctance, and when she stopped, so did he. His little tongue lolled from his mouth and he looked up at Wifi when she asked if he was done. "Yuh," he confirmed. There was something he'd intended to ask her once they had stopped running, but he had forgotten all about it now. Maybe it was just time to go home and curl up with mommy and daddy.
"Ahmm," Elwood Junior said thoughtfully while he tried to think of what he wanted to say. "Huhm, Wifee home?" It wasn't really what he wanted to ask, and it showed on his face, but he couldn't think of the other thing so he decided to just ask about going home instead.
She nodded, pretty sure she understood his question. But she didn't immediately begin leading him back toward the den. Wildfire gave him a few minutes to rest. The journey wasn't far at all, yet for such a puny pup, he might as well have been globetrotting. While she waited for him to be ready, she scooted forward to give him a ticklish lick to the bridge of his muzzle.
"Okay," she announced after a few minutes, "let's head back." She rose and began walking, keeping her pace very slow so that Elwood Jr wouldn't struggle to to keep up. "Did you enjoy your walk?" she asked as they strolled along.
Elwood Junior was glad when Wifi suggested going back. "Yah," he said and he followed Wifi as they went back, while trying to remember what it was he wanted to say to Wifi. Moments later he had forgotten all about wanting to say anything, though, and he just kept trotting along alongside Wifi while he looked up at her occasionally.
"Yah," he repeated when Wifi asked if he liked the walk. "Wifi good," he babbled, though for an onlooker it might be unsure whether he was talking to himself or to Wifi, as he said this while walking and looked out over the land, not at Wifi specifically.
Her lips twitched when he said, "Wifi good," taking it as a compliment. She didn't speak again until they reached the den's mouth, at which point she stopped and turned to look down at him. "Here we are. Why don't we go inside? Let's get your mom to tell us a story, then we can take a nap." She wondered if he hated that word, as some infants and toddlers did. She knew she'd gone through a phase where she hated mandatory nap time, though nowadays—like right now, for instance—she definitely didn't mind the occasional afternoon siesta.
She waited for Elwood Jr to trundle into the den, then slipped in behind him. While she surely headed toward his mother's arms, Wildfire dropped to her haunches near the entrance, sighed quietly and slid forward into a sphinx-like position. "We had a long walk and now we demand a good story," she murmured playfully to her Aunt Finley before exchanging a conspiratorial glance with the littler pup and settling in for the tale and subsequent catnap.
They eventually reached the den after a walk back in silence -- which Elwood Junior did not mind at all -- and Wifi suggested they listen to a story. While Elwood Junior was not particularly fond of stories, he was very fond of mommy, so he immediately answered with a "Ya!" and clumsily trotted into the den's mouth.
Once inside he greeted his mother with an excited firing of tiny licks and settled down by mommy's side while Wifi demanded a story. "Yaa!" Elwood Junior added, a bit louder than usually in his excitement, and he waited for the story to begin.
Less than halfway through the story the boy drifted off into a nap, tired from the exhausting but fun time he had spent with Wifi.