Wolf RPG

While most nights the eldest Pryor Brood child was content to snuggle up at his mothers chest, snoring softly and inhaling his birthers scent. 

Tonight was not such a night. 

He couldn't see the fall of the sun, but somehow the boy felt the night taking its rule -- he'd never been out in the dark, but did know that the dimmer lights were easier on his fragile eyes; he'd even noticed that it wasn't as bad for everyone else to be out in the daylight, and it made him very insecure. 

                 "Mum?"

From where he'd been curled against her foreleg, he turned his little pink nose up at Aspen and smiled softly. His siblings played somewhere off in the den, and Alder was laying beside them watching carefully -- Rowan never listened to the King, even in the littlest things, but to Aspen he usually bowed.

                                        "Walk?"

To his slight surprise, she obliged him, leading the way out of the tunnel with Rowan bounding excitedly at her heels with a squeal of joy. He bounced after his mother out of the tunnels, and when she finally broke into The Post, he bolted out across the clearing with a playful growl to his mother -- again, she obliged, taking shorter strides to keep up with her eldest child and occasionally sending loving nips his way. These only served to urge him forward, until they'd entered the shadows of the trees and Rowan could no longer see very well: it wasn't far in until his paws caught on a root, sending the boy rolling forward with a yowl of surprise. When he'd come to a stop, the smell of water was apparent, but he didn't yet see the pond yards in front of them through the thick maples.

Aspen was woken by her eldest son's voice. "Mum," he spoke softly offering her a smile to which she retured offering him a gently lick on his head before he spoke again asking if she would go for a walk with him. "Of course Rowan," she spoke softly shifting gently so as not to wake the others. They would be alright without her for a while.

She padded down the tunnels with Rowan following close behind until they had gotten out from the tunnels to which he then darted ahead of her growling playfully. Aspen chuckled softly before beginning to take short strides at a faster pace to keep up with him. Which was not hard to do considering he was tiny but she liked to let him believe sometimes that he was the fastest.

She noticed exactly where they were heading but before she could offer a word of warning he tripped over a root. Aspen trotted over looking concerned the pond just off to her left side now. "My son, are you alright?" she spoke softly nudging him gently hopefully to put him in a position where he could better see where they were. 

She had been the only one who knew of this place until now, but she saw no reason not to share this place with her children at least. Perhaps it could serve the same purpose to them as it did to her. A place to think  and a place where she could be alone and out of the eyes of the rest of the pack and stress that often came with ruling a kingdom such as their own.

Rowan grumbled as he tottered to his paws, shaking out his pelt and using his mother as balance as she helped -- he delivered a few thankful licks to her face and chirped happily to show he was okay, but the scent of water again called his attention. This was not the icy, stone-flavored water that he expected from the Sanctuary pond, but a stagnant, life-filled water. 

                         "Water?"

Turning his ruby eyes to Aspen, he tipped his head in silent question: "can we go check it out?". He didn't realize she might already know what the place was, but intended to see the place with his own gaze.

Aspen watched as Rowan regained balance and processed the location of where he was. He seemed to like it as much as she did which made her smile warmly. His red eyes looked to her and yearned to explore more and she nodded.

"Go on then," she said softly as she too padded over and lay down by the waters edge with her front paws in them. "I call this place Starlight waters. It is a place I come when I need to think. No one else knows of this place Rowan just me and you," she explained leaning down to take a drink of water.

Aspen was a lovely mother who allowed her children to learn as they went, and for this Rowan was glad -- he'd be out here with or without her, but with the protection of his dam he could freely roam without a worry of the unknown. Her smile only egged the Prince on, and he latched into a puff of her fur to tug her into the underbrush. He pushed through roughly at first, but when a thorn pricked his tiny pink nose, he stopped with a squeal of anger. His ears fanned back and scarlet eyes crossed to look at the drop of blood there. 

A soft "huh" left his mouth, and he turned to show it to Aspen in wonder before swiping his tongue around his jaws to clean it and turning again: this time, he was careful in his steps, avoiding what he know knew to be brambles until he could actually see the pond. While his mother padded forward to lie on the shore, Rowan stalked to a stone a few paces from her and jumped up, gripping with his white nails to keep his balance. 

His mothers voice rang around him softly, telling him that only they knew, that its name was Starlight Waters. A fitting name, he found, as the silver speckles in the dark sky reflected down into the calm water. As he watched Aspen take a drink, the young Prince was wondering what it tasted like, and leaned forward to dip his muzzle into the water. 

Unfortunatley for him, the clumsy albino lost his balance, tipping forward and plopping into the shallows with a gasp -- that was cold! He kept his face above the water, but everything else of his body was wet and, very nearly, submergered. The snowy boy could have waddled his way back to shore easily, but fear and violent shivers kept him rooted to the spot as he cried out for Aspen. 

                        "MUM!"

Aspen watched as Rowan wandered over to a large stone and climbed up onto it and she smiled at him as he looked over watching as she drank the water. He appeared to copy her as he leaned over to take a drink himself though he leaned to far causing him to fall right into the water.

Aspen could not have stood up quicker as she knew just how cold the water could be and especially for a wolf his size. She darted over to him as he cried out and she pulled him by the scruff out of the water and began to somewhat lick him dry. Trying to get most of the moisture from his fur. 

"There there my prince," she muttered softly as she tried to calm his shaking body. "Perhaps once you warm up you can try it again, but this time, from the ground so that it's harder to fall in, though it was a good effort," she stated with a soft chuckle.

The two of them spent several hours at the lake just playing and chatting to eachother about life the unvierse and everything. It wasn't until Rowan let out a feeble yawn that Aspen realized how late it was into the night. She spoke softly once more "let's go home little one," and then picked him up by the scruff and carried him back to the den. Little did she know, things were going to change and not in ways she was going to like.