Saena was becoming an extraordinary little Outrider. In the beginning, the littlest pup's knack for finding small nooks and crannies that others couldn't fit into was primarily driven by fear of her cousins, but having found her voice and fleetness in her feet, she had put that skill to good use. She took every opportunity to leave the rendezvous site, often unaccompanied despite the rule that they only go in groups, to explore the territory. So far, she had mapped out at least two thirds of the pack's claim, and was making her way to the other third when she discovered a secret in the northern corner of the territory, shrouded by dense woodland and bramble patches.
It was a sweet spring, its water devoid of most minerals and lacking any hint of sulfur. It bubbled up from underground, filling a shallow limestone basin that Saena quite literally stumbled into when her paw caught on a root and her lanky body flung itself forward. Her front paws sank into the water before she was able to stop herself. Luckily for her, the water was cool and refreshing rather than steaming and dangerous, and it lulled her into a sense of security instantly.
Swaying her tail back and forth and relishing this new found paradise, the young Redleaf-DiSarinno began to frolic in the crystal clear water at the edge. She knew better than to venture deeper without supervision, despite being an adequate swimmer, but the patchy girl saw no harm in playing where she was and cleaning the dirt and grit of "hours" (read: not even half an hour) of travelling across the Plateau's vast territory.
Pura was markedly less sprightly than his sister, but made good, steady progress in her wake despite this setback. Saēna had left the rendezvous site at speed, forgetting - or so the freckled boy assumed - that Peregrine required them to travel in pairs. Kisu and Hawkeye presumably agreed on that point, but the children's uncle was the loudest and most insistent voice in most matters pertaining to their welfare. In an effort to uphold their alpha's wishes, Pura had followed her out.
Occasionally, a flash of cream would wink at him between dense underbrush and fat, lazy shrubs. The larger of Pied's children struggled on, pausing occasionally to squint and listen. Several times during the endless half hour it appeared that Saēna had managed to lose her pursuer, but rustling greenery would or a tuft of hair would keep the hunt going. Pura was no outrider. Crossing the Plateau was arduous enough - he could scarcely imagine what it would be like to venture Beyond. Their lofty home seemed to drop into nothingness on three sides, and the fourth was bordered by tall, forbidding mountains. Why leave, when there was so much to guard and protect?
A splash ripped Pura from his thoughts. He stood tall, ears pricked for any sound of screams. Nothing. Slowly, crouching so low that grass tickled his belly, he crept towards the tall tangle of roots that separated him from the noise - and Saēna.
"Nana..?" he ventured gently.
Her frolicking in the water might have been enough to drown out her brother's tentative call if only Saēna hadn't paused and reached over her shoulder to nibble an itch. The nickname he applied to her whispered tremulously from the distance and Saēna froze, inwardly cursing that she had been discovered. The rule was to go out in pairs only, but Saēna had managed to skirt this requirement, if only because she was quick enough to get away from the crippled Alpha male. Eventually, she knew she would be grounded, just like Junior was.
But that day was not today. “Puuuura,” the boy's littler sister chirruped, having very recently mastered stringing the oo sound together with the rr and enunciating it correctly. No longer would he be poo-wa, at least not for her. She slapped the water with a broad paw, giggling and calling “Come ou' Pura!”
She, of course, knew he had difficulty speaking. She didn't necessarily understand what the issue was, but she knew there was one, and although others constantly tried to get Pura to practice, Saēna was usually fine with his silence. Maybe because she knew what it was like to be the worst at something (read: her entire life), or maybe because she was simply too young still to care about something like that.
"Puuuura. Come ou' Pura!"
Saēna liked her privacy, and Pura was careful to grant his sister the courtesy of steering clear whenever dark clouds began to gather above her head - often as a direct result of Junior, but there were many other triggers in the toolbox. But this was a direct invitation delivered in a high, friendly voice. Pura's face lit up like a beacon. He inflated, rising from his cautious crouch and trotting around the tall pile of roots to see investigate the source of the splash.
"WHA-..WHAT-URR," he hollered excitedly when he spotted the spring, tongue lolling goofily out of the side of his mouth - a sure-fire way to worsen a speech impediment. Saēna already had a paw in the secret pool, and Pura rushed forward to join her. He patted the glittering surface a few times before thrusting both forelegs in, wriggling his toes against the hard limestone. His sister had made an impressive discovery here, and he made sure she knew it by shutting his trap and nodding sagely across the water - Peregrine had a rarely seen but very particular 'serious face', and it was this look that the pup sought to emulate "Goooood w-w...work." An idea struck him. Metallic eyes sought Saēna's blue ones. "Is.. is is Pura an' Nana pack l-l-l-and?" The wolves of Sparkling Puddle, perhaps.
The sooty sole boy of the Plateau pups made a prompt appearance, bringing a wide grin to his sister's face. She beamed as he rushed toward the water and dunked his paws in, which was more than enough permission for Saēna to continue cleaning her paws. She brought one out of the pool to nibble between her toes, then put it back in again, splashing joyously the entire time.
Pura struggled to ask a question, but Saēna knew exactly what he was trying to ask, primarily because she was decent at listening. “Ya!” she enthusiastically agreed, glad that Pura had left out Junior's name when he mentioned their pack. “Pura's the Affa and I'm the...” Here she furrowed her brows, trying hard to conjure up the name of that other important rank. It started with a B...
“Butter!” she cried, swaying her tail and satisfied with her answer. It sounded kind of like that, anyway. “I'm the Butter!”
Affa and Butter. Pura's tail wagged hard behind him, pleased with the assignments. Tomorrow, they might be different - Blue Willow and Peregrine shared the burden of leadership with a Butter as well, and they all seemed infinitely more important than the non-Affas and non-Butters below them.
He tried to copy Saēna's diligent toe-cleaning (hygeiene was not Pura's strong suite), but ended up biting his entire foot. Discouraged, he sat down in the water and watched her instead. "W-wha..what Aff-Butt do?" What did Peregrine do? Hunt, patrol.. parade around? He had been nomming on dongs recently, but neither of the two Virtúte pups knew that - or what it meant.
Both cubs seemed to fall naturally into their new roles, with Saēna joyously slapping the clear water with both forepaws and Pura's butt practically swaying with the force of her tail. It wasn't until Pura asked what Affas and Butters did that Saēna paused in her enjoyment of the spring, truly bewildered herself.
“They... Make 'portant announsamuns,” she ventured, brow furrowing as she tried to come up with some other responsibilities. “And... Have babies...” She twisted her ears around to the back of her head, wondering what else the adults did. The adults were boring, that was about the gist of it. Brightening up and forgetting that Affas and Butters did much more than that, she fixed her brother with an oblivious, innocent smile and asked, “wanna have babies like real Affas and Butters?”
"Baa-..baaaaa-bees," Pura mimicked poorly, meeting his sister's sweet, wide eyes with a stare that became vacant whilst he considered her idea. They were babies - or puppies; the adults often referred to them collectively as 'the pups'. Wolves that favoured more flowery language sometimes used 'little ones'. Were there littler wolves around, waiting in the wings somewhere?
"Hhh....hh..." the boy wheezed dryly, cleared his throat, and tried again: "H-how do?"
The little girl waited expectantly for her brother's answer, but when it came, it wasn't satisfactory, at least not to her. It raised more questions than it answered, naturally. Her pale brow crumpled over her eyes as she considered his return question, as though she might somehow pull the correct response out of midair if she only squinted hard enough.
But it wasn't magically floating in front of her eyes and, at length, she had to admit it. “Dunno,” she said, defeated. It would have been so cool to have little Puras and little Saēnas running around. They could pretend to be Peregrine and Hawkeye for real and their pack would thrive, just like Blacktail Deer Plateau did... But, alas, it wasn't meant to be.
Fade?
Saēna admitted to not knowing, and Pura was equally clueless.
"L-l-later," he soothed, picking up on the word adults used when a task was put off until another time. Peregrine knew - he had produced babies, after all - and if he was not available, Blue Willow seemed to know a little bit about everything.
"Paa..patrol n-now," he told her - as
Affa - and got up to stalk the perimeter of their tiny territory. If they couldn't have pups to protect, they would at least keep
themselves safe from intruders.
She bobbed her head vigorously in agreement, though Saēna would soon forget all about asking Pura to give her babies. The Affa then moved off to do a patrol and, being a good Butter (to the best of her young abilities), Saēna followed suit by going the opposite direction. Some in-born logic told her they would cover more ground that way, and when she eventually encountered Pura again during their miniature patrol, she would be overjoyed to see him.