The fog persisted. Bazi stayed close to home, lingering outside the den with a plagued look on her face. The recent business with Star had put a stop to the pack's plans to leave town, but it had also slowed progress with Scimitar. His injuries were severe, and he needed time to heal - which meant a lot of time alone to sleep, and frequent visits from the medic.
Paarthurnax had left Bazi to watch the kids whilst she tended to the injured wolves in their various haunts. Judging from the lack of noise, they were sound asleep, but you could never be quite sure - they were a particularly craft litter of dragons. Bazi turned cast a look into the darkness, trying to make out movement that might count as suspicious.
Although the pups were growing rapidly, they were still too young to properly process most things. This included the recent war among the adults and, in Relonikiv's case in particular, his near kidnapping last week. The situation had been frightening at the time, yet the memories of it had already recessed into the murk of his undeveloped brain. No fear lingered; he was back to his usual smiley self and without a care in the world.
He woke in a particularly good mood and grinned brightly when he saw his Aunt Bazi. "An' Both!" he yipped, his emerging lisp rather obvious. He untangled his limbs from his brothers' and sisters' and flounced over to her, knocking right into her knees. Her name, along with those of his other loved ones, had been among the first of his words, which now numbered around twenty or so. "Udu?" His expression (hopefully) translated: What're you doing?
Relonikiv came tumbling out of the den, obviously sensing that there was too much peace and quiet being had. Bazi welcomed the distraction. "Yes, that's me! An-Both!" she cooed at him, lavishing kisses onto the boy's gold-spun head when he made contact with her legs and sagged. He wasn't the most graceful at.. existing. "Have you come to cheer Auntie Bazi up?" she asked, clarifying by donning an exaggerated frown and describing her state in words he could understand:"Sad auntie."
She told him that she was sad and was he here to cheer her up? "Yah!" he proclaimed right away. The happy-go-lucky puppy was always glad for a chance to spread some good cheer. "Wha... why thad?" he wanted to know in the next breath, peering up into Bazi's face with wide, caring eyes before suddenly throwing himself at her knees again. This time, he wrapped his little golden forelegs around one of hers, giving her the tightest hug he could manage in the hopes of putting a smile on her face.
Ever eager to please, Dr. Kiv plucked up the proverbial clipboard and immediately got to work on his patient, offering a deep and insightful trigger question to get her talking: why indeed? Bazi hesitated, glancing around for signs of approaching company before turning her nose down to stare at the gibbon of a wolf that clung tightly to her knee.
"Well..." Yes, why exactly? Bazi frowned, eased her rear gently onto the chilly ground, and pondered. "Auntie Bazi likes Big Uncle Scimitar, very much, but.. she doesn't know how to tell him that," she informed the pint-sized ankle bracelet turned psychiatrist.
Treating him like an adult, she explained the predicament. To his credit, Relonikiv listened raptly. He didn't understand it at all, however. He could pick out certain words, though their meaning when strung together was quite over his head. He frowned, not out of sadness but consternation. He badly wanted to help his Aunt Bazi feel better, he just didn't know how! The hug didn't appear to be doing the trick.
"Heppy!" he crowed at her, wagging his tail and looking up at her again. He smiled, hoping he might infect her with his own happiness. "Thmi... ile!" he said, taking a deep breath right in the middle of the command to, Smile!
Heppy! Relonikiv squeaked, "Thmi - gasp! - mile!" Was it that easy? Bazi studied her lisping little shrink with squint-y eyes, wondering what the 'adult' version of his advice would be. Get over it, perhaps? Or.. seize your own happiness? Yes, that sounded profound. Just do it! A grin twitched her cheeks, hooked in, and pulled her lips wide over closed teeth in a broad, wolfish smile. Sound advice from someone that had barely experienced a single fractional percent of - well, anything.
"You're very smart, Kiv. You know that? You'd better stay this smart forever, so I've got someone around to tell me what's what. OK?" Bazi extended a paw to pat the pup's narrow rump.
Bazi finally smiled and Relonikiv gave a happy bark, his own grin broadening and his tail still whirling. "Heppy Both!" he declared, pushing off her to stand on all fours again but still looking up at her. She praised him and he glowed. He only understood a third of the words, yet the sentiment was pretty clear.
"O-kay," he replied, enunciating it clearly. "Me thmart?" he questioned almost bashfully. He was pretty sure he understood what it meant and that it was a good thing. "Thmart, thmart, thmart!" That word was fun to say, especially over and over and over.
It was the shortest psychiatric session in the history of Wolf - and possibly the most successful; wolf A tells wolf B to stop moping around, she agrees, gets her shit together, and everyone moves on to more important stuff.
Like failing to pronounce 's'. Bazi had never noticed it before, but she did now, twisting her head to look at Relonikiv whilst he bounced and called himself thmart. He certainly didn't sound it, Bazi thought, but had the good grace not to tell him that (MATURITY). Perhaps his tongue was too big for his mouth, or maybe there was something wrong with his ears? No.. he certainly had no difficulty eating, and always came when summoned. Maybe it was just this particular word. Bazi experimented. "Hey, Kiv.. do you know what a snake is? A sssssnake. You gotta know that if you want to become even more smart. Super-smart, in fact." Whatever Relonikiv chose to copy, there was a high chance it would have a lot of 's' in it.
Bazi's voice arrested him and he considered her question before answering, "Nuh... no." He heard the difference himself but, then, he had trouble with lots of words aside from those he lisped. Clear speech was still a few weeks off for him. He certainly wasn't worried about it.
His heart gave a flutter when he realized that not knowing about snakes apparently compromised his intelligence—or at least, that's how he understood Bazi's statement. "No... thmart?" he asked in a sad voice, his ears pressing downward and his smile vanishing. He wasn't one for melodrama, so he didn't cry or get angry. He was just disappointed.
...but optimistic too! "What a thnake?" he questioned, perking up a bit again. If he learned, then he would be smart again. He felt sure of it!
Bazi's ears wilted a little. There was definitely something wrong with Relonikiv's mouth. Thmart, thnake. There wasn't a single clearly pronounced 's' to be had. It didn't seem to bother him, though, and even though his step-mother had more or less ripped the gift of a compliment away from him within moments of dispensing it, he lingered, eager to become better. It was heart-meltingly adorable, and enough to distract from Bazi from worrying about what would become of her lisping runt.
"OK, when you know what a snake is, you'll be the smartest pup in the whole pack," she assured him, and reached out to trace a fat, meandering line in the dirt. "A snake is an animal. It's long, fat - like a huge worm.. and they can be very dangerous. OK? Don't touch - if you're smart, you go find Scimitar, or me, or another adult. Never touch snakes. They can be black, or red, or white.. they're all very bad. Since you're the only one I've told, you've got to protect your brothers and sisters with your smarts."
He listened carefully as Bazi explained what a snake was, then told him what he should do if he ever saw one. She charged him with the responsibility of keeping his siblings safe from this threatening creature. Relonikiv swallowed. He wasn't the strongest or bravest of the bunch; he felt felt shy about being responsible for his brothers' and sister's safety. But it seemed he would hold the title of smartest. He nodded his head, feeling the weight and the honor of being tasked with such.
"O-kay. Me thmart. Me thafe," he promised with a bob of his little head, unaware that his speech impediment was chafing his aunt's pale ears and that there was a distinct chance his lips might not make it into adulthood. "Bad thnake!" he added for good measure, reaching out and striking her sketch with an off-white paw to show her he meant business.
Relonikiv accepted this heavy burden of information like a champ. Whap! went his tiny paw, striking Bazi's hastily squiggled snake dead centre - a real snake would have relieved the whelp of more than his lips in retaliation, but this 2D version suffered instant death, cloven in twain by four M&M-sized totsies. Remember not to touch actual snakes, though, Bazi wanted to warn him, but decided to give the boy the benefit of the doubt: she had given him the information, and he was big enough to store and remember it. A lisp was not necessarily a sign of extreme retardation. For a pup his age, Relonikiv was both bright and active - the rest would come.
"Come on, then," she instructed him, wiping the remainder of her doodle with a diagonal swipe and rising to all fours. "Let's go find someone else that's sad so you can cheer them up. Auntie Kaskara loves hearing smart stuff."
Bazi rose then, inviting him to accompany her on a jaunt to help cheer up their fellow pack members. "O-kay!" he chirped agreeably. Evidently, it was his favorite word of the day. "Go, go! Let'th go!" He couldn't remember who Kaskara was off the top of his head, though it didn't much matter to him. He was eager to follow Aunt Bazi wherever she led, spreading good cheer and smiles.