His range was expanding, and he was starting to want to test these limits to help find his place among it now that he had begun to grow into a lot more than just a mess of legs and puppy teeth. Mama had recently taken him further down the mountain than ever before, and as bizarre as the lower slopes felt to him during the very brief time there--being pretty used to the close company of the clouds--it had riled a bit of a new curiosity in him once he had regrouped from the unknown. For now, he was still law abiding enough to not press it too fiercely just yet and a little hesitant about the mystery of the below, but he sensed that one day, he'd feel like more.

But.. not yet. Today was certainly not that day, and he was kind of feeling broody about it out of nowhere. The sterling boy was lurking south of the rendezvous for now, waiting for something to happen anxiously. He'd like another go at getting to tagalong on one of these almost-patrols, but both parents  had seemed pretty busy lately, or at the very least, preoccupied with something that wasn't always mainly him and his sisters for once. He wasn't quite used to that, either, so flicked his tail and gave a little huff; they probably wouldn't be back up here until closer to evening, and since they were the Law, his best chance to get to go was with them.. Without a better plan yet, he hunkered down into a strange, almost-stalking trot and set out through a small swatch of woods, hoping he could find something to direct his energy on soon.

He sniffed and he listened and he looked around, but most of all he skulked along down a well-traveled pathway. A 'hey!' calling out to him jarred him clear out of any former preoccupation, and the boy shot his head right up to see what was going on. His path was heading right for her and he made no moves to change this, so jogged up to her with big eyes. While not typically one of his go-to adults to harass with a thousand questions, she did suit his need for something to stay busy with.

"Well..." he answered, and drew in an exaggerated breath. "Kinda," Jarilo explained, swinging his nose this way and that in a really vague sort of gesture. "I'm practicing so I can be strong for the good adventures," he detailed with a huff, because this seemed to be a hurdle he faced at times when chasing after his parents and sisters sometimes--a stamina that waned too soon, lacking stealth skills (citing an awkward, growing body still for that one though), or just a general unease when it came to certain things he hadn't faced much of so far. He just had to get over them and get good, because he had a long way to go before he could really run with his packmates and keep up. ".. Like the ones that get to go way down the mountain, too," Jarilo said, ears wiggling as he peeked off that way then--the way he'd been hoping to head in eventually, before returning to eyeball Wraen hopefully again.

The green-eyed boy nodded. "Yes," he stressed, trying for a serious face then. Of course she had to understand what he meant.. although in an instant later, it occurred to him that she might know even grander adventures, in a scope past what he could imagine--so maybe just so simple was far from anything she'd call a good adventure. He was still reeling at the thought of anything south of a certain elevation on this mountain, let alone anything beyond.

When she offered going down, he stiffened all up, it was that unexpected but he was bright enough to roll with it. His boundaries, expanding as they were, weren't well as defined anymore. Usually when it came to new things, the requirements meant a capable adult. Usually that was his immediate family, the ones he did everything with all the time, although not always. Within certain limits and with certain folk, he was allowed, he decided. No one had told him otherwise yet.. and she had to fit this criteria for the who part of it, so long as she was willing. "Well. Pretty much. I've gone down a little with Mama and Hydra and.." Jarilo punctuated with a really hopeful look to stress the point, all the while hoping that her offer wouldn't go away just because of his glaringly newbie status. "Mama says if I'm good and pay attention and get strong, I can go more.." he added for good measure, because this would be really good exposure to practice all of that, if he said so himself.

She approved. Even with him being quite open about his inexperience and the hazy lines of approval; what mattered was that she had approved. Yes..! He was pleased, and his whole posture seemed to radiate this as he wiggled a bit. It was an important first step forward, so he wasn't even in a spot to complain about saving the goods for later. He'd not considered them even an option right now.

This time, and the more he heard about what there would be to see, the less contained the enthusiasm could be. The boy yipped a quick "Yes!" then recollected halfway a second after. Still, his eyes shone bright at her, eager with a tail wave. "Okay okay.." he bobbed his head and looked at her, his brand new adventure guide, then away towards whatever could await. Where to begin? "Which way? Tell me about goblins??"

Dutifully, and wearing his best look of concentration, he followed her lead to where she'd take him like it was his newest important task. Essentially, it was, and he was determined to soak it all up. It was enough to do with seeing everything there was to see, he had to learn about goblins too. Her mentions of them were so nonchalant, and it was the first he was hearing about them, so he couldn't tell how he felt about that yet. Mentioning them as hairless bears felt vaguely concerning.. since although he had never seen a bear, he knew enough through his family (with a history of that they were dangerous, bad news. "No.. Don't think so but I didn't know about them until now," he peered straight ahead, face scrunching. He wouldn't miss a naked bear, surely he'd remember! But why hadn't he been forewarned about goblins? Maybe they were not an issue.. maybe they were special, or uncommon, or just not a problem.. "How'd.. you get to know him like that?? Are they dangerous if they're like bears?"

Visibly relieved by this revelation that they were small and kept to their own, he let out a big sigh. "Oh. Maybe that's why I never heard about them," he said as he shook his head, and the rest of her answer seemed almost vaguely familiar in concept. He had already come to understand the importance of training a mind (and body to match) towards a greater power thanks to it being Mama's answer more than once. This was, evidently, one of those sorts of things too.

That, and some piece of him was halfway comforted by her telling him that she was not nearly as versed as her mother in all of this. Although compared to him, she still had to be practically a master, so her mother was on another level all of her own to the green-eyed boy. It was easy for him to imagine her (by nature of being mother alone even) as being supremely skilled if Wraen was not even at her half yet. "Okay so... I think that makes sense.." he said with his ears tucking back thoughtfully, while very obviously still sorting through this as he followed dutifully at her heels. "I could still train to see them too, right? How does that work? Was she born with it?" he asked, rapid-fire, to let her answer whatever she wanted, or didn't.

He blinked, all ears still. Seeing ghosts.. he couldn't decide if he was more wary or curious of the notion. "Okay, weird. Are there lots of ghosts to see for those who can see, do you know?" he asked, maybe a bit hopeful that such information had trickled back to her from those ghost-seers. But that was a little off topic.

She had him veering back on track better with the hope that they could try (to which his tail wagged merrily), then her next question. "Me? No.." his ears slid back a notch, familiar with the notion because his sister had brought it into his life but it had never really concerned him much--like many things. Maybe he'd heard something about it from his dad, too, so he knew what it meant and how he had never seen one since they were imaginary and all. "Vela has.. but not me." Jarilo detailed to let her know it was in the family anyway, even if he hadn't originally seen the appeal when it had just been like that from her. A part of him now wanted to backtrack that thought if it was some aspect of coming closer to seeing the unusual. Now it suddenly seemed much more useful instead of just being another thing his sister was into that he didn't understand entirely.. and yet, it was another matter he'd failed to pick up on any sooner than this.

He had never put a lot of thought into what Vela's imaginary friends were about, but neither had he ever been particularly invested in what his littermates got up to specifically. His interests were usually pretty different from theirs, with more distance spanning as he started to rove more, so there wasn't always that much overlap between the boy and his pale-coated sisters at this point in their lives.

But still, Wraen assured him that it was fine and went on to detail very solidly why. He tried to not let it sting just a little bit, but he couldn't really argue with any of that. "Yeah, you're right.." he said, because it was true; he had plenty of others here in the flesh to pester between his family and pack mates, so there was no shortage of peculiar individuals for him to interact with. He didn't need to dream up his own. "Well I'll figure it out. I just wanna get good.. at all sorts of things and know lots about it, especially since I want to help guard with everyone else," he justified. This even included watching out for goblins and other seemingly benevolent spooks. He couldn't just ignore them..!

His ears fanned out. Maybe she was right. He'd never thought about it--what he was at heart. He just wanted to do the things his family did since he looked up to them so easily. There was also the obvious choice of chasing the stars like other individuals in their midst. But, when it really came down to it, the grayscale boy just like the physical motion of it all more since it was something he could always do plenty of.. well, once he expanded his horizons properly, and all that good stuff.

So when Wraen suggested a game to practice, he wasn't going to object. He always was getting told he needed more of that if he wanted to be any good at anything. "Okay!" he declared readily and tapped his toes.

He tilted his head, wide-eyed and watching, as she seemed to get things in order. He trusted her to brew up something--she seemed to be really good at it, so he, all impressionable and too eager to soak up everything, was along for anything she'd suggest.

His sights followed the branch, all zeroed into attention after her exclamation. A dragon, though! Jarilo woofed lowly and whipped his tail. "Nope! Got it!" He sprang back with smirk smearing across his face. Keep-away with a twist, and he was most certainly here for this sort of romp.

The brave hero puffed his coat up and barked a few taunts at the dragon to get his reaction. Although he glanced to the treasure definitely more than once, he had to find out--what kind of dragon was he dealing with? When the time was right, he valiantly sprang. Jarilo knew he was tenacious, and with a goal in mind, he was very keen to lock on. Imagining a dragon, though terrifying, proved a worthy adversary indeed!