this cool but sunny morning, he found himself alone with his thoughts, walking alongside the stream that flowed into the catfish pond. he was to travel with dawn and pema soon, but neither woman had made the call yet to leave, so he lingered here for now, trying to find constructive things to do.

he looked down into the water, looking at the fleeting forms of fishes big and small. despite being a child of the coast, aditya had never been a good fisher. only once or twice had he managed to catch the little buggers; he preferred the game on land, or at least the seabirds on the cliffs. he did have good balance on those rocks, despite falling off that one fateful time. . .

but how did you even go about snaring one of these skinny things? the ocean fish were much larger, it seemed. perhaps catfish pond held better specimens.

"oh, what the hell," aditya muttered, and scooped a large paw into the water as he saw one of them wiggle by. he was rewarded not with a tasty treat but instead a splash of water directly to his face, ice cold. sputtering, he took a couple steps back, laughing despite the failure.

a voice disturbed him as he was shaking water from his muzzle, and he opened his eyes, the source of the noise slowly coming into his vision. a wolf he hadn't encountered before--though she must be morningside, if she were here. and she smelt of grayday and dawn, so she must be in the pack's good graces as well.

aditya stood silently, watching her expertly snag a fish from the water's depths, and smiled. "i grew up on the coast, too," he replied, his voice rueful. "didn't get much fishing in there, though. preferred the land animals."

he sighed in remembrance. "there was this one herd of deer near the giant sequoias whose numbers never seemed to dwindle. i feasted well when i was in the area." stopping his babbling for a moment, he took another look at the woman. she was very unique, cream-colored with a ginger ruff and tail. her golden-brown eyes had a sparkle that he quite liked.

"my name is aditya, but call me 'adi,'" he introduced himself, giving a small nod to her, not unlike a respectful bow. "your face is new to me. i haven't yet met everyone here."

before he could respond to catori--'cat,' rather--another wolf appeared, his expression friendly. aditya looked him over with curiosity. he looked an awfully lot like grayday, and dawn, for that matter, which meant that this must be the son his alpha had mentioned before. he gave him a jovial smile and a wag of his tail.

"you must be sunny!" he greeted. "the family resemblance is strong. i'm aditya, but everyone can call me 'adi.' pleased to meet both of you," aditya added, turning his head toward catori.

he snapped his gaze back down to the water, where the fish that had been scared away by cat's catch were slowly starting to come back round, their silvery bulging eyes wary--well, as wary as a fish could look, anyway. "you're from the sea," he muttered to catori, more of a statement than a responsive question. "north or south?"

then in puzzlement, he looked back up, turning his eyes to sunny. "wait a minute. if you are sunny--which you must be, you look so like your father--what brings you here? grayday mentioned you were part of another pack." if the young man was truly here to stay, then it was a hell of a reunion for the leader and his kids.

adi raised an eyebrow as he noticed sunny staring transfixed at cat but said nothing, stifling a wry smile instead. the boy was young, and catori very pretty, if a bit too old for him. (then again, he thought, dawn was more than two years his junior and there seemed to be no problem. . .he hoped.) he wondered briefly whether grayday himself had eyes for this woman; breeding season was approaching fast, and the alpha unattached.

sunny was back to stay, it looked like. and for good reason, too. adi hadn't had yet the pleasure of meeting grayday's youngest litter, but he assumed the presence of both their older siblings would certainly bolster their spirits. he hadn't had any brothers or sisters and often wished he had. for company, if nothing else.

he nodded at sunny and turned back to catori, listening to her explain her roots.

"another northerner," he said ruefully, though grinning at her even as he shook his head in feigned disappointment. "eh, well, you'll deal with the winter cold a lot better than i will." and even if she did not, the pretty girl would certainly have some guy who she could curl up next to during the nights.

adi couldn't help but smile ruefully at sunny's misfortune, though he had the presence of mind not to laugh: the boy looked quite embarrassed, after all. instead, he sat and watched as cat showed him the ways of shellfish hunting and harvesting.

he had encountered the creatures before, down by the southern coast. been pinched a couple of times. had tried the meat, too, though he hadn't cared for it--too sweet. but they certainly were interesting animals, and catori at least knew how to deal with them.

he gave her a polite smile but declined, shaking his head and giving voice to the thoughts that had come to mind before. "i've tried it. not my thing," he murmured, nudging it over to sunny. "i'd take the sea fish over shellfish, salty as they are."

aditya nodded at her suggestion, wagging his tail in response. "perhaps we could take this guy back for the kids to eat. . .or, just as likely, play with," he said, pointing his nose at the kill. he smiled. "pema showed me where the caches are. i can lead the way, if you're not sure."

with a bowed head in respect toward the cream-pelted woman, he began to pad off, looking over his shoulder at sunny and catori to follow.