Piper was stretched out against the warmth of the sun. Her eyes searched the clouds in the sky, looking for shapes that she could recognize as being familiar. The great plumes of white that stretched out overhead were enough to almost lull her to sleep. Were it not for the rumbling in her stomach, she would have passed out in the heat and woken up panting some time later. She was starting to see prey animals in the clouds, and it was only heightening the hunger that she felt in her stomach.
 
With a squeaking yawn, the puppy rose to her paws and stretched her arms out in front of her, curling her tail at her rear. The breeze that whisked through the pack carried the promise of future rain from the overhead clouds. Piper stretched her neck out to sniff gently at the winds, tail wagging lightly at her rear. Another yawn escaped her mouth and she attempted to shake her coat to pull away the sleepiness.

There was a yip from behind her that rang in a familiar voice. Piper froze in her steps and she turned her head around to catch sight of the pale form of Marten. Her eyes danced with happiness as he ran toward her. Though she tried to refrain from growing too overly excited, the Redleaf girl found her rear end began to wiggle fiercely and her tail flagged at him. Marten was easily one of her favorite people to be around; he was so sweet and calm. It was surprising to her how different he seemed to be from the rambunctious Nunataq.
 
“Marty!” Her voice was showering in a kind of happiness as she turned to meet him. Piper lowered her torso to the ground and wagged her tail, flooded with joy at the chance to have some company on her excursion. “Come wit! Pie’s gon get food,” she explained to him with a determined nod of her head and a confident little smile. Piper was more of a socialite than anything, and she would always jump at the chance for companionship.

Piper’s brother seemed to accept their journey for what it was and agreed to go along without any persuasion on her part. She smiled at him and flagged her tail with a happy yip. Waiting until he had found himself beside her, Piper set out on their search. She was eager for an adventure that didn’t only take place right outside their family’s door. The Redleaf girl wanted to be washed with an exciting and harrowing tale that would surely shock her brother Lucas.
 
“No! Only Pie n Marty go. We’s big now, Marty… can go more,” she answered him with a determined bobbing of her head and a perfectly serious expression. Her eyes darted sharply to meet her brother and she wondered faintly if he would chicken out or would humor her. She knew where one of the wolves liked to drop off really tasty pieces of meat.

It was silly to have thought that Marten would have left her to adventure on her own. He was a good sport, after all. Piper enjoyed his eagerness almost as much as she enjoyed Lucas'. When the pale boy agreed, the Redleaf girl offered him a quick smile that stretched along her face. Her eyes seemed to come to life with the thrill of venturing out to find the tastiest food in the pack with her brother beside her. She was certain that nothing would have made her more happy than that.

His question took her by surprise for a second and she seemed to fidget as she thought of an answer that would satisfy him. “A hour,” she finally conjured with a confident nodding of her head. Piper had no idea how long an hour was, or that their adventure would even take that long to begin with, but she wanted to make sure that Marten was along for the ride. She was a ride or die kinda gal.

“Ya ma's gon be super happy. What's Marty favorite foods?” Piper then asked as she trotted away from the family den and toward the secret hole filled with treasure she had seen before.

That was a good answer. 

Some wild competitive spirit latched to her and caused her to contemplate her options for responses. Piper wanted desperately to provide him with a better answer than duck but she did not know what that could be. Lifting her nose into the air and brushing against his coat, the Redleaf girl thought hard before she managed a, ”I tink that turkeys are da best,” she afforded him with a confident bob of her head. 

Pleased with this willingness, Piper nodded her head and trotted off with Marten so that they could raid the caches of any potential morsels that could possibly resemble a turkey or a duck, or whatever it was that a turduck was. They roamed about and managed to find a few feathered creatures. Since Piper didn’t know the difference between a turkey and a pigeon, she assumed that they had struck gold. She could do no wrong! And in spite of her misguided thoughts, the Redleaf girl managed to bond well with Marten.