Although Maera had no real knowledge of their upcoming journey or of the dangers they would soon have to endure withouth the shield of the creek in front of them, she had picked up on the unusual behaviour of her mother and father. Her fleeting attention span had percieved the tension clinging off their fur and bottling up as dark shadows under their eyes as they came home ; and she had also heard one or two mournful sighs come from their chest.

It was not enough to worry her, since she often forgot about it as a new game began, but she was aware of it. Just like she was becoming more aware of the difficulty of speaking. While she had added a few words to her vocabulary, pronunciation continued to be a problem.

That afternoon the lead vocalist of the Sveijarn pups lounged at the center of the den that would soon cease to be their home. She had been busily licking her paws and toes, ever since her ant-accident a light sense of itchiness had been coming and going. She stroked the tip of her fingers with her pink and viper-like tongue until a far more interesting thing tickled her nostrils.

She rose instantly, recognizing the scent of another wolf outside her doorstep. Then with her little tail waving behind her like a flag she padded towards the entrance.
AHA!
It was him! It was the guy she had met sometime before with Larus.

"ELLOOOOOO", she shouted as her butt wiggled wildly in the air.

Oh right, he was the guy that didn't like shouting.
Oops

Instead of recieving a tired sigh or a low scold from the silver male, Maera was greeted with a kiss. She wagged her little tail as he planted his tongue on the top of her head, even if she usually didn't like to be kissed she didn't question his motives, a wet and slimy kiss was better than a reprimand.

After the greeting was over and the male proceeded to sit and sigh, Maera realized that the two of them were not yet familiar with each other's names. This made the little fire-born girl stand up abruptly and jump on his unnamed friend with her all her force --which wasn't enough to even tickle him. Her paws crashed against his strong legs and her little tongue flickered out of her mouth furiously.

"MAE! I Mae!!" she shouted while trying to climb up his legs, then she stopped hastily and searched his eyes with her own, "Whose you? she demanded while trying to hold her balance while she leaned against his massive body.

Her round little eyes focused on his face as he gave away his name, she appreciated the fact that he tried to spell it out for her, she didn't have the best pronunciation but talking was something she enjoyed. The young girl stretched her toes and her back to try to get a better grip on the man's leg.

"Shaaa-doh", she repeated in her own way, wagging her tail wildly at the excitement of having a new friend. She wondered what Val and Jokull would think of that!! While her older brother had claimed the peppered male, Gali as his own, the sisters had both befriended the pack's lovely Alpha Bazi. Now she had Shadow all to herself --well Larus had met him too but he wasn't there now.

When he continued to edge her on, she took little jumps and tried digging her claws into his skin; which couldn't have felt too pleasant, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't climb the ashen mountain that called itself Shadow.

Another feeble attempt to escalate his musclular legs was given by the pup, she pressed the tip of her toes against his skin and the tiny claws treatened to puncture his flesh. Though her behaviour quickly got a response from the ashen male, he grabbed her by the scruff and made her fly over the earth, when she was dropped next to him she gave a delighter squeal as a thank you.

He spoke to her again, this time however she could grasp the meaning of te majority of those words. It was crazy to think that only two months ago or so the little girl standing next to him couldn't differenciate between one sound or the other.
His question was a strange one, since technically he had been the one to come over to the den, she had simply walked out when his familiar scent reached her nose. She didn't have the answer to that question so she simply wagged her tail and blinked up at him, using her adorableness as an answer.

His other question however was a lot more exciting. It was usually her job t ask Jokull what the curriculum for the day would be, but here was Shadow a full grown wolf asking the babe to take charge.She grinned enthusiastically and raised herself to her hind paws to later smasm her hands against the soft dirt beneath them.

"TAAG! HIDE 'EEK! RESTLEE!" she hollered not being able to decide one game to play, he had asked what she wanted and she had responded, but whether they'd have time for it all was still questionable.

If you asked Maera it was rather unfair for her to be the carrier of it in the first round. She had proposed the game so in her mind it only made sense she was the one being chased not the one chasing him. Everyone knew it was better to be the chasee that the chaser. Duh! Still she knew that eventually no matter who started, each of them would have to alternate roles.

The best thing she could do besided moaning in complain was to catch him fast so that her turn to run from him would arrive. With this reasoning she was sure she'd be able to get her way, but the only thing she forgot to consider was that Shadow being 100x times larger than her would be almost near impossible to catch.

What he considered to be an average-sized step for the babe was like three extremely long lunges. She ran after the silver Outrider, her tongue already hanging limp from her mouth.

While the male struggled to set his thoughts straight, the girl was having trouble keeping her oversized paws from tangling with one another. Even if she had improved her walking skills considerably there were still times her legs simply seemed to get in her way, and she'd be literally tripping over her own paws. This was extremely annoying to the fire kissed babe who was truthfully getting tired of eating dirt everytime she fell on her face.

When the male side stepped away from her so effortlessly Maera's brow wrinkled and her lip curled into a rather cute attempt of a snarl. "Shaw-dohhhhh" she barked while trying to speed up her pace.

Chasing the male around was getting boring.She kept running though because she couldn't bear the thought of loosing the game so quickly, even if her little muscles felt strained and she was beggining to choke over her own tongue she wennt on.

She might not be the most energetic one of the quartet but she was definitely a good candidate for the prize of most stubborn. Suddenly with a last rush of energy and a bit of impulse from her legs she collided with the man's foot.

For a couple of seconds the girl stood quietly at the base of his toes not realizing she had accomplished her mission. Then she jerked her body away, as she felt the sudden urge to keep her status and the chasee for as long as possible.

"I CAN! NOT YOU!" she yelled as she ran away,a renewed wave of energy flowing through her veins.

Her oversized clown feet tore up the ground as she kept galloping rather ungraciously through the grass and surrounding gardens of the Sveijarn's den --or former den. She squealed as she advanced, feeling thrilled she had not yet been caught, for a dude with such long legs and great size he was a pretty bad chaser. She laughed again, oblivious to the deep thoughts that their little game had arised in the ashen male.

The girl looked like a furious red train that pushed past the green blades of grass, launching bubbles of laughter instead of smoke. Suddenly right when she thought she had flown out of the male's reach one of her paw failed to launch her forward and instead sent the fiery babe in to a terrible crash and burn.

Her little bum wiggled in the air before she collided against the soft patch of grass that laid in the surrounding area. She fell head first and sorta rolled over her back as a result of the momentum gained by her speed.Shocked to have falled the girl went limp and rolled around some more.

An eerie silence followed her strepitous collision but instead of shedding a tear, Maera exploded into an unexplainable fit of laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA", she hollered until there was no more air in her lungs to keep up her screams.

Pieces of grass and dirt stuck to her fur as she rolled on her back and laid on her belly, with her legs spread out in front and behind her. Her little lungs struggled to keep up with the girl's erratic breathing and to recover from the sudden eruption of giggles. She opened her mouth and allowed her pink tongue to slide out like a slimy slug.

She glanced up at the man who showed no cornern for her fall, she was alright anyways. The ashen male made a question and as soon as she heard it the girl bobbed her head up and down -- then realizing that if she admitted to being tired their playdate could be cut short she squeaked in protest and tried to undo her previous affirmation."No not tired!" she squawked as she began to rise on her paws once more.

She did not appreciate his soft laugh and his assumption that she was indeed tired. She was, but she didn't need him to tell her that! She pursed her lips into a pout and lashed her little tail to the side, all while staring at the handsome ashen male. "NUH-UHHH!" she barked again trying to save their play-date from dying due to her tiredness.

But right then a very inconvenient urge to yawn took hold of her little body and slipped out her mouth, crumbling the opportunity for Shadow to believe her little lie. After she had yawn, she blinked up at the Outrider and waited patiently for a response.

She sighed, her cover had been blown and she knew it well, she had had this same feeling of defeat the first time she had lost a game of hide-and-seek. She lowered her head and flattened her ears against her skull she had hoped she would've at least got the chance to play another round. She walked towards his feet reluctantly, not even trying to voice her disagreement to his decision.

He was not only billion times larger but he was also telling the truth, her muscles did feel strained after the numerous pirhouetttes she had just performed. Plus the idea of cuddling with mommy was not one she would refuse. Her eyes trailed across the man's face as they began to go back to the den, she had already forgotten their lousy first encounter, the memories she'd take from him would be nothing but happy.

"Bye Sha-doh" she barked while brushing past his legs and diving for the den's entrance, without even knowing they would never have another play-date.