At nearly four weeks of age Burdock had ceased to look like mishapen, black and furry potato, but more like a... well, tall, proud, fierce and hungry wolf still trapped inside the shape of potato. But with legs. And a stubby and short tail. And... ears that heard everything and understood absolutely nothing. Black bead-like eyes with a bluish tint and a hint of something devillish about them.

So - this fine specimen of a beast-to-be was sitting at the mouth of the den one early morning, while the rest of his family was sound asleep. He looked around both curious and with a look of someone, who knew and owned everything.

Burdock was so consumed by his surroundings that he did not hear or notice his mother waking and watching him attentively. Since sight was a newly acquired skill, he needed time to practice with it a bit. Like - learn to focus on certain objects, get used to the color palette and catch the sight of movement. What surprised and amazed him at the same time was the sheer size of the world around him. It was huge and he was very much aware of his own smallness in it. Not for a second, however, did this realization intimidate him. Not the least. Rather... the world welcomed him and Burdock felt as an integral part of it right away. 

A small smile lit up his features, he got to his feet, let out a cheerful yip and off he went in the huge outside. Add a nice music track to it as well. 

Burdock continued to chug right along, puffing and huffing like a tiny little train. By now he had mastered walking in a near perfect straight line, watching the ground intently. Then all of a sudden the horizontal plane ended and he was nose to - well - nose with, what was a tree trunk, but appeared like a huge, brown wall to him.

Huh! 

He stopped, pondered, then it finally occurred to him to look up first. For a moment there it seemed as if he was seriously pondering to simply ignore the rules of gravity and charge upwards (and - who knows - the combination of Arric's and Arlette's genes might have achieved just that). Then he turned to look left first, then right and then he a lightbulb finally lit above his head. He took a turn and continued his trajectory. 

Needless to say that he was still so focussed on the journey that he was completely oblivious of his mother's watchful gaze in the vicinity. 

Burdock peered around the tree curiously and learned that the world continued even beyond there. This was a very interesting discovery, which needed to be explored further. Without hesitation he was on the move again, trying to find balance between watching, what was going on beneath his feet and keeping an eye on, what awaited him on the path forward. Not any easy task, if you have just learned, how to use your legs properly. 

Despite this he made a conisderable progress up until he came face-to-feet (?) with a set of white paws. He paused, brow furrowed, pondered and then looked up. Somewhere wa-a-a-a-y above (from his viewpoint Arlette's head was somewhere, where the sky began) stood mom. Burdock grinned at her and wagged his tail.

Burdock may have been too little to understand the spoken language, but he was pretty good at reading the intonation of his mom's voice. He could easily tell apart a very definite "NO" from a "Come on" - the nuances inbetween were a little obscure for him at the moment, but did not matter that much at this particular age anyway. 

So, in response to Valette's inquiry, the little guy just grinned even more and wagged his tail happily, waiting for his mom to take the initiative. 

Yeah, even this display of play-bow was a bit too complex for Burdock to understand. Mainly because his field of vision could not fit in the whole image of Arlette. He could either focus on her rear and tail or look at her face or see her paws. Rather than copying her, his previously lovely and charming grin turned into one of a little devil's. With a battle-yip he pounced at Arlette's face. A bold move from a guy, who was the size of his mom's head. 

Burdock was at an age, when he did not have much forethought. Quite the contrary - he was impulsive, quick to act and - lo and behold - think about the consequences later. Or not at all, because he was equally incapable of linking together, how his actions impacted the results. So - he felt a bit taken aback, when he lost the footing and was suddenly looking at the world from a different angle, all the while his tiny legs and body squirmed to get back to the usual position. On the tenth attempt he managed, looked around, feeling very confused for a bit and then spotted his mom once again. 

Once the figurative lightbulb lit above his head he yelled out happily and bounded towards her. With no particular plan in mind.

Burdock engaged in the game, completely unaware that he was being tricked. He followed his mom's gentle lead and by the time they reached the den he felt too tired to protest being taken back in to the rest of his siblings. He protested weakly, when his mom began to wash him, but that was all.