Stone Circle Brrr!

"Brr," Nikai mumbled as he set foot in the snow, and then looked back after taking a few steps, intrigued by his own prints. "Look, Lette," he called out towards his mother, who he was sure wasn't following far behind. He had adopted his sister's nickname for her (Steady was still called Staddy, mostly because at first he hadn't been able to pronounce the tones very well and now that was just what he thought his father's name was).

He glanced back at the den, hoping to find his mother come from it soon, and then pushed his nose into the snow. He shoved it forward, accumulating snow on the tip of his nose while he continued to "brrrrr!" Because, cold!

for @Valette

Valette was quick to follow the dark colored pup outside, especially in this weather. She smiled seeing how he was noticing his own footsteps. Valette placed her paw next to him and lifted it. "I have one too!," she spoke excitedly. "They are called footprints," she explained in addition. Hers were rather larger but she had the feeling that Nikai was probably going to out grow her. Valette was rather average for a female in height and length so it wouldn't be much of a challenge to be bigger than her.

Valette sat down and watched him play. She would need to keep an eye on him because she didn't want him to be too cold. It could be dangerous. The female hoped that the snow would only be temporarily and not stay until the end of winter. She would be too worried about the pups not having a good winter jacket. Though perhaps, a crisp day like this was better than stormy autumn days. "It is cold, isn't it? Let me know when you are too cold okay?"

"Oh!" Nikai exclaimed as Valette pointed out that she had pawprints, too. Nikai looked between the prints and eventually deduced: "More big!" As if to prove his own point, Nikai placed his paw over the print that Valette had left, and he murmured a soft-spoken "yas" to himself as though he was happy to conclude his point was correct.

Then he continued shoving his nose through the snow while making the brr-sound, seemingly unaffected by Valette's worries. He didn't think that it would be much of a problem, and anyway, he had his mother watching over. "Brr-rr-rr!" he cheerfully deduced, and then he looked up at Valette with a goofy grin on his face and a pile of snow on top of the bridge of his muzzle. "Look Lette!" he exclaimed again, "Is snow hill!"

Valette chuckled at the pup how he was already so smart to know that her paw was bigger and could even name it. She smiled softly. "But soon you will be just as big as me or even bigger!," she grinned. The female sat down and watched how the pup continued to make a hill of snow with his nose. It was a cute sight to be seen.

The female decided to help him and started to push her muzzle through the snow and push it towards his hill. That reminded her of something! "Nikai! I know something. Come. Fun!," she spoke to him with excitement. Her tail wagging. She had an excellent idea! She even grew excited from it.

The stone circle was on a bit of a hill, as it looked down over the meadows. It was a perfect hill for sledding and if there was one thing her mother told her about it was how she would sled down. It was only a short walk from the den. As she reached the stones she laid down on the edge. "Okay are you ready for something super fun?," she asked.

"Lie down between my front paws, Nikai," she instructed. Valette herself had her hind legs stretched out behind her, and with Nikai laying down between her stretched frontpaws it he would be safe from slipping away. "Okay, are you ready?"

It was hard for Nikai to realise that he would be bigger than Valette one day; right now it felt like he was always going to be like this, as he had no recollection of being even tinier. Young as he was, he very muchly lived in the here and now, with little clear knowledge of time and age. "Even bigger," he whispered under his breath to himself as he looked at the double footprints, mesmerised by the thought of growing super big.

Soon he grew distracted from Valette's excited words. Head turned back towards her, tilted in inquiry, one ear flopped down comically. Excitement stirred as he followed Valette, who'd promised 'fun'! "Fun!" Nikai mimicked happily and he bounced after Valette as he was lead somewhere else, following her every step.

When Valette asked if he was ready for something super fun, Nikai cheerfully answered: "Reddy!" And he then ran a few small circles in uncontained excitement. Upon Valette's instructions Nikai moved over to her chest and lay down in front of her, then looked up at her with tilted head. "Eddy what for?" he asked, not sure what they were doing; but he was sure it would be fun.

Valette was ready but had to wait for Nikai to run around before he settled. When he did Valette stayed mysteriously silent. She pushed with her hind legs until they were going downhill and going faster and faster. Valette started laughing and howled with how much fun she was having. Nikai was not able to slip away much seeing he was between her front paws.

The slope slowly leveled but they still traveled, sledding down further. Valette loved it and once they had slowed down she jumped to her feet. "Wasn't that fun?," she grinned. Her tail wagged excitedly and she shook the snow out of her fur. "Let's go again!," she let out excitedly and instantly wanted to run to the top again, though she decided to wait on Nikai and let him go first. Perhaps mostly to see if he really liked this or not.

"Eddy for what, Lette?" Nikai repeated when Valette didn't answer, thinking that she might not have heard him properly.

But before an answer came a sudden rush of so many feelings overcame him as they skidded down the mountain. "Wohhhhowowow!" he called out while he slid along, forced down by Valette's body. It was pretty scary, because he felt like he might get crushed or slide too far or too fast. But it was a thrill at the same time, like nothing he had ever felt before.

When they reached the bottom of the hill Nikai slid a bit further from Valette's paws. When he had come to a standstill he looked back at Valette. There was a short moment in which he seemed to decide whether the sledding game was fun or not.

Even before she could ask him to go again, Nikai jumped to his feet and started to bounce around Valette excitedly shouting, "Agin! Agin!"

Valette let out a 'whoooo' too when they were traveling down the hill. Valette loved to see that Nikai was enjoying it too. Soon they would be too big for this and had to slide themselves. Luckily Nikai loved it and wanted to go again. "Let's go then!," she grinned and started to run up the hill, making sure that the pup didn't stay too far behind.

She lied down between the stones and let Nikai sit between her front paws again. Maybe next time she would let him go by himself if he wanted that. "Ready?," she asked once more. Valette loved this, one of the good memories she had of her mother and what she taught her. To at least have fun in life. So now she could show that to Nikai and perhaps soon Keoni too

When the pup was ready the girl pushed with her hind legs again and they slid down the hill with the same fast pace as the previous time.

When Valette said they could go again, Nikai quickly followed her up the hill. When she positioned herself ready to slide down again, he quickly moved between her front legs, almost as if he was afraid that she would go without him if he wasn't fast enough.

"Eddy!" came Nikai's enthused response and he tightly closed his eyes waiting for Valette to go for it. When she did though he opened his eyes, screaming as he went down the hill because it was still scary as well as exciting to do.

Valette laughed as they went down. It was so much fun to do. When they arrived at the bottom of the hill she got to her feet and gave herself a good shake. The ground was cold to her her belly and she didn't want to get a cold herself. "Lets go check on your sister yes? We can go sledding another time. The snow will probably stay all winter," she assured the pup. She was careful not to let the two youngsters get a cold. She wanted them both to be healthy and especially this season it was notorious for illnesses.

Nikai quickly got to his feet again and was ready to commence calling for another round when Valette suggested they go look for Keoni instead. The only thing that could temper his excitement was thinking of his sister so with a docile nod he agreed. " 'Kay Lette," he agreed, and he started heading back towards the den. On his way back he found a stick which he carefully un-snowed and then picked up. To Valette he shared: "For Keenie." And then he started back towards the den with the stick-gift to check on his sister.

Valette was glad that the pup wasn't too difficult to coach him along. In fact, now she thought of it the female couldn't even remember when the young male ever protested any of her commands. He was a very easy going kid. She realized. The female smiled at the other when he was even more sweet natured as she thought. "That is a great gift, Nikai!," she praised and smiled at him. "You are a good big brother for Keoni," she added, because he was. If they didn't have each other to grow up with Valette had a feeling this was way tougher.

Nikai's tail wagged as Valette praised him and he continued on towards the den. As he walked there, occasionally he had to stop to readjust the stick in his mouth. One time, he got distracted and started to play with the stick himself, only to realise that it was Keoni's stick and he had yet to bring it to her so they could play with it together. So he walked on through the snow so he could give the stick to Keoni so they could play with it together and then cuddle up and fall asleep, tired and satisfied from a day of fun.

good place for a fade? :)