Moonspear between the bars

for @Yama! :)

It must be terrible for Yama, thought Charon idly, to have lost her twin so young. If he looked at the cerberus and how close they were to one another, it seemed strange for the Yams to be apart for so long. Well, in the incidental case that Yami was even still alive; Charon had no hopes for such miracles.

He sought out Yama that day for he'd spent little time with her lately; of course he had spent time with her, but often in the presence of her other siblings and often teaching things such as hunting, patrolling and the likes. He realised that he had little idea of who she was as a person, a thing that shamed him a little. Especially in the absence of two of her siblings from last year -- and how he had spent more time in the last month searching for them than chilling with Arcturus and Yama -- Charon decided to change that tidbit and so he searched round the rendezvous site, hoping to catch a trace of Yama there.

If she were to be entirely honest, both with herself and others, her heart did not ache as it should for her lost twin. Yama had often looked to her sister to understand how she was supposed to react in each situation, and she’d mixed their identities up several times months ago, but she’d not had the chance to develop a true, deep connection with her; with her focus being on just watching Yami, she hadn’t been able to find the time to simply exist with her, mimicking her every response.

In another life, perhaps she would spend less time fussing over silly things, and more time connecting with those she should hold the closest to her heart.

Yama had spent much of her time that day wandering—exploring would, perhaps, be a better word to describe her antics. With deep snow, there had come some intriguing formations, all of which caught her eye and made her take a closer look; really, there were just various mounds of snow that she’d taken a liking to after digging down into. Nevertheless, it had been time well spent and, by the time she’d returned to the rendezvous site, she was tired. She dragged her feet, the muscles in her forearms throbbing, and wanted nothing more than to curl up and take a nap—until she saw Charon. It was like day and night as her tired body was shocked back to life and her tail began wagging, the excitement that came with seeing him being her greatest source of energy.

“Papa!” she exclaimed, a touch of surprise to her voice—was he looking for somebody? “Hi... who’re you looking for?” She cocked her head to the side momentarily, curious and hoping to be able to help.

He perked his head when he saw Yama's approach at the rendezvous site and smiled at his daughter upon her greeting. Hey sweetie, he greeted back and Charon approached Yama to place a nuzzle on her forehead. I was looking for you. Do you want to do something together? Admittedly he was not too sure what sort of things interested Yama, but he knew kids, and he figured that she'd suggest something that she wanted to do. She looked tired and he wondered if she'd been doing anything interesting or noteworthy -- if anything happened -- but if she had, then surely she would tell him as well.

Yama leaned into her father as he nuzzled her, tail wagging all the while. She froze for a second, though, when he said he’d been looking for her. “For me...?” she asked quietly, wondering to herself. Had she done something? She picked her brain for anything that might not have necessarily been good, but came up with nothing—and she was then relieved when she caught the rest of his sentence. “Oh... sure!” was her next response, accompanied by the helicopter-like waving of her tail.

Usually, her siblings were there, too, but not today! She had his attention fully—which, as she thought further into it, might not be a good thing. What if she said or did something that she wasn’t supposed to? Biting her inner cheek, Yama just went for it and asked, “What’re we doing?” She was still learning to take initiative and control her encounters with others so, for now, she left the decisions all in his paws.

She seemed a little surprised at first, but ultimately agreed on the activity. Charon hadn't exactly thought ahead to the next step -- what to do -- so he was caught a little off guard when she asked what they were going to do. What do you usually do when you've got some time to kill? he asked, having to admit that he usually wasn't around for that. I figured we'd do something fun today instead of working on hunting or fighting training. Hopefully she had an idea, but otherwise he could probably come up with something quick.

What did she do when she was assigned no tasks? Well... that was a good question. She stared off into space for a moment as she thought about the question and recalled the memories from her time spent alone. What she found, however, was something that she didn’t believe her father would be too interested in, as it lacked an objective. She often did little more than wander and observe the sights but, ultimately, that wasn’t much. Frowning—or perhaps it was a pout—she gave a slow shake of her head and then shrugged, gaze averted.

“I don’t do much,” she decided. “Can we do something you like?” That’d make him happy, right? She hoped so.

It irked Charon that his daughter didn't come up with anything to do. Had this been his first litter, he might've voiced his disappointment, but over the years Charon had gotten patient with the 'softer' types of children in his litters. He'd lost Galaxy and it was perhaps the reminiscense of her that made him smile at Yama as she suggested they do something he wanted to do instead of answering his question and say kindly: Of course.

He just wanted his children to grow up strong and good. Perhaps that was why what he had mostly done with Yama so far was play-fight, spar, practise hunting, take her on patrols, climb the mountain -- all things that made her a strong and worthy heir to the mountain's legacy.

Today, however, it would be different. How about we go and find a secret hideout? It had helped him bond with Vela greatly to find a hideout for just the two of them last year -- surely it'd work on Yama, too. It'll be a cave somewhere in the mountain, hidden enough so no one else can find it. It'll be our little secret. That wasn't entirely something he liked, but he hoped that it'd be met with enthusiasm, anyway, so that it could become something that Yama liked.

A secret hideaway?

Yama stared at him silently, rolling the idea over in her head, before a smile broke through and she nodded. “That sounds like fun!” she declared, tail a’wagging. Although she’d never gone searching for anything of the sort before, the idea sounded like it has a great deal of potential to be fun—that, or frustrating. Either way, she liked the fact that she’d be able to spend the time searching with her father. What would they find? Would their hideaway remain a secret forever? From everyone?!

Wait... everyone?

“Will mama know about the hideaway?” she asked, brows scrunched together. They should tell her, right? Once they find something. She wasn’t so sure about hiding anything from Amekaze—it didn’t seem like a good idea. “We’ll have to tell her,” she decided. “It can be between just the three of us!” Yeah, that seemed better. Hiding information was the same as lying, right? Yama couldn’t imagine lying to either of her parents, never in a million years.

Whether he agreed or not—she was going to tell mama either way, she had to—the girl flashed another excited smile before beginning upward; after several steps, she stopped and looked to Charon, a newfound eagerness in her gaze, though she made it clear that she’d gladly let him take the lead if at any point he wanted to.

Yama seemed excited at last, and Charon smiled. Parenting had given him some tips on how to deal with pups over the years; each year, it seemed a little easier. Hydra and her siblings had been a handful, last year's had been difficult in some areas -- mostly Vela, who was often quite temperamental -- but this year seemed to be doing fine. Apart from the missing pups, but that was hardly something he could fault himself or any of his family for, really.

She hesitated when he said that no one would know except for them. Yama decided they'd have to tell Amekaze, but that it could be a place for the three of them. Charon chuckled and said: It'll be your special place, so you can decide who gets to know about it. If that was the whole pack, he certainly could not care less.

Charon flashed a smile as Yama took the lead and he followed her, letting her decide their route for now.

That the place they found would be hers set her tail to wagging. A place on the mountain that would be all hers and no one else’s—it was almost too good to be true! Of course, she’d have to tell mama—she couldn’t keep anything from her or Charon—but who else? Her mysterious darkling of a brother, perhaps? He might like to know. Oh, she’d figure out all of the details later. For now, she focused back on the task at hand: actually finding a hideaway that she could tell others about.

When papa didn’t take the lead, she stalled momentarily, brows pinched together with obvious confusion. Didn’t he want to lead the way? Wasn’t that what papas were supposed to do? She waited a bit longer to see if he might change his mind but, ultimately, it seemed as if she were to decide which way they went. Gradually, the uncertainty faded from her eyes and she wagged her tail again before proceeding forward, determined to both find a place and impress Charon with the navigational skills that she totally lacked.

Yama trotted northward, sights set on the peaks of the mountain. Whilst she herself was not too fond of the cold that came with the higher altitudes, she figured it might be better hidden that way—more of a secret! But she hardly made it up the first incline before her eyes narrowed in on what she thought could be a good Special Place; the opening was small and the actual depth unknown, but its placement in the ground seemed ideal. “Papa, look!” she exclaimed, rushing over to point it out. What she didn’t quite realise, however, was that the opening was scarcely big enough for her to fit through, let alone her father. That, and the fresh scent of a badger—which had likely dug the hole out to begin with—that clouded the hideaway and its surrounding area. “Do you think anyone else would be able to find this?” she asked, remaining oblivious. It was just so difficult to utilise her sense of smell when excited!

It seemed that Yama needed some time to get used to the idea of taking the lead, and she faltered at first, looking to him while he ignored it and waited for her to take the lead by herself. Eventually she did, and she seemed to get cheerier when she took the lead. Charon was a little afraid at times that she would turn out like Julia, and he hoped these kind of exercises would help her grow into a strong and independent young girl instead. Still, he had learned from his experiences with Julia, too, and whatever the case, he was eager not to chase Yama away as he had Julia. Even if she would turn out to be a loser compared to her siblings, like Julia had, he wanted to make sure she felt loved nonetheless.

As they rounded a corner Yama suddenly dashed towards something he didn't even see at first. He followed suit and looked at what she pointed out, but was quick to pick up on the fresh scent of badger. I think there's others that might know how to find it, he suggested, then patiently explained: What does your nose tell you? Hopefully she would figure out on her own that she shouldn't pursue this place for her hideout.

At first, her cheery expression faltered and her ears slid back, flat against her head. Others would find it? It wasn’t good enough? Although she knew deep down that she shouldn’t expect to find the perfect place on her first shot, she couldn’t hide the disappointment she felt towards herself—up until he spoke again, anyways.

As if a switch had been flipped, Yama’s ears popped back up and the sorrow was replaced with curiosity. What did her nose tell her? She lowered her snout towards the ground and started taking slow, deep breaths, inhaling all that she could. There was a musky odour encircling the burrow, leading in and out of it, but she wasn’t sure exactly what it was. Cocking her head, she glanced back at Charon with a quizzical look in her eyes. “What is it?” she asked, taking in more of the scent. “I don’t recognise it... should I know?” Did it belong to another member of the pack? No, it definitely wasn’t canine but... but what?

Yama checked out the burrow a bit more but she didn't seem to understand what it was precisely. Charon watched as she looked studious, but it seemed she didn't know what it was. Maybe she had never encountered a badger before, or maybe she had forgotten.

Eventually she admitted not recognising it. It's a badger. They aren't dangerous. Charon grinned as he added: But they might be if you try to use their home as a secret hideout.

A badger!

Truth be told she’d never seen one up close, but she had heard of them before (nothing good). That they weren’t dangerous made her a bit more curious, and she wondered if she might ever find one—but that was an adventure for another day.

Yama’s ears splayed out as she felt her skin becoming increasingly warm beneath her fur. “Oh...” she muttered absentmindedly, staring intently at the burrow. “I guess it wouldn’t be big enough for very long, anyways.” Yeah, she wasn’t done growing. Before either of them knew it, she wouldn’t be able to fit inside that burrow, so it definitely wouldn’t make a very good hideout (the current residency was not the biggest issue anymore). With that reasoning, her ears popped back up and she tore her gaze off of the burrow, finalising the decision that it was best left alone. But, if this one wouldn’t work, then what would?

“What do you think makes a good secret hideout?” she asked, trying to move further past her mistake. “What makes one better than another?” It had to be hidden away from everyone else, of course, but that was the extent of criteria that she could formulate. But, surely, papa would know what was the best!

Yama seemed offput by the badger story, though one positive thing shone through; she smartly remarked it wouldn't be big enough for very long. Charon felt proud of his daughter, possibly for the first time in her life, that she would be so smart about this. That's right, he said with a nod. Yama then contemplated about hideouts and started asking questions.

What makes a hideout a good hideout is that it's something that's yours. Charon glanced towards the mountain, up. Your mother and I have a hideout that has small waterfalls and is big inside, but has only a small entrance one wolf can just fit through. It's well hidden but very beautiful inside. Charon smiled as he spoke of their secret place. He had always enjoyed being there. So it should be something you like -- a place you like to be.