Northstar Vale Your art was the prettiest art of all the art.

Oh, joy! Lilitu had found the belly of the beast. 

Well, perhaps that was overly hyperbolic. But she had strayed outside her own den and had now located an area that smelled strongly of Hotaru and others close to her: such as, presumably, those mean white wolves.

The night was too beautiful to fuss much. She sat nearby, watching the fireflies. They mirrored the stars above, but they blinked and moved. One flew close to her face and she flinched; it would be a long time before she trusted insects again.

(If she ever did. Curse that bumblebee.)

She began to daydream with a serene look upon her face, wondering if anyone would join her.

Also wondering how long she had before Ibis noticed she was missing, freaked out, and promptly fetched her home.

gimme kiddos! Moms! Sitters! AW!

It was a whimsical scene, the small form of Lilitu sitting amongst the fireflies, each one highlighting her dark fur as they gently made their way around the cub. The night was silent and still, and inside the nearby den the other young girls of the Empire slept soundly. Unfortunately, for Ibis' daughter, however, it just so happened that Haruki was also awake, and he wasn't too fond of the intruder sitting on his doorstep.

He marched out of the darkness, blue eyes focused on the other child as he breathed a huff in an attempt to startle her out of her star-gazing trance. Or whatever it was she was doing. Why was she just sitting there? "This is mama's den," he announced, striding towards her with all the confidence of a wolf ten times his size. "Who you?"

And so it began. Someone emerged and spoke; it was not Hotaru's voice, and she spun around, sending bits of grass and dandelion in her wake, immediately suspicious. Another white pup—looked a whole lot like Hotaru, but wasn't her. No, it was a boy, like the nice wolf that came to visit often, but smaller, obviously.

His words were hella confusing. Nuh uh, Lilitu responded, brow wrinkling. There was only one Mama, in her eyes, and she was all the way over at another den. She pointed her nose in illustration. Mama thehw. ('There', for those of you who can't comprehend Miryam's atrocious baby-talk spelling.)

She paused for a second at his question. Witu, she attempted. It wasn't quite right, but it was good enough for now. Besides: who was asking?! Who you? Lilitu shot back, hardly intimidated by his put-upon swagger. She wasn't about to let these white wolves get her down.

Immediately she responded with a look of indignation that reminded Haruki of his sister Sumi when their parents told her she wasn't allowed to do something. His ears flicked back and his own features crumpled into a similar look as she pointed with her muzzle, though he didn't follow the motion. "Wot?" he huffed, clearly confused but moreso affronted. Who did she think she was pulling the reverse uno card on him? "No," he corrected. "Mama's here."

He jerked his head back in a gesture towards the den, before straightening himself up proudly as she demanded who he was. "I'm Haruki," he announced to this...Witu girl. Whoever she was. "I'mma prince." So you better start treating me like one.

He was wrong. That's all there was to it. Her mama was elsewhere, and she knew it—and she knew that the night was too fine to waste it arguing with this boy. She scoffed but shrugged it off, fixating on his introduction instead. Haruki, a name that reminded her of Hotaru's, and then—

Whassa prince? Lilitu asked, giving him a dubious stare, her brows cocked. He said it as if it should mean something. Well, it meant nothing to her. Whatever her mother had told her about her royalty, she had ignored. She was blithely and blissfully unaware of her title as 'Princess.'

She didn't feel inferior to this pup, but it wasn't because of some silly nickname. He seemed mean. Was that mean pale woman one of his parents?

Her question and suspicious look was met with another indignant huff, but Haruki then drew himself up proudly. Unlike Lilitu, he had listened when mother taught he and his sisters about the Kingdom's hierarchy, mostly because she told them they were at the top of it. They were the Most Important.

"It means I'm at the TOP," he said, with emphasis. "I'm the boss of you guys." Okay, that wasn't exactly how Reiko had described it, but Haruki was beginning to develop a knack for only picking up on the things he wanted to hear. Being slightly taller, the boy was able to look down on the younger girl, his lips curving into a self-assured smile. "Royalty."

Wow, uh, okay. She was pretty sure Mama was the boss of her, not this kid. She said nothing for a while, only cocking a brow in a bona fide "Really?" look at the boy. She didn't like him one bit. He was cocky and reminded her of all the other white wolves around. Well, besides Hotaru, who was super nice.

And speaking of her— Is Hotawu yowh sissy? she asked, tilting her head slightly. She would try to make nice, at least for now. I have a sissy too: Awee. . .Aweel. . . Her forehead furrowed as she tried and failed to spit out her sister's name. Why had Ibis given them such hard-to-pronounce (at least for a toddler) monikers?

Lilitu gave up, distracted once more by the fireflies. Pwetty, she remarked softly, nodding at one winking close by.

Her raised brow caused his own to furrow, unused to being met with doubt. Reiko almost always played along with their fantasies, indulging her children and showering them with praise. It would be a rude shock to Haruki as he realised the rest of the world didn't quite operate this way, but for now he simply blamed it on this girl being much too dull to fully understand his importance.

"It's Hotaru," he corrected, as if personally offended by the younger girl's still developing grasp of speech. It was then his turn to cast a dubious look over her as she went on to mention her own sister. Witu and Aweel. What kind of names were those?

He watched as Witu's attention then drifted from him and towards the fireflies still flickering around them. "They out here every night," he said, enunciating every word proudly, believing her den wasn't graced with such ambience. "Where d'you live?" Not that he was interested, of course. No, he asked only so he could avoid the area.

Um. Isn't that what she said?! She squinted at him, aware of his mocking tone. Ho-ta-rrwu, she drew out, though still flubbing that last consonant. She'd get there, eventually. But she wasn't having any of this prince's shit tonight.

The fireflies were too pretty for that.

Ovuh thewh, Lilitu explained with a gesture toward whence she came, almost immediately self-conscious of her speech. Damn, and she thought she was doing so well! Still. She swallowed down her self-doubt, glancing at Haruki. I nevuh seen so many, she explained.

Did they not gather around Mama's den as much? She was starting to feel quite sour about this whole encounter.

He followed the girl's gesture, unsure of what she had said exactly with her botched words but understanding the gist of it. He made a mental note of the direction, before turning back to his company as she gushed over the fireflies again. For a moment, his own stern features broke into something a little softer as he actually looked at their surroundings, noting the way the little points of light danced so gracefully over the grass.

His pompous attitude returned just as quickly as he pointedly glanced back at Witu. "You should go back now," he said, rudely cutting their conversation short. He needed his sleep, and he assumed her mother would be wondering where she was this late.

He turned on a heel towards his den but did not fully enter, however, instead sitting just inside the entrance, staring at Witu with a hard, watchful gaze until she finally left the area. With a satisfied huff, the prince then turned and went to rejoin his mother and siblings.