Broken Antler Fen curiosity killed the cat

hoping for puppies! @Sylvie @Hymnal @Roswell @Diantha @Jasmine (can forward date it if she'd be back by then)

The pack's leader, Eljay, had escorted Sphyra from the borders. She was here to visit her father, but Eljay had suggested that maybe she could meet some of her — apparently — sort-of-relatives if she wanted to, since her father didn't seem to be nearby right now. Maybe he'd be back by the time she had acquainted herself with them. She had agreed reluctantly, mostly because she didn't want to have wasted the trip all the way over here.

Sphyra only knew the pups from her pack — her siblings and Killdeer — so this was new to her, meeting other children. Yet when they drew close to the den where the children lived with Eljay and Maia, she found herself getting just a bit curious. They were younger than her, that much she knew by now, and she watched in anticipation as they approached, feeling strangely nervous (a normally fairly foreign sensation to Sphyra).

Diantha was packing on the pounds... though she remained small. Her brother, and even Maia's kids, appeared to be outgrowing her. It was frustrating to no end. She wanted to be bigger so she could leave this place. Find her dad. Make everything okay again. She knew it would never be the same, since her mother was dead. Diantha couldn't even conjure up her face anymore when she closed her eyes. At least when she'd been able to do that, she could be more angry with her. Now, it felt like an eternally empty space when she searched for the image.

Somebody approached, though it wasn't anybody that Diantha knew. And it certainly wasn't anybody she wanted to know, she decided right off the bat. Diantha didn't need anyone.

So, as soon as she saw the figure approaching, she did her best to escape the situation, scuttling off anywhere but here.

Unlike her sister, Jasmine's life had suddenly and unexpectedly taken a turn for the much better! Maybe getting out to breathe was really all she had needed to find some footing after mother's death. Life still wasn't sunshine and peaches, but for the first time in as long as Jassy could remember (heck, probably the first time ever), she felt like she was loved.

This packed her with a little more punch, and when she saw the stranger approaching their densite - smelling of Maia and Eljay, and something else familiar - Jasmine stopped in her grooming and hustled out to meet her, even while she hopped past the backtracking scuttle of her avoidant sister. Strange, how much braver she was when she knew her family was around.

"You don't always have to be in such a mood," Jasmine said to Diantha with a roll of her eyes - which soon widened in recognition, now that she was closer to the stranger. "Hey - you're from Redhawk Caldera, aren't you? I can smell it on your fur!" Jasmine was quite certain this girl carried the scent of the pack she had scurried well away from just a couple weeks back. Looked like her stint as a reluctant runaway actually proved good for something.

Two girls were at the densite as Sphyra approached. They were smaller than her for sure, which was funny but not weird to Sphyra; she knew Killdeer, after all, and he was smaller than her too. Sphyra approached them with a neutral, cool expression on her face. One of them seemed to be scowling and another came towards Sphyra.

Before she could greet them, the latter of the pair of girls greeted her. They looked like they might be siblings, the pair of them. Yep, Sphyra answered. Well-caught. She sounded a little reserved and gruff, since she didn't often meet new pups, and her face remained serious too. I'm Sphyra. She glanced between the two girls, though she had her doubts if the other of the pair would open her mouth at all.