Stavanger Bay Twenty-four seven, baby, three-six-five

The pups were now old enough to leave the den. They had to stay in close proximity or at least under the supervision of an adult, but they were no longer confined. Verrine often hovered nearby while Julooke took personal time to herself—the mother had grown restless in denning and now took any chance she got away from her rowdy children.

Speaking of rowdy children, one such example was busy frolicking at the edge of their permitted space with his eyes locked firmly on a late autumn wasp. His eyes were wide and buggish as Kevlyn stared up at it, admiring its stripes with his newly sharpened vision. Such sudden breaks in colour, such sharp contrast! It drew his attention as surely as a magnet.

Much had come to be known about Kevlyn in the last week. He loved the sound of his own voice and was almost always babbling to himself and anyone that would listen. He hated being dirty and sought cleaning every opportunity he got. In fact, the only time Kevlyn allowed himself to be dirty without fuss was when he was vying with his siblings for the coveted position of "top dog", a game they'd only recently become old enough to play.

"Babadalaloo," he crowed up at the wasp, which continued to hover around the trunk of a tree and ignored him completely.

There had been children in Stavanger Bay, one litter, who were now juveniles, were Jarl Ragnar and the Lady Thistle Cloud's whelps. The others, were born of a subordinate pair. These were the youngest, and he rarely saw the litter. He did not feel welcome to go into their den and meet with them.

But when he saw one such pup outside the den, wandering about, he felt drawn to the child. The knight drew close to the pup, giving him distance just in case his parents proved to be extremely defensive, and sat nearby, watching as the tike followed a hornet with interest.

Kevlyn was so transfixed by the wasp floating overhead that he didn't notice the somber, layered grey male that was approaching. He didn't notice Verrine when he stood up at the edge of the clearing and issued a slight growl to tell Mordred that he was close enough to Kev. The Ostrega family didn't know Mordred, so the young father's normally wary behaviour when it came to his pups was amplified by nervousness as well.

Though Mordred wouldn't be permitted any closer to Kevlyn than he already was, his father's growl had drawn the child's attention to the knight. He stared up at Mordred through wide, dark blue eyes. He made though to take a step closer, but a louder growl from Verrine was enough to stop Kev in his tracks. He was much too young to comprehend a great many things, but he knew without question to obey his father.

"Nanana?" he queried Mordred, even though a part of him knew neither of them could get closer to the other.

A sharp growl from the father of the pups was all he needed.The knight did not move any closer, simply giving the father a glance that said 'I mean him no harm'. Despite the father's warning, the young pup turned his attention to him and questioned him in his own, babbling, baby language. Trying to decipher what the child had said, he shook his head gently. "I am afraid that I am not allowed any closer to you, little one, nor are you allowed to step further."

Kevlyn knew he wasn't meant to go any closer. He knew that to do so would invite Verrine's wrath. Mordred said it too, though the words he spoke were woefully foreign to the young cub, who was only just learning small words himself. That was that, then; they were at an impasse.

Within a few short moments, Kev deemed impasses boring. He could hardly manage to interact with a stranger without first inspecting hum, and to do that he needed to be near enough to smell him. Mordred didn't seem interested in getting closer, leaving Kevlyn to bear the brunt of his father's impending rage on his own.

Despite the warning, Kev stretched his whole body in Mordred's direction and noisily snuffled. He still wasn't close enough, but he was still held back by lingering fear of punishment... though it would only last so long.