Blacktail Deer Plateau bend and break

Since they kept a den year-round, Peregrine figured he, Hawkeye and Kisu would not bother with a rendezvous site but instead begin to sleep out in the open more often, utilizing the area around their burrow rather than the burrow itself. This transition would happen in the next couple of weeks, the first-time father knew, based on his experience with his younger siblings. Not long after that, the pups' growth would accelerate and they'd begin going off on their own, doing their own thing...

This thought caused a pinch in his chest even as the Alpha male left the denning area. After going a few hundred yards, something caused him to stop and turn around, which was when he discovered his little shadow. "How'd you manage to be so quiet?" he marveled aloud at Osprey Jr., who hung back with her tail hanging limply, expecting rebuke. "Come here, ninja," he commanded and the puppy slowly came to him, head ducked and tail wiggling. She behaved dominantly around her fellow pups but had quickly learned to submit to the adults, now that she was developing conscientiously.

"Ba-ad?" she questioned him, gazing up at Peregrine with wide blue eyes as she stopped to stand beside him.

"Yes, you're bad. You're supposed to stay with mom and Kisu," the swarthy Alpha male answered. He almost instructed her to head directly back to the den site but changed his mind. "But now you're stuck with me. We're going on a patrol and it's going to be very boring," he told her, knowing Osprey Jr. would only understand a few select words, primarily boring.

After calling to Hawkeye and Kisu to let him know Osprey was with him, he led her off toward the borders, intending to wear her out before delivering her back to the group. He did not actually intend to patrol with such a young child alongside him, yet when a howl rose into the air and he recognized the voice, he tentatively moved toward the plateau's edge, instructing Osprey Jr. to stick close to him.

Rather than go down to meet Fox at the foot of the plateau, Peregrine remained up on the bluff, his daughter pressing curiously against his forelegs and peering out at the view—and their red-furred guest. "Who's-it?!" the young girl chirped, her eyes narrowing and her tail stiffening as she instinctively responded to a sense of stranger danger.

"That's Lil' Weenie," Peregrine told his daughter before raising his voice to call out to Fox. "What's up, doc?"