Blacktail Deer Plateau I can play 'em like a Ken doll

Pura was markedly less sprightly than his sister, but made good, steady progress in her wake despite this setback. Saēna had left the rendezvous site at speed, forgetting - or so the freckled boy assumed - that Peregrine required them to travel in pairs. Kisu and Hawkeye presumably agreed on that point, but the children's uncle was the loudest and most insistent voice in most matters pertaining to their welfare. In an effort to uphold their alpha's wishes, Pura had followed her out.

Occasionally, a flash of cream would wink at him between dense underbrush and fat, lazy shrubs. The larger of Pied's children struggled on, pausing occasionally to squint and listen. Several times during the endless half hour it appeared that Saēna had managed to lose her pursuer, but rustling greenery would or a tuft of hair would keep the hunt going. Pura was no outrider. Crossing the Plateau was arduous enough - he could scarcely imagine what it would be like to venture Beyond. Their lofty home seemed to drop into nothingness on three sides, and the fourth was bordered by tall, forbidding mountains. Why leave, when there was so much to guard and protect?

A splash ripped Pura from his thoughts. He stood tall, ears pricked for any sound of screams. Nothing. Slowly, crouching so low that grass tickled his belly, he crept towards the tall tangle of roots that separated him from the noise - and Saēna.

"Nana..?" he ventured gently.