Phoenix Maplewood would you be so kind

her mother had not seemed as impressed as she'd hoped, when she'd successfully crept out after her as she had slipped away in search of lunch. still, Dawn had let her stay with only a short warning about creeping off on her own, referencing one of the tales she'd told the brood not long after it'd become apparent that they were capable of doing just that. "you remember the story I told you, about Sunny and your grandfather?" she did, and she certainly did not want any of her parents getting bit by a snake. 

and so she pretended to be on her own adventure, as if she were big enough and seasoned enough to be out here on her own. her mother's short barks every time she drifted a little too far shattered the illusion briefly until she hurried back within range of the matriarch. as her mother paused to examine something unseen, the pup veered off the game trail as a flash of movement caught her attention, eyes glued to a bird painted in vivid crimson as it flit through the canopy.