Whitebark Stream hands on the water

Tagging @Jax for possible Saturnin meetup (if you'd like to pop in, Paige; no obligation), but anyone is welcome!

For the first time since pledging herself to Saena's group, Juniper found herself a few miles beyond the border following the banks of a tumultuous stream that snaked through the plains of the taiga. The white birch trees that lined the banks offered a rather peculiar camouflage for the golden girl; it made her form difficult to discern among all the flecks of black and white. That said, she wasn't on the hunt. No, just a walk. The maplewood wasn't stifling, far from it; but she'd become curious about the territories adjacent to the pack and thus found herself here.

A dark, slippery shape suddenly broke the surface of the rapids only to flop back into the churning depths. She stopped, and watched as another one attempted to scale the small waterfall, only to fail and be washed back down stream. One ear twisted forward, followed soon by the other one, and she smiled. With dexterous paws, she crept down the stony banks to the shallows near the rapids; a few more silvery shapes darted away from her looming shadow.

She seated herself and cocked her head as she continued to watch the leaping trout.

I hope you don't mind him coming in!

Alfie flew through the tree tops, feeling the wind through his spotted brown feathers. He was living in a small maple tree, that had so far escaped the yellowing of Autumn. The young owl hadn't gone far from his original home. He sometimes hoped he would fly by the nest and find his mother waiting there for him. However that was impossible, Varnix was dead. There was still hope that he could find his sister however. So he stayed in the Maplewoods, hoping for a chance to see her again.

Alfie looked down below at a golden wolf by a small river. It was a female he hadn't seen around these parts. The boy had become accustomed to seeing the Maplewood wolves around. Maybe she was an intruder. This intrigued him. But before he decided on anything, he thought, Well I guess I should introduce myself! And with a cheerful swoop, he dived down and landed harshly in a branch by the stream. The sun shining down on his shimmery feathers, Alfie cocked his head to the side, watched the she-wolf with his big dark eyes.

Hello? Yeah hi! Wolfie hi! He spoke, trying to get her attention. The bird was rather sarcastic and sassy when he wanted to be, however most of the time he was innocent.

Course not!

While she sat there, she briefly entertained thoughts of trying to catch one of the flying fish as they made their way upstream. But the water was a bit too fast, and the bank just a bit steep for it to be safe. She had no way of knowing the depth below or above the waterfall, and didn't want to risk a broken neck for the slim chance at catching a morsel. If she were a bear, maybe, or was friends with one. She was so preoccupied with her daydreaming that she didn't even hear the owl approach until he was enthusiastically trying to get her attention!

Juniper snapped her head around and regarded the young owl with an incredulous look before shaking her head with a throaty laugh. "Oh! Sorry, hello. Hi." She parrots back, smiling softly while her ears swivel forward to regard the avian with nothing short of an admiring look. "A bit late in the day for you to be out, isn't it?" She, of course, didn't want to be rude but she'd never really seen an owl in the daylight before.

Alfie was very pleased when he finally caught the she-wolf's attention. He fanned out his wings, ruffling them down, partly to get settled on his branch, but mostly to show off how majestic he was. She said hello to him, and he smiled, watching her from his perch. She made a comment about the time of day and Alfie said in a  voice of all seriousness, Its actually highly offensive that you wolves think we owls can't come out during the day. He held his serious façade for a moment and then chuckled in a friendly manner. No no I was just joking. Yeah no I like the daytime. Its nice and all, but of course I do prefer the night. He was a very reasonable young owl once we could see past his theatrical side.

Alfie shuffled his downy legs, flexing his talons as he prepared to jump. He leaped off onto the branch next down as he had deemed this wolf as safe. Hi I'm Alvorris, but don't call me that. You can call me Alfie. I've lived in the Maplewoods all my life, but I haven't seen you around before. Are you new to the pack? He asked kindly, blinking his big eyes as he waited for the golden wolf to respond.