Moonspear say a few words to the winds

At the height of the afternoon, somewhere at the tail end of her patrol of he borderlands, she surveyed up the slopes to her frost-coated domain with a frown. Winter had finally moved upon them in full, then proceeded to make itself quite comfortable. There was little denying this with all the recent, gray, cold, snow-flurried days that seemed to get more frigid by the next -- and truth be told, she wouldn't be surprised to find it snowing more later, even if it didn't manage to accumulate. She was less than impressed by this, naturally, as a wolf who's litter hadn't even seen four months just yet. But as it stood, they were poised to at least greet the challenge in good standing and condition alike.

She wanted to distract from a growing restlessness that had her wanting to range beyond the mountain, to hunt and scour the resources of lands beyond just her own. But, the need to protect the growing girls kept her undeniably tethered still -- and a fairly effective counterbalance to all her other wants as the days grew shorter and winter pressed back. Soon, and above all else, she wanted to introduce even more to her daughters. Perhaps range with them, even if only short distances. She wished to show them the hunt's full majesty, the valleys rolling below them, the waterways snaking the flatlands, the upper echelons of the mountain as well -- just to start. So, so very much, and yet she had to be patient. They'd let her know when it was time and maybe it was coming closer than she realized, so long as the weather held well enough..

Her heavy sigh billowed thick on the frigid air as she finally began to hike upward, away from the borderlands to see who she could rally up. If all paths ran cold, she knew that at least one of her daughters would come to her call if she asked (as it was far too easy for her thoughts to always default to them). She'd keep her odds open for now, and stalked on.

With the arrival of Constantine and Aria (and the other one, ailee or something like that) came the arrival of winter, and to little Alya, it only added to the magic of the foreign wolves. She admired them greatly, though not quite so much as she admired the Great White. They were about on-par with Mamakaze, though.

"Mamakaze?" Alya called, moving blithely through the snow. It'd been very exciting at first, and she still liked the stuff, but she was used to it, now. "Where are you?" she laughed, sniffing for the dark woman and finding that her nose wasn't working quite right in the cold. She had something she'd been wanting to ask lately, but it just hadn't seemed like the right time after what happened with Dashie. 

That attack was become a distant (though scary) memory, now, and Alya finally felt confident enough to be away from her family for short periods of time, though she never went far or was gone for long.

She flicked her ears towards what broke the relative  silence -- a voice, and a familiar one, although she could not quite name which one exactly it was yet (a problem she was starting to get used to having often). One of the trio was the baseline that mattered here as she listened, trying to discern how far, and where exactly, the little one was.

Since she wasn't far away herself, she tossed her muzzle upward and sang back a short note of a half-howl. 'Pretty close..' she intended to convey with an appropriate measure of mystery and mischief in the undertones; She didn't want to make it too easy to track her down. But that was a good hint on its own, however she just didn't stay put and kept lurking on down her pathway, a trail of telltale, musky footprints in her wake.

Alya giggled at her mother's answer, recognizing the game with ease. Mamakaze was always fun like that, playing games with them that challenged them instead of the lighthearted fun that she preferred with Daddy.

Sneaking, now, Alya brushed as quietly as she could through the undergrowth, tiny black nose twitching rapidly as she searched for her mother's scent. The problem was that Mamakaze was always around here, and her scent was all over the place, accordingly. It was the same cover that she and her sisters used to disguise each other, rolling in each other's scents until it was impossible to know who was who.

But Alya was learning. She knew fresh scents from old ones, now, and she was following a fresher scent, now.

"I'm gonna get you," the little girl sang under her breath, knowing that she was near enough that the older shewolf would certainly hear her. The young girl hoped that her ribbing could goad the older wolf into revealing herself, jumping out at Alya to scare her. (Which it would; but being scared was worth finding Mamakaze sooner. She had some important things to discuss.)

It was perhaps in her unending love for them that she sought to keep them on their toes. As it simply came naturally, she'd not let anything be too easy with them because she knew they could do so much -- and plus, much of it felt like what she had grown on herself in its own way. Something about it certainly seemed familiar. While she often wondered if there ought to be a line to draw it, or if it made them feel like they had to earn far more when it came to time with her over their father.. but was this truly a drawback even? She couldn't quite say, yet, for as long as they seemed content and continued to flourish, she couldn't rightfully doubt her methods.

Her ears switched back to catch the winds and the little singsong voice brought with it. She challenged back with a few short, laughing yips to invite the girl to bring it on if she was so sure of herself. Ame welcomed it wholeheartedly.

She gave an immediate pivot and heard the ground underfoot skff softly with the motion itself as she sprang off it -- surely, to the opposite effect (and direction) of what the pup wanted, though.

Almost.

She stayed relatively close after all by arcing back after a few long strides to begin a loose, wide circle. To entice, or encourage, she offered another little yip to help her hone in as she waved her tail up tall.

It frustrated Alya that her ploy had not worked, but then, she should not have expected it to. Her mother was as wily a creature as the Cerberus was. It looked as though she would have to rely on skill rather than machinations.

Still, it was not as though Amekaze left her without clues. Sound and movement drew the young girl's eyes in several directions, and Alya determined that her mother was not staying still. That's the easy part, she thought unhappily, putting her nose to the ground and trying to trace her mother by scent once more. It was difficult to pay attention to all her senses at once, but she was getting better about putting together one or two different cues at a time. Now, she heard her mother straight ahead and detected her scent more intensely.

"Got you!" Alya said, pouncing forward and hoping to land on ink-black fur.

Steadily, the sound of pawsteps not her own came thrumming closer and closer. She prickled her furs up playfully, preparing as carefully as she could muster to be come upon very, very soon. It was a bit tempting to keep the chase going, and to just dart away entirely, but wanting to see one of them alone outweighed it in the end.

She glimpsed over her shoulder to the streak of black -- still not able to identify her exactly, they all looked so frustratingly similar and they knew it. But, she growled fondly and sprung at her to meet her with a pounce of her own. "Little beast," she chirped, eager to praise the girl with quick, pecking licks on her head and neck. "What brings you?" and in somewhat rare form away from the others, no less.

Yes! Alya whined in happy triumph at having 'bested' her mother in this game. (Part of her knew that Mamakaze was going easy on her, but still, she must've done something right!) The playful jibe was praise enough for the rambunctious girl, but physical affection was always ten times better. Alya basked in it for a moment, but her mother's question quickly drew out a bit of shyness in her once more.

"Well... I was wondering..." she began, hesitant to ask this thing. She'd never been out of the territory before, and just look what'd happened the last time she went exploring. But then Alya thought of Uncle Floki and Aria, scouts and rangers and - and of Constantine, the warrior. She wanted to be like them. (And, to a lesser degree, like her own mother. It just wasn't as cool to be like your mom.) "Do you think I could go scouting soon? With Uncle Floki and Aria?" she asked, deciding to get it over with. She could say 'no' now or later just the same, after all. "Or maybe with you or Daddy, even?"

Of course, going with Cool Uncle Floki or Cool Mysterious Aria was ten times better, but she would settle for anything if it meant a first step.

Easily, she was all ears and the girl kept her in suspense. There were a great many things she would imagine her to be wondering at this point in life, with her greater sense of the world just taking shape. And, so it seemed, what she did ask was not so far off -- she wanted to go scouting? Ame quirked a brow. "Hmm," she drawled thoughtfully, sure to not cave too readily. "I do think that would be alright, especially if you were planning to be at your best.." she began with steadily and watched the pup all the while to see if that set in.

She was growing, and she'd need to start somewhere soon -- Ame appreciated her bringing it up. If scouting interested her, Amekaze was going to let her explore it as safely as she could ensure. With her own scouts trusted, Aria coming with past experience, and her glad to have an excuse to stretch her legs, there were certainly options at hand here. "As for if with Floki, Aria, or your father, you would have to take that up with them of course," although she doubted Floki or Charon would be too opposed. "Where would you like to see?" she asked before there was even room for plotting anything else.

Alya wagged her tail, creeping toward her mother and rolling onto her back to show that she was willing to cooperate. Looking up with her baby blue eyes, Alya listened to the rest of her mother's speech, her whole body wiggling with pleasure as all her dreams began to come true. I can go, I can go! she thought, almost missing some important bits of Amakaze's words.

"The big black place," she responded at once, hopping to her paws and peering through the trees for the scorched stretch of earth that she could sometimes see in the distance. She was talking, of course, about the Heartwood, but the girl had no knowledge of its name or properties. "I can see it from higher up," she explained, still looking in the direction she knew it to be in.

None of them had ever left the mountain before. She felt that flicker of reservation towards feeling it defined as harsh as that, although her eagerness to encourage their independence soothed it relatively so. Already, she worried.. but with properly watchful eyes and a wolf well-equipped, she could do all she was able to prevent bad luck from befalling them. Most of all, the dark alpha was pleased she asked instead of trying to skirt off on her own, so for this more proper approach, she'd make it happen.

"I see," she smirked when she answered so readily with a dark place. Ame followed her stare off into the distance towards the flatlands -- which was thankfully a direction she was very familiar with, and could trust well enough. "You have been thinking of this?" she asked, turning back to the youth fondly. "There is a valley with many creeks and much vegetation between here and there. We would have to cross it to reach the dark place," Ame detailed, watching to see if it was taken as bait for more adventure, or cause for concern.

"For forever," Alya admitted, though it'd been shelved for a while after Dashie's death. The arrival of Aria and Constantine, however, had awoken these desires in her once more. This time, she thought, I am ready.

Her mouth popped open in awe as Amakaze explained what was along the path to the Dark Place. She'd heard of all that by now, of course. Creeks and valleys and rivers strong - but all she knew was her mountain, and she wanted to see it all. Amakaze's words merely made her tail lash in fervor as she tried to contain her excitment. She would be allowed to see it! Mamakaze said she could go, and when Mamakaze said things they were true.

"I need'a go talk to dad!" she cried, unable to contain the words. She stalled her dancing paws long enough to rub against her mother's legs in thanks, pressing a few messy licks to whatever fur was available before she darted away, off to begin her adventure - or at least, to begin recruiting security detail for it.

"Quite a long time," she responded quietly with a nod. So be it, then, because Amekaze was not about to address the concepts of forever now, and instead took pride in the girl's enthusiasm that did not waver in the face of so much more. In fact, she rarely saw tails go that fast at all.

In the next beat, she had a new mission, and the dark alpha wouldn't interfere with such plans. She kept her farewells quick. "Take him one of these for me," she said, lick-nipping gently on the excited Little's cheek or neck or wherever she could really get a good hold of long enough to make contact. The sentiment remained the same, and she watched the dark pup take off before she slunk off onto a path further up the mountain's elevation.