Blacktail Deer Plateau life is a day that doesn't last for long

The days were getting colder - something that the summer girl was wholly unfamiliar with. There was a new scent in the air, too - one that made her little heart beat with excitement and fear in equal measures. Things were changing, and for Easy, change had never been good.

Well... she did enjoy some change. Like right now, how Daddy had taken her out to the catfish pond, and when he'd had to leave, he'd just told Easy not to go any further than this, and to be back at the rendezvous site before the stars came out. It wasn't very much fun to sit at the pond by herself, but she was proud that Daddy trusted her to get back home by herself, now.

Since she had a few hours before nightfall, she decided to hang out by the pond, anyway. It would've been more fun with her brother and sister, but she knew better than to go back and get them. Pema would probably insist on coming along, and although Easy adored the older wolf, she felt very cool and mature wandering around without an adult nearby.

for timeline purposes, I'll say that this occurred pre-whump for Dawn

She had been meaning to track down her father, for no purpose other than to see what he was up to, when she came across her sister. She was alone, which Dawn wasn't sure was normal or not; either way, the girl ought to be able to take care of herself. She didn't quite remember her younger days, but certainly remembered enough to know that she had rarely listened to Da, and survived well enough, anyway.

Dawn shouldered through the bushes, approaching Easy with a shake of her pelt to clear it of stubborn branches, and offered a chuff of greeting as she plopped beside her sister. "Hey, Easy." she greeted, hawkish gaze turning on her sister, usual fierceness toned down. She opened her maw, but before she could utter anything, a clashing, dissonant honking had her ears stand erect and her gaze slip upward suddenly. Geese; more than she had ever seen together, darkened the horizon, a swarming black cloud of them. They flew in a loose V, but there was far too many of them to hold a strict formation, and as they drew overhead, the sound grew deafening.

She was not alone for long when someone came crashing through the brush, startling the girl out of her happy solitude. Her mood dipped for only a moment before she saw who had come arrived on the scene. "Hi, Dawn!" the darker girl chirped, gazing at her older sister with eyes brimming full of admiration. Although Pema was kind and Moonstone was fun, Dawn was in a league all of her own. Perhaps it was the older girl's inherent aloofness, or perhaps it was her similarities to their shared father - Easy never bothered with thinking about it. Dawn just - was.

Easy stared at her older sister, anticipating whatever amazing thing she was about to say when - suddenly - the quiet was split by an unholy cacophony. There were a ton of long-necked turkeys in the sky! Startled, Easy turned her inqusitive gaze back toward Dawn, waiting for some kind of explanation of these mysterious events. She didn't know that this was only Dawn's second winter, or that she'd been younger than Easy was during her first.

Her muzzle twisted as she scanned the sky, suddenly remembering that geese pooped on the fly and dearly hoping that she wasn't hit. Confusion was etched in her gaze, which gradually cleared as she considered the situation. She knew that geese could travel in large groups, but geese must have come from all around the wilds to form this group. This couldn't have happened by chance; she reasoned, there must be a purpose to it. Finally, she said thoughtfully, "I think - I think they're leaving, for the winter." There ought to be a word for that, but she couldn't recall it, or remember if she had ever learned it. Never the less, the explanation she offered made the most sense to her. Peering down at Easy, she added, "Kind of like how we moved here; they're moving too, somewhere farther. They can't really stay here; in the winter, water freezes, and snow and cold makes all their food disappear." She wasn't sure what, exactly, geese ate, but greenery vanished in the winter; one of the things she remembered vividly. They simply wouldn't survive here in the winter, she deduced. "I've never seen so many" she murmured, glancing at the sky before looking down at Easy. Already the cloud of birds was beginning to thin, and the sound fading slowly into the distance.

Easy's gaze shifted quickly from inquisitve to admiring. Dawn was so smart. She hoped she'd know as much as her sister did one day. For now, she looked back up at the geese, wondering what sort of den the birds would find in the sky - for, to the little girl, the sky was a destination, and not a method of travel.

"How come we all move around for the winter?" she asked, having somehow missed that the weather changed rather drastically from season to season. Somehow, she had deduced it was to give others a chance to use different territories, sorta like a Teekon-style game of musical chairs. She had some vague notion of how important it was to share with you brother and sister, Shara! - so it wasn't such a stretch to think that Grayday wanted to let others benefit from the cuesta as well.

Dawn settled on her haunches, giving a light shake of her pelt as she considered a moment Easy's question. Her answer was quick to come to mind, but she hesitated as she rephrased it, hoping to avoid any confusion on the girls part; who had never before seen winter. "Not everything moves for the winters, some birds and prey stay, though not many. Most prey can't survive the winter, so they move to warmer places and come back in the spring. Hunting gets harder too; many wolves go hungry, mostly those who aren't part of a strong pack." she began, glancing at Easy thoughtfully. "Packs might move to places where there is more prey and shelter, so the winter will be easier. That's why we moved here; in the summer we might move again." She said, shifting her weight. She wasn't completely sure if other packs moved; to her knowledge, Easthollow did not, and some pack scents she had come across seemed embedded deeply into the earth, as if they had stood for a long, long time.

As soon as Dawn sat down, Easy bounded toward her and sat between the older girl's forelegs, making a big show of getting comfortable - it always made Daddy laugh. She continued to look up at the sky, hoping more birds would pass by, but kept her ears angled toward her sister as she spoke.

She was heartened to know that she would not suffer in the winter - Morningside was obviously the strongest pack ever, since Dawn and Daddy were in it. Still, though, something tickled at the back of her mind; something she did not quite understand. Even with Dawn's talk of the weather, and how it wouldn't be warm enough, Easy couldn't quite grasp the reality of the cold. She'd never experienced the sort of cold that could kill, and so, was unable to connect the dots in her head without a little more help.

"But...  but why can't they survive the winter? What happens?" Her tail began to wag double-time, and she leapt away from her sister so that she could stare up at her face once more. "Do monsters come out? Do we get to fight them off? Will you teach me?" she demanded.

The girl snuggled between her forelimbs, and a grin stretched out across the girl's face, amusement glinting in her gaze. She scanned the sky, perhaps on the lookout for more birds, though it was easy to see that much of her attention was still on Dawn. She seemed agitated, however, when Dawn spoke of the winter, leaping away with a lashing tail. Dawn grinned, preparing to launch into another explanation when she asked fiercely of monsters. " It gets cold; really, really cold. So cold that the rain turns white and hard, the water stops moving and acts like it's part of the ground, and snow; cold, white, powder, covers everything. A lot of animals can't survive the land changing so much, so they leave; wolves don't though."  Hoping this to be a sufficient explanation, she danced to her paws, gaze contemplative.  "But you know, I should probably teach you how to fight off monsters. Just in case." She hoped dearly that the girl never encountered anything like that, for surely even the best fighting moves would not save her.  She'd get to the "run in the other direction" part of the lesson later, however, for she sensed that Easy might just like roughhousing.

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"Ohhhh..." said Easy, several loose threads suddenly jumping into place. Abruptly, her reality seemed to shift and click, and the girl thought back to a few interactions that had confused her at the time, but now made very much sense. They were preparing for winter - for cold. Cold so deep it took physical form, like the ice that grew overnight on Daddy's back. Abruptly, her reality seemed to shift and click, and Easy could not even remember what the world had been like before she knew.

The experience was somewhat jarring, but Easy had been through many such revelations as these, and was learning to keep a more open and freeform worldview - was learning that there would always be more to learn. So she did her best to let the truth settle in on its own, and grinned eagerly at Dawn as she said Easy ought to learn to fight monsters, anyway.

"Should I be the monster, or should you?" she asked seriously.

Something seemed to click, and understanding dawned on Easy. Dawn smiled, pleased that her explanation had made sense to the girl, who abruptly switched to the serious task of monster fighting. The yearling rose to her feet, watching the girl seriously. "If you see a monster, like a bear, you should run as fast as you can. You're quick and small; that's your power, you can get into places other's can't." She said, before answering the girl's question.  "I'll be the monster first. Let's pretend that for some reason, you have to fight me - what do you do?"  She motioned for the girl to show her, and squared her shoulders and tried for a menacing expression, tail swishing behind her.

Easy simply stared up at Dawn for a moment, her tiny little brain working very hard. Then, without preamble, she let out a vicious shout and threw herself at Dawn's legs, biting at them as gently as she could while not losing speed. It was not as gentle as she would have liked to believe, though, and her beloved older sister would most likely be left without shallow punctures on her shins.

"I'm gonna eat you!" she declared, doing her best to knock Dawn down as she came at the girl from another angle and threw herself against the older girl's side. The motions were clumsy, but she was heavier than she looked.

She girl snorted, trying and failing to keep the lesson from falling into a wrestling match. She hardly knew much about fighting, honestly, and at the end of it all the girl were winded and (Dawn, at least) was a little sore. When the light began to fade around them, she walked beside Easy towards the rendezvous, glad at what the day had turned out to be.