Blackfeather Woods Curiosity killed the cat

I might let Kendra got for Naturalist :3

Now Kendra was getting closer to be three months old she was getting more curious of the lands around her. She was a rather peculiar pup. She wasn't that playful or spoke childishly. The way she spoke almost sounded like an adult just because she was mimicking her father. Her pale eyes popped even more out of her sockets now they were paling more each day to the color of her father's eyes. Her curious nature often made her explore the grounds, and nature around these woods. She only knew them thinking it was normal. The swamp still interested her even though the mud had made her cold. There were so many things she wanted to focus on or study. But then she was quickly distracted by other interesting things. 

Kendra had been quite a bit away from the glen, somewhere strolling between the dark trees in the northern part of the territory. She was digging in the cold soil that was hidden under the snow. The dark ground matched her coat. Kendra liked the dark, she wanted to explore more of those tunnels but she hadn't found an entrance yet, which was maybe a good thing, because if she was alone she might get lost down there. As she sat down on the dark patch she wondered if there was anyone around that could answer her questions. What was this dark stuff named for example, and how far did the soil go? She was mainly looking for some company too, really.

Figured they’d have to meet eventually, haha.

After his return home, the boy had been rather exhausted. He was drained of energy, both physically and emotionally, and had wanted for nothing more than to settle down and sleep for as long as he could get away with. As he grew, it seemed he was becoming less and less interested in his dreamland, but given his current predicament, he sought it out more than ever before. A place he could escape to, a world that was all his own. However alluring the motherly voice of sleep was, he kept himself from falling victim to her spell immediately. To sleep out in the open was not something he was overly fond of, and so his inner voice urged him to return to the shelter he shared with his father. He knew that he needed to move out, to find his own little hideaway, but that would have to wait. Apparently, reaching any shelter would have to wait, too, for he soon found himself settling into a space beneath a tree. Snow had yet to touch the ground where he laid—either that or it’d already melted—which gave him a dry place to rest his weary eyes. The second his eyes shut, though, they snapped right back open.

The noise reached his ears before the scent invaded his nose, prompting the Inuit to stand. His body was reluctant to move at first, but with a bit a force, he was soon standing upright. Queer eyes narrowed as he stared off in the direction that housed the unknown nuisance and, with a huff, he started at a slow trot towards it. When he broke through a dying bush and noticed what had disrupted his sleep, his glare only hardened. It was a girl, the same girl he’d seen at Meldresi’s funeral. One of Burke’s children, he knew, but he’d already forgotten her name. “What are you doing?” the elder child questioned, voice as cold as the air that surrounded them. Despite her being the leader’s daughter, he had no plans of coddling her or treating her as if she were special. As far as he was concerned, respect was earned and, though she was also the late queen’s whelp, he didn’t feel as if she’d done anything to earn it from him. How could she have, anyways, considering she was still so young? Age, however, was just another thing he felt didn’t mattered.

Haha yes.

All the questions that filled her young mind would need to be asked later to her father since no other wolf was around. Even having so many questions didn't mean that she had the vocabulary to voice them all. The dark furred girl stepped further with her nose close to the ground, deeply bonding with nature. She wanted to know the source of all the different smells, one day she would. She was going to train herself, since all this nature thing was so interesting to her. She wasn't alone for long though. A voice shook her from her 'research'. Her paws had dug a bit of a hole in the ground, where she was standing half into. She didn't recognize this white furred wolf, but he smelled of these lands.

The white fur was something she had only seen mixed with other colors, like in Cicero's fur, or even her father's around his muzzle. This wolf was fully white and his eyes were the color of flesh. Her pale gaze studied him for a moment, not replying instantly, since she was taking him in. "Seeing where earth goes, checking smell," she returned. She even found some small roots beneath her feet. It was all very fascinating to her. When she talked she wanted to pronounce things right, she often repeated her father's words which was probably why she talked a bit more adult like. She was the more quiet and calm on of the two spiderlings. After all Pietro would race from one thing to the next with his long legs.

The boy observed her, muzzle twitching slightly as his gaze neared her paws. She’d dug herself into a little ditch, though that wasn’t what bugged him. No, it was the fact that she was dirty. The hole-digging reminded him of Leo, as well as how much the Inuit had disliked seeing the little pits everywhere. All that ever came out of it was filth, and the want to stay immaculate was something he hadn’t outgrown. Her answer pulled him away from the horror scene and to her pale eyes, quirking an undefined eyebrow in the process. Perhaps he would have found the idea of what she was doing amusing if it weren’t for his serious nature. “Where it goes?” the elder repeated, disbelief flooding his tone. “Good luck with that. You’ll be digging until the day you die if you try to do that, and even then you’ll never reach the end.” Xan considered himself an expert, for the most part. He had experience with holes, as well as the earth itself. Having been born within a valley, he had a decent understanding of how thick the ground was, and couldn’t even fathom someone actually managing to reach the end of it.

“All you’re going to do by digging holes is dirty yourself,” he commented, his dislike of all things unclean quite obvious. The pallid male even took a step back and wrinkled his nose to better showcase how disgusted he was by the idea of someone mucking themselves up. “Others won’t like you if you’re unclean.” Of course, that wasn’t true, but there was no one there to stop him from spewing lies. She was younger than himself, after all, and most likely naïve enough to believe whatever he decided to tell her. That notion had his mind filling with all sorts of things he could tell her, all of which held a chance of bringing him amusement.

Kendra nodded quietly in reply, she wanted to know till where the earth goes. Later she would realize it was very naive of her to even think like that, or even silly, but now her young mind could explore in every direction and make up stories to see what was under the earth. The dark little female noticed that the male before her wasn't that keen on her digging, or at least he commented about her dying, what ever that was (though she did remind that word from somewhere). He also spoke some words extra clearly like she wouldn't understand otherwise. Kendra sat down, having learned from her father that it was polite to do so, even if she didn't agree. She let the male finish is talk about being unclean. She wasn't too bothered, her father and Pietro seemed to like her just fine even after she played in the mud and grew cold. "I do not want to reach the end. See were soil goes."

Kendra kept her curious pale eyes on the one with the red eyes. "Why I want others to like me?," he stated not even remotely impressed. "I like earth, and if you do not then you do not," she spoke with her pup logic. She couldn't really care less if this male disapproved. Her father told her to do what she liked to do and that was what she was going. She liked exploring mostly, and the darkness. She rather explored the tunnels her father walked through with her but she couldn't find an entrance. Maybe if she dug enough she would find one! Ooh! That would be awesome. That only proved that the earth was full of secrets. She looked at the ground under her paws before looking up at the white male. "There are tunnels under me," she stated. wanting to share that with him. She was young and wanted to know more about earth and soil.

The boy grew confused by what she was attempting to do, her phrasing making little sense. She wanted to see where the soil went, but didn't want to reach the end... it didn't make any sense, no matter how he tried to approach the idea. If there was a way to reach an end of the earth, then wouldn't following it until that end was met be the same as seeing where it went? To stop and turn back before reaching the end would mean leaving the task incomplete, thereby causing her question to remain unanswered. It was in that moment that he could feel every ounce of his mind and body regretting having gotten up in order to seek out the disturbance. All she'd managed to do thus far was annoy him, souring his mood even more than it'd previously been. To think that he was once her age was almost appalling at that point, even though he knew he'd been much brighter—he had to have been. After all, he was the Great Alexander, and there was no way he would have ever been lacking in the intelligence department.

When she asked a question, his jaw set, eyes narrowing into a glare. Though he understood her thought process on that particular subject, he was disappointed to have not received the reaction he'd been hoping for. "You're supposed to want others to like you," he stated, words sounding hollow. "I don't know why, but it often seems others just want to be liked by those around them. Why don't you want that?" While he thought the same way, not caring whether or not he was liked even within his own pack, he couldn't think of a logical reason for why the girl would think the same way. She was the leader's daughter, so didn't that mean she was supposed to crave attention? Bask in the affections of her "adoring" pack mates? It seemed as if something was off with the girl, simply because she did not live up to what he'd envisioned "princesses" to be like—then again, Potema had been the same way, except abrasive instead of apathetic. The fact that not everyone lived up to what he thought them to be was becoming apparent to him, but he did not hold any desire to admit that to himself or anyone, for that matter.

Eventually, Alexander allowed his hind quarters to lower so he was sitting, but it was not done out of the need to act polite. He'd done so only because he'd wished to rest his legs, considering the abrupt movements after having been laying down previously left him in need of a good stretch. That, however, was an action he would not perform around the younger child, for that would give his body the impression that sleep would soon be coming their way when it most definitely was not. He knew that to be the case the moment he'd laid eyes on the dark girl, and his hypothesis was further confirmed by her "sharing: the knowledge of the tunnels winding beneath the woods. "I already know about the tunnels," he stated, though he wasn't entirely sure if one was positioned directly under them. His father had informed him of the tunnels when telling a tale of how the elder Inuit had jumped from the top of an underground waterfall, but hadn't given the specific location of any entrances. All the boy had to go by was the description of the entrance his father had often used, but whether that would prove to be helpful or not had yet to be discovered. Xan had yet to seek entrance into the tunnels, after all, not yet interested in seeing what was in them.

Kendra decided that this other wolf take very weirdly. He was always putting the emphasis on a few words. It confused her a bit. Maybe she was just seeing things differently that he did. She recently realized that even Pietro would think differently from her. Another really interesting topic to talk or think about. Everyone could think so would there be a way of hearing those thoughts? When the male asked her the question she just lightly shrugged. "Daddy and Pietro like me enough." It was a simple answer, yet it was exactly how she felt. 

Kendra sniffled the ground and was about the track something really interesting but Xan caught her interest on more. He knew about the tunnels!!! She looked up with far more interest in her pale eyes. She stepped forward, tail wagging. "Can you show me?," she asked. She wanted to know more about them and where they led. She would be an expert! Yes, that would be awesome! Kendra smiled happily trying to convince the other by being extra cute.

Alexander had to take a moment after hearing her answer, before giving her an 'are you serious?' look. "The love of your sibling won't always be there," he stated bluntly, speaking solely from personal experience. Siblings were there to abandon you, to leave you alone during the time when you needed them the most. He had no doubt that the same fate would befall the twins, his view of families having been clouded immensely. Though they no longer had another parent that could steal them away from one another, a time would come where a decision would be placed before them. A decision that would divide them, and leave bonds severed.

The boy gave a gentle shake of his head, forcing away his negative thoughts. He need not have his mood soured anymore by allowing himself to think of what the future would be like by the girl, especially since it involved delving into what he'd experienced firsthand. He heard her sniffing around as he regained control over his senses, and assumed she would be leaving to go "investigate" some more dirt. Bad luck seemed to chase him wherever he went, however, for her interested was grabbed by what he'd said. A question was asked, followed by an overly happy smile. It bothered him, the fact that the girl could act so carelessly—that she could act like a child. "Why?" he asked, responding to her query with one of his own. "So you can get lost or hurt and then complain to your dad? So you can get me into trouble?" Already, he knew, he was on thin ice where Burke was concerned. The last thing he needed was for a weight to be placed upon that, for there was no denying that it would shatter and send him falling into danger.

Kendra let out a soft scowl when Xan spoke about siblings not being around. She believed Pietro would never leave her. Since she would never leave him. The girl was pretty certain about them staying together. She just ignored his comment, wanting to explore more about the earth. This male didn't seem to tell her much about the tunnels at all. He only played the blame game and was being ... What was he being? He was just... weird. Kendra's pale eyes looked around, her pup-attentionspan had just broken down and she was not in the mood anymore to listen to this pale wolf. 

"Okay. Be good," she spoke, having her father say that to them when he left she thought it was a goodbye wish or something like that. She couldn't be more wrong but with that the dark little girl trotted off with her nose back to the earth. For her the meeting didn't do much to impress her. She thought he knew about tunnels but didn't want to talk about it so she would accept that and find out herself.

Not sure if you want to have her react to his growl or not, so I'll leave this open. You can go ahead and archive if she wouldn't respond~

The scowl that crossed the girl's face did not affect him in even the slightest, nor did it make him wish to change what he'd said. He stood by his words entirely, and would never take back a single thing that left his mouth. If she wanted to live in denial and believe her entire family would always be there for her, then who was he to stop her? Couldn't cure the stupid, after all. Still, he observed her in silence for a few moments longer, noticing her gaze trailing off to elsewhere. Normally, the lack of attention being given towards his words would have irritated him, but this time around it only made him feel relived. Perhaps, if he played his cards right, the girl would leave and he'd be left to carry on with his day in peace.

When the girl spoke again, her words caused a growl to grow in the back of his throat. Be good? Who did she think she was, telling him to be good? Xan's fur bristled and his eyes narrowed to slits, gaze locked upon the other's figure. As she began to trot off, he snapped his jaws together in her direction, displaying his displeasure towards her choice of words. The thought of leading her down into the tunnels became tempting, then, if only because he would be able to then leave her there. That was risky, he knew, because he'd yet to be given a lesson in navigating the twisting expanse of walkways, but even still he couldn't help but consider it. He glowered at her back as she moved away, but no words exited his maw. Someday, he knew, he would get back at her.