Moonspear Day to day grind

Dash had awoke that morning rather hungry, and instead of taking from the caches, he decided he would catch something fresh. He knew he needed to hone his skills anyways since the pack was hunting for the pups now. Well, he wasn't really sure if they were eating meat yet, but Ame still was, and he did know she needed all the food she could get. It was one of the reasons he tried to catch his own food and leave the cache for the others.

Several hours later, Dash was by the river, his belly full of rabbit and his muzzle and paws covered in blood. He dipped his body into the cool water to rinse off, and to quench his thirst. When he was finished, he leapt into shore and shook the water from his fur. He sat back on his haunches, knowing the next task would be to groom himself. 

Alya was not known for being quiet, but she'd learned that some things only came to those soft of paw and silent of breath. She'd slipped away from the den and the rest of her family that day intending to track down The Great White and steal a few moments alone with him before Mama - inevitably - came to take her away from her father and his attentions. Or even worse! What if Mama brought all the princesses with her, and The Great White ignored her to play with them?

It was the highest form of treason to the growing little girl. Even her Most Beloved was an intruder when she was with The Great White. There were just so many of them - he never had time for just her.

Feeling sulky, now, Alya trudged along kicking at whatever happened to be in her path and not paying too much attention to her surroundings. She was lost almost immediately, but this didn't worry her. Someone would be along shortly to carry her back to the den. Mama, probably, she thought huffily. So when she came to the river - something she had never seen before - she was not worried; just curious.

"Hewo," she said loudly, though even at this age, she could tell that the burbling water was not a living thing, and could probably not answer her. Alya just liked to talk. If she'd seen Dash standing nearby, she would have happily gone to him and talked his ears off, but she didn't see Dash.

Curiously, she padded toward the water and looked into it. Her reflection stared back at her, black-furred and blue-eyed. "Hyda!" she shouted, shocked. But, no... that wasn't Hydra, was it? It had to be! Or maybe - "Leewa?" she asked, almost fearful now. "Wassu doing?"

Blue eyes cought the loudest of her sisters, Alya, slipping away, out into the Unknown. It was safe to say that it was the first time Julia had seen her sister be completely, utterly, silent. Curious, the pale puppy departed as well, slipping quietly out of the den just in time to see her midnight sister disappear. She tumbled after her, knowing full well she must be quiet. If Mama or Dad found her and Alya, they would surely scoop them up and take them back. 

The realization that this was bad flooded over her, and she giggled to her self. This was bad! Her wriggly body struggled to keep up with her larger sister, and she stumbled over her own paws, crashing through the bushes and helping their escape become just a little more noticable. With her tail tucked beneath her from guilt, she continued to hurry along.

Alya made it to the river first, and Korei was not far behind, though from her hurry, she tumbled right into Alya, hitting her headlong and falling back onto her bottom. "Ow." She grumbled, shaking her fluffy head and standing back up onto her rather wobbly paws. Alya was talking to something, and the pearlescent pup stared at her for a moment, before she walked up to see for herself. To her surprise, Korei looked down to see another pale puppy across from her! And in front of Alya, there was another black puppy. Her chest filled with glee. "Awa, Awa, ook!" she exclaimed to her sister as if she hadn't already seen the new wolf cubs. "Herrow," she told the strangers, waiting for them to reply.

Unlike Alya, it never occured to Julia that the new black pup could be Hydra or Lyra, for who would this other, lighter puppy be? But then it suddenly dawned on her, and her heart skipped a beat from fear. What if there were two of her?

This felt like the longest stretch of time that Floki had been home; while he wanted to travel, and even had plans to fulfill, he found that he kind of liked being near his family. He visited the girls as frequently as he could while keeping up with his other duties. He made sure that Amekaze and Charon knew that he was always just a howl away -- he was more than happy to help with anything they needed.

The creek was a particularly popular locale today, as Floki meandered alongside it from its upper reaches on the slope. The first sound he heard was a splash, and as he rounded a curve he spotted Dash emerging from the water and giving himself a shake. He approached with a smile and a waving tail, but paused when he heard the softest crooning of a tiny voice -- was that one of his nieces? It couldn't be; there was no way they would have strayed this far from the den.

"Did you hear that?" he asked, glancing around surreptitiously before meeting Dash's gaze.

Dash happened to be facing the direction in which Floki was coming, and he wagged his tail in greeting to his Beta, his head lowering in respect to him. He was about to say hello when the sound Floki inquired about reached his ears. They perked and he turned. Yeah, I did, he said quietly, trying to figure out what it was. Admittedly, he hadn't been around the den site since his first meeting the pups, as he was a little scared of Ame, even though she had been friendly. He was simply worried he'd make the wrong move and incur her wrath. 

He glanced to Floki, then began to move in the direction of the sound. As he rounded a bend of the river, he seen two of the pups. His eyes widened, but they didn't move from them as he spoke to Floki. Are they supposed to be this far from the den alone? he questioned. Then, he looked around for Ame or Charon. He didn't see them, and a worried gaze turned to Floki. 

Entranced by the image before her, and leaning nearer and near toward the water's surface, Alya did not notice her pale sister until she had bumped into her rear. With a mighty sqwak, the darker child plopped into the river and disappeared under the surface for one long and endless moment. The water had time to still behind her, and she missed entirely Korei's first experience with her reflection.

If she had witness it, perhaps things would have turned out differently. Perhaps she could have understood. But it was not to be, and when Alya emerged, sputtering, from the shallow creek, it was with confusion reigning her tiny little head. Where had her sister gone? Korei was here, but Lyra or Hydra had disappered - they hadn't even been underwater! But... she was. Alya had been under the water. Could it have been that... that that wolf was her? Could she really be Hydra? Lyra? Could they all be there, and could they all be her?

Her fragile sense of identity strained and twisted under the weight of such thoughts, and then shifted suddenly into a thing more fluid than the waters she sat in - into something that most wolves would easily recognize as folly. But to Alya's young mind, it was simple: She was Alya, and so were Hydra and Lyra. Hydra and Lyra were Alya. They were one in the same. Different and separate at times, but able to take up the same space - interchangable.

Of course, little Alya could not think in such grand terms. Her realization was sublter, softer. A flash of thought, and then simply reality. As far as she was concerned, it had always been this way.

Presently, her attention turned to Korei, and without the midigating presence of Hydra to protect the weaker girl, Alya decided that some roughhousing was in order.

"Kaway!" she cried, rushing out of the creek in a torrent of cold water and leaping at her paler sister.

Alya tumbled into the water, and Korei laughed, as the potential danger of the event did not occur to her. Nothing in the pale girl's world was dangerous, there was just laughter and love and play. She watched as Alya reappeared  as a stuttered black blob and then she returned to the other white wolf before her. She still hadn't replied to Korei's greeting, so she cocked her head and leaned closer. She other wolf leaned closer too! She lowered her brow and she was astonished to see that the other puppy did as well! Oooh, she couldn't wait to tell Mama about her new friend! 

Since Friend was still there, Julia decided to try her greeting again. "HERRROOOO!" she shouted to her, as loud as she could go. Maybe Friend would hear her this time! Just as she was done shouting, another shout reached her ears and it was not her's. It was Alya's! Tiny pale head turned just in time to see her black sister hurling herself to her and Korei screamed with excitement. She fell over with Alya and her sister's wet fur dampened her own. She screeched and laughed. "Awa! AWA!!!" Together they tussled, Alya on top, Julia on the bottom. She kicked and squired and nipped at the black puppy with her milk teeth, anything to get her off of her. 

Finally, she gave one final kick of her hind legs and attempted to roll away, closing her puppy-blue eyes to let whatever was to come next happen, for that was her strategy. If she couldn't see anyone, no one could see her!

Floki was at least reassured when Dash agreed that he had heard the same thing; he wasn't just imagining it. But this incited a new feeling of worry within him, and he frowned as he fell into step behind Dash, following his packmate as they traced their way alongside the river. Even as they moved, Floki became aware of the sound of splashing accompanied by more tiny voices, these ones expressed at a louder volume.

The two males followed the natural bend of the creek and were rewarded with the sight of two puppies. By now, they were both wet and were wrestling on the shore, totally oblivious to the approaching adults. Floki was briefly relieved and even allowed the right side of his mouth to quirk upward into a grin. They were just having fun; he and Jorunn had pushed the limits of their childhood together on more than one occasion, and he remembered those days fondly.

But Dash was right. Charon and Ame likely didn't authorize this little field trip. Floki stepped towards his nieces, his gaze lingering on the dark one as he tried to figure out her identity. Hydra? Lyra? Alya? He wasn't quite sure. "Hi girls," he said softly, so as not to startle them.

Dash couldn't help but grin at the antics of the pups. They looked so innocent, without a care in the world, as they played with each other in the soft flows of the river. They were lucky, he knew, that they happened to pick a spot that was so shallow. Otherwise, they would have been swept off with the current. 

He remained quiet as Floki greeted the sisters, worried they would be surprised and run off. They knew Floki better than he, though they seemed to have fun with Dash the last time they met. He wanted to keep that positive view as best he could. Sitting back on his haunches, he waited to see what Floki would do, and would most likely follow his lead.

Even spoken softly, the beta's words were enough to startle Alya - guiltily - off of her sister. But, seeing as neither of the two were Hydra (and therefore unable to get her in trouble), the young girl loosened up almsot at once.

"Fokki! Dashie!" she said happily, stalking toward them in an admirable mimmicry of her mother, except for the wide, happy grin on her face. "Come pway! Stomp Juju!"

But she did not go back to wrestling the pale pup - she was too interested in the larger pair before her. Dashie was a favorite, of course. Even if he didn't have milk. (She was still a little foggy on how boys and girls worked, but she had discovered that Dash had a mysterious and fun-looking thing hanging from his hindquarters. Alya had never been able to get too near it, but she imagined it would be chewy, and fun to bat around. She had not yet discovered that this was something attributed only to male wolves, as she had not yet noticed either Floki or her father's testicles.)

"Hyda and Lewa and Awa in wabber," she explained, tiny tail flipping around excitedly. "See Awa?"

Keeping this moving! ^_^

The girls sprang apart, Alya with a guilty expression that was only fleeting. She greeted the adults happily and with a broad grin, and any concern Floki had felt melted away. How could he be upset with his adorable nieces? Alya indicated that she and her identical sisters were all in the water, and Floki peered around her to look. Sure enough, there was Alya's own reflection -- and it was easy to see how she intuited that Lyra and Hydra were there, too.

He glanced back at Dash and said quietly, "We'll take them home soon." Then, to the girls, he crowed, "How did Alya and Lyra and Hydra get in the water?!" Shifting so that he was alongside Alya, he looked down at his own mirror image. "And look, there's Uncle Floki too. Hi!" He waggled a paw, watching its distorted likeness wave back at him.

A bright smile appeared on his maw as Alya acknowledged them happily. He had come to love these tiny little wolves, even if their very first meeting had been a little rocky. It seemed to all be in the past now, thankfully. With Floki's assurance that they would take them back to the den soon, Dash relaxed and allowed himself this little time to play with them.

Like the Beta, Dash peered into the water. Hey, I'm there, too! he exclaimed. Maybe I can catch me! he said, then proceeded to pounce into the water. It was shallow enough that his splash wasn't that big, but it was possible it might hit the others. His tail wagged as he mouthed at the water, attempting to grab "himself", but failing every time. 

Alya's tail continued to wag as she was greeted. She knew and loved and trusted these wolves, and they were always good fun! Uncle Floki especially, because he was almost like a dad except not. Her puppyish grin faded, however, when she was shown that there were two of him.

"Fokki..." she agreed, uncertain as she studied the rippling, faving uncle in the water. Did she have three uncles? Did Uncle Floki have twins, too?

All thoughts of this were erased as Dashie and Mamakaze came onto the scene. Dashie jumped into the water to chase after her, and Alya forgot all about her three uncles and mirror twins and even stomping Korei. Instead, she ran straight into the water to help chase Mamakaze, who'd slipped out of sight in all the hubbub.

Floki laughed as Dash slipped into character and played along, going so far as to leap into the water in pursuit of his own reflection. He glanced down at Alya, who was hovering at his side, seeming to be a little uncertain -- but Dash's splashing bolstered her confidence and she plunged in after him.

The Beta moved to follow, while simultaneously keeping an eye on Korei Julia back on the riverbank. He waded into the shallow water, and as it lapped at his ankles he found himself wondering if Alya knew how to swim. "Keep a close eye on her, in case it gets too deep for her," he called out to Dash, staying near the flopping little fish of a wolf. So far, so good, though -- so he flicked a spray of water playfully towards her with his paw.

Eventually, when the girls started to visibly tire, Floki and Dash escorted them back to their parents -- but didn't tell Amekaze and Charon just how far from home they had wandered. It could be their little secret.