Verdant Basin and burbled as it came!

She set off a whole day later than originally planned, though Sugar knew it didn't matter much in the grand scheme of things. It was snowing gently when her feet carried her away from the copse and there was a thick blanket by the time she approached the basin. Despite everyone telling her it wasn't far, it still took her by surprise to see the landmark so soon. It wasn't even midday yet. According to her directions, she would reach the Frosthawks' front door no later than this evening.

Of course, she wasn't traveling by her lonesome, though Sugar hadn't been very talkative during their travels thus far. Her stomach was still a little uneasy from her nerves, though excitement was quickly subsuming her anxiety. Seeing that the distance really wasn't so great really helped to calm her and that made room for hunger, which gnawed at her belly with sudden ferocity.

"Let's take a break," she suggested to @Bronco, slowing and glancing at the frozen water off to their left. "Maybe we can find something to eat..." Sugar's eyes tracked over the snowy landscape, her lips pursing thoughtfully.

Title from "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll.

Travelling wasn't easy. He'd had a taste of it early on in his life when his mother had dragged him off on some mother-son bonding mission, and all he'd learned was that his mother's legs had to have been considered unnaturally long, and that he, as a puppy, was too short to keep up with her. He'd returned to the pack with more muscle than before, and perhaps with more ego than before, but it had prepared him for a life that would be very far from sedentary. So as he moved along with Sugar, he gave her the side-eye every so often to make sure she wasn't exhibiting the same signs of fatigure that he'd shown when he'd been young. And when she did call for a break, he was happy to take one with her. 

"Sounds good to me," He said, following her gaze. The water was frozen, but he meandered over to it anyway, scratching at the ice in hopes of perhaps seeing a fish frozen, but it was too shallow. He licked up some of the ice bits he'd scratched off, and then shuddered, and chuckled. "A nice hot meal'd go down real good. Maybe if we follow this, we'll find a place where the water's open that animals go to drink an' we can track something down from there. Sound good? Or did ya wanna take a break?" He asked. He wasn't ready to volunteer that she wait there by herself while he hunted- as he did not want to leave her side.

Her eyes now tracked Bronco's movements as he moved closer to the ice. "Be careful," she said, then fell silent when he spoke. Sugar's lips twitched and she couldn't help but point out, "I don't know if being a tracker is cool but I think you'd be good at it." She couldn't resist, not after their last conversation.

That didn't exactly answer his question though. She pondered it a moment, then plopped onto her haunches. "I'm going to take a load off for a few minutes, then we can look for food." Meanwhile, she took another moment to scan their surroundings and marvel aloud, "It's so pretty, especially with all this snow. I think I prefer this sort of weather to summer." Her black eyes sought Bronco's face again as she smilingly finished, "I guess it makes sense that I'm off to be a Frosthawk rather than a Firebird, huh?"

Bronco frowned for a moment, a bit put out that Sugar was quick- as he'd been- to assume that tracking wasn't especially thrilling. He shrugged a shoulder as he ambled back toward her, and struck a knightly pose as he did so, when he was complimented. "Maybe I'll just have to make it be a cool thing," He said, before melting back into his usual, half-slumped posture. He wasn't exactly sure how tracking could become a cool thing- but if he was naturally skilled at it, then perhaps he could turn it into some sort of talent. 

She seemed inclined to take a break, so he nodded. She sat down, and Bronco flopped onto his side, propping his chest up with his forelegs so he wasn't completely vulnerable, and could keep an eye on their surroundings. He scrunched his nose at her comment, and the joke she made. "Hyuk," He said, and then chuckled. It wasn't that bad of a joke, and had it been said by anyone else, Bronco simply would have rolled his eyes, but he had an affinity for Sugar, and her gentle humour. "I dunno. I'm kinda looking forward to it being summer again, s'long as it doesn't get too hot," He said. "Least the copse is nice and shady. We could always find a good place somewhere in between summer and winter and call it the Shadefalcons or something like that, so we could both be happy there," He hypothesized.

She chortled lightly at his rejoinder. "Did you ever think," she teased good-naturedly, "that just because you're doing it, it becomes cool?" She tilted her head at him, especially once he rejoined her and flopped to his bottom beside her. He was young, though Bronco veritably towered over Sugar. It made her feel safe.

Sugar listened curiously as Bronco began to opine about weather in turn. He seemed to prefer warmer climes. He did have a point about the copse being shady. She recalled seeking said shade all the time during the dog days of summer and suddenly thought to share, "The sun hurts my eyes. It's too bright sometimes. I can see much better at night. And, actually," she realized even as she spoke, "the snow kind of hurts them too." Just like that, they began to water, so she shut them.

"Hmm," she said in response to Bronco's proposal, eyes still closed. She tipped her head skyward, thinking fleetingly of Fennec as she enjoyed the sensation of snow lightly brushing her face. "I think the word you're looking for is autumn. But I don't think it's really a place, so to speak," Sugar said through a smile.

Bronco leaned back to look at SUgar, half-looking at her u[side-down over his shoulder, and he grinned. "'Course it does," Hre replied. "But I can't be arsed to make every trade be as cool as I am. 'Sides. You're already goin' off and making 'caregiver' look cool, so I just kinda hafta take whatever's leftover an' work with that," He said. He also doubted very much that he could ever be any hand at caregiving, no matter which specialty he chose, and he wanted Sugar to feel as though she too had that very same effect on her trades. He spoke with assurance and confidence, so she wouldn't think he was making fun of her trade. 

He frowned, though, at the thought of Sugar's eyes being hurt by the sun. Her eyes were different from those that everyone else had- even the irises were much darker, making her look as though she didn't even have irises at all. He envied her, having that sort of look about her, as well as her definitive facial markings- but if it was causing her pain, then it irritated him. 

"There's gotta be some place where it ain't bright all the time...Or even during all seasons. Maybe Raven will know something you can take to make your eyes hurt less?" He suggested, though he didn't like the idea of Sugar having to take a daiyl herbal remedy. He shrugged. "Otherwise, I'll just make sure I'm always taller'n you, an' I can be your personal bodyguard and sunblock."

She finally opened her eyes again to glance at him in fond amusement. "If anyone knows, it'll be Raven, from what I've heard," she replied, "and thank you, I appreciate that." Sugar smiled sweetly at him, then squinted her eyes and took another gander at the snowy grounds surrounding the basin. Although the glare did make her eyes ache, she couldn't stop looking.

"That's another good thing about winter: the nights are longer," she observed aloud after a beat of comfortable silence. "I really enjoyed the fall too. Seeing everything change was pretty incredible. I guess spring will be the same but in reverse. I don't remember last year's and you probably don't either. We were too little." Idly, she wondered if she would be back with Firebirds by then. Or would she hang out at Frosthawks a while? Or perhaps, like Wraen had suggested, this venture would make her realize how big the world was and how much there was to explore?

Sugar's stomach gurgled suddenly and she laughed. "Okay, I think I'm ready to scrounge up something to eat." She slowly rose back onto all fours. "Think we'll find something 'hot'?" she quoted him. "Or should we try to scavenge? I'm not a very good hunter," she warned.

She still seemed somewhat sensitive to the light so, as he'd stated previously, he stood back up, prompted by her hunger, and positioned himself so that he could block her from the sun's glare. The snow's reflection wasn't exactly something he could help, but he'd do as much as he could in the meantime. Though she claimed her hunting skills were lacking, he did have some confidence in his, so he set about sniffing the air, first, so that he didn't have to move out of his sun-blocking position. 

"I don't remember Spring either." He said, still stretching his neck so he could sniff the air. . "Or much of last summer." He admitted. It had all gone by in a blur, after all. After his father had passed away, Bronco had failed to take note of most things which might have otherwise been delightful for someone his age. He was ambivalent about fall, but fairly certain that he didn't like being hungry- and if winter meant always being hungry, then it fell to reason that he didn't like winter. 

"Oh!" He said, freezing as he leaned in one direction, before he began to saunter away, turning his head this way and that, inhaling through his nose, and exhaling through his mouth quickly. "Think I got somethin'!" He exclaimed, and began to trot off, assuming she'd follow along behind him.

In way of answer, Bronco announced that he "got somethin'," which made Sugar blink in surprise, then grin. She hadn't expected they would find a scent so soon, though she was glad. The sooner they found and hopefully caught some prey, the sooner they could eat and get on their way.

"What is it?" she questioned, springing forward and trotting alongside him across the snowy landscape, blinking errant flakes from her eyelashes.

He continued to move forward, nose thrust up into the air until Sugar Glider trotted to his side, questioning what he might have scented, and for a second, he paused. "I smell..." He said, trailing off, before he dropped his seriousness and dipped into a play-bow, reaching out to bop her shoulder with his nose as he chuckled and chuffed "Cousin," in a gruff voice. But as quickly as he'd made the joke, he straightened himself and strode away from her, lowering his nose once he came upon a set of tracks. 

"Aha! Varmint!" He said softly, victoriously, as he gestured toward the fresh set of rabbit tracks in the snow. There were several sets of rabbit tracks weaving this way and that way through the snow, as rabbits were wont to travel in such ways, so he set about sniffing each to try and determine which one was their ticket, and the quickest set of tracks to the freshest rabbit.

I'm putting Sugar on the shelf for a bit, would you mind wrapping this for us?

Sugar pulled her lips into a flat, unimpressed line at Bronco's quip, though she grinned at him in the next beat, fondly rolling her eyes. "Goober," she said under her breath, quickly following after him when he darted after a trail, specifically one left by a hare (or two?).

Her mouth watered as she drew the scent into her own nose. "Just tell me what to do," she hisspered to Bronco, keeping close, ready for his signal. Maybe if they managed to catch more than one, they could not only fill their own bellies but show up on the Frosthawks' doorstep with a gift in hand.

Sugar tailed him as he moved from one trail to another, rather than striking out on her own, allowing Bronco to assume a lead hunting position whilst she followed his movements. He knew the strategy in fanning out to track and hunt, but also appreciated that his cousin didn't bound off willy-nilly and inadvertantly scare off any rabbits that might've seen the wolves, and tucked themselves down into hiding. He could tell that they were close- but how close wasn't immediately apparent, until he found a trail that piqued his interest. 

"Gold. This'un," He said in a hushed voice, indicating that they follow the trail which was easily visible in the snow, so Bronco was able to hasten his pace. He would use his training to provide a small meal for them both, before continuing on their journey toward where the Frosthawks dwelled.