Duskfire Glacier everyone hail to the pumpkin song

Much as his dam’s did, Sikuliak’s gaze flickered to Makatza as they joined the gathering of wolves. Where his mother’s was harsh and chilling, his own was wary and reserved. Young as the boy was, it was hard to remember certain things but his brain definitely still knew that the girl was someone to avoid. 

The soft rasp of Imaq’s words distracted him though and his murky eyes flit away from Makatza — landing on Veteran who had sent his pumpkin tumbling down the hill. That sure looked fun and it helped that his best buddy was here. The blue merle clambered to his paws and half limped, half galloped to meet the boy while still giving Makatza a wide berth.

”Vet-rin!” he crowed in a puppy howl, his pronunciation of the Duskfire pup’s name slowly but surely improving, as he cantered towards the older cub. He skidded to a stop jerkily, sniffing Veteran and his pumpkin alike all over cheerfully, stubby tail wagging a mile a minute. ”What doin’?” 

It seemed even a near death experience couldn’t diminish the wolfdog’s enthusiasm — though he was remarkably shyer around anyone who was not his parents, Meerkat, or Veteran.