Redhawk Caldera Circle of life

I'm basing the description off this image, though instead of mountains, it's overlooking Lake Rodney. I hope that makes geological sense.

He rose with the sun, his shadow filling the doorway of the den. Peregrine stood in its mouth for a moment, savoring this last morning here, then turned to face his family still snoozing behind him. "Time to get up," he said softly, his deep timbre filling the small lair. Had it seemed this small eight weeks ago, when Fox had birthed the puppies in here? Or did it just seem that way because they'd grown so much since that day? "Today's the day," he added a bit louder.

As usual, it took some coaxing to get the puppies to rouse. Peregrine left his mate in charge of that just long enough to fetch the leg of an elk killed over the weekend. This would be their final meal here at the pups' birthplace, not to mention one of their first without a milk supplement now that they were fully weaned. Then, rested and fed, the family would say goodbye to this den forever and move on and up to bigger, better things.

They lingered longer than usual after breakfast, the Alpha pair perhaps slightly reluctant to close this chapter of theirs and their pups' lives. But eventually, Peregrine said, "Okay, troops, let's get a move on!" He hiked a black foreleg in the air, pointing, then abruptly took off at a canter. The sounds of giggles, indignant cries and little feet smacking the earth told him that @Nightjar, @Wildfire, @Raven (and @Fox, too, of course) were in tow.

They arrived perhaps half an hour later, emerging at the edge of a sprawling clearing that sloped slightly downhill from where they stood and featured rolling hillocks beyond. In the distance yonder lay a majestic view of Lake Rodney. The site was protected by evergreen copses on nearly all sides, thick in some places and thin, almost sparse, in others. It was enormous compared to their previous home and would be the perfect place for the pups to stretch their legs and continue growing.

"So, what do you think?" Peregrine asked his collective family, turning to gauge their first impressions of their new digs.

Some mornings, Wildfire was up and at 'em. Others, she was slow to rise. Today was one of those days. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get her out of bed, though she became alert at once when the smell of meat wafted into her nose. The cub missed nursing—the comfort of it as much as the sweet, rich taste of her mother's milk—but nothing tasted as wonderful as meat! Wildfire fell upon it with vigor, her sharp little teeth tearing off chunks which she carried to a spot a few feet away to enjoy before returning to the main dish time and time again.

There was an excitement in the air as breakfast drew to a close. The Alphas stepped away from the stripped leg bone and the three puppies were quick to trundle along behind them, Wildfire bringing up the rear as she tried not to stumble over her own big feet. Not often did they venture away as a group like this, though she didn't question it one bit, nor understand what was actually happening. If she had, she might have given the whelping den a last glance. But she didn't; she only faced forward.

By the time Peregrine drew to a stop a good thirty minutes later, Wildfire's tongue was lolling from her muzzle and her legs were trembling slightly with exertion. Her bright eyes roamed over the view below them, then she glanced up first at her father, then her mother. Her gaze then returned to the scenery in front of her and the little dhole lookalike began cantering down the hill, tripping several times but managing to keep her feet.

She expected one of her parents to beckon her back, yet when she reached the foot of the small slope and turned, they were merely watching her. Wildfire's eyes shifted to Peregrine and she guessed, "Voo site? 'Ome naow?" He had been talking about this for days and had even taken her out on a view jaunts to explore the possibilities. She didn't remember seeing this place, though her thin black tail lifted and wagged as if in approval.

If there was anybody happier than Fox about moving away from the den and to the rendezvous site, it would be hard to tell. She was downright elated to get away from the cramped confines of the den and move on to the open, airy outdoors. The kids would get even more time to explore, and as their minds and bodies developed, they would become adults. It was a bit hard to wrap her head around the fact that they'd already been around for two turns of the moon, but she was happier for it. The first month had been downright difficult. The second had been decidedly easier, and Fox could only guess that things would continue on an upward curve.

They—the little family of five—arrived without incident. Nightjar, Wildfire, and Raven would probably grasp their strongest early memories here. Perhaps Fox would remember a thing or two as well. She didn't doubt that Peregrine was soaking every moment up. "Thanks for finding this, beau," she said, planting a sloppy kiss on Peregrine's snout. Dhole's little questioning voice was the first thing she heard after that, and Fox turned to her near doppelgänger with a nod. "It sure is! And waaaaay out there is Lake Rodney. We'll visit there someday." By "we" she meant the whole family, of course. Taking the kids on adventures was going to be half the fun as they got older.

Nightjar wasn't the first cub to rise, which was almost a first for him. His stores of energy seemed to grow to unlimited capacity overnight so that he was usually the first on his feet, sometimes even beating his Warden father to the punch. For some reason, it was much harder to get up this morning; he was still lying in the den, pretending he was asleep and wishing he could be, when Wildfire discovered the leg.

With a final nudge from one of his parents, the cub rolled onto his stomach, stretched and yawned. He immediately went to Fox—he liked the taste of meat, but was proving to be the most resistant to being weaned—and yelped when Fox nipped roughly at him, deterring him away from her spent teats and putting him in his place all while directing him toward the leg. His tail snaked between his thighs as he crept closer to the meal, though after a bite or two, it swayed over his hips and his mother's punishment was forgotten.

Soon enough, Peregrine roused them and cantered off into the distance. Never one to miss an opportunity to either chase or fight someone, Nightjar scrambled to his feet and set off after the Alpha male at a brisk run. To look at him now, one would never know he was once a clumsy butterball. He was now a sleek young two-month-old, strong but actually pretty slow. His sisters overtook him soon enough, and by the time they reached the rendezvous site, Nightjar was panting, but bright-eyed.

The hill rolled on in front of him, and he resisted the urge to run down it for exactly two seconds before he flung himself along in Wildfire's wake. He was only halfway down when he tripped over a rock. His fall didn't break his momentum, though, and soon he was whirling away in a somersault that stopped only when he crashed into the trunk of an evergreen tree.

Being a young boy and therefore remarkably resilient, Nightjar stood up slowly, aching but whole. Wildfire was staring back up the hill, and Fox was saying something about rods and knees. Nightjar shook himself, freeing his coat of about thirteen pine needles, and began to pad slowly back up toward his parents, babbling, "owd knee owd knee," all the way.

Raven had been in the midst of a flurry of bizarre dreams, her little body twitching in response to visions and sensations she couldn't understand, when she was jostled awake by the stirring of her siblings around her.  Blinking and staring around in confusion, she slowly rose to her feet.  She gazed at her father with a troubled expression on her face for several moments, even as her brother and sister fell upon the elk leg he offered them.  She saw him in her dreams, yet he was somehow different...

A gentle nudge from her mother broke her strange reverie, though, and she joined her siblings for breakfast. She wasn't especially hungry, though, and only took a few bites from the meaty leg.  Despite her lack of appetite, the food was delicious.  Raven had taken a vigorous liking to meat; she loved the texture of it and particularly enjoyed the taste of fresh blood.  She had been an easy kid to wean, readily eschewing her mother's milk in favor of meat.  It was odd for her to take such a lackluster interest in a meal, but then again, puppies were fickle little monsters. 

Soon they were whisked off on an adventure, Dad leading the way and Mom bringing up the rear.  Raven, like her siblings, was frisky and interested, taking in the sights and scents around her.  Several places were familiar to her and she recognized vague wafts of her parents' scent markings on the breeze.  They continued onward, though, to someplace new that Raven hadn't yet visited.  Her first impression of their new rendezvous site was that it was big!  Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open in a tiny "o" as she looked out over the vista that spread before her; soft, grassy hills rolled and sloped down to a glittering blue lake in the distance, hugged on either side by dense arms of evergreen forest.  This was a place where three growing wolf pups could run and play to their hearts' content, with endless miles of wildland to roam and explore (and get into trouble, no doubt).  Her tail waving behind her, Raven looked up at her father with a smile on her blue-eyed face and commented simply, "Prilly!"

"Yep," Peregrine called down to Wildfire, echoing his mate. A broad grin crept over his dark features, "this is home now." His tail wagged in a few powerful waves in the hopes of encouraging his children's positive responses. Although he was sure they would find it thrilling and adventurous, he was also prepared for some fright and homesickness as they adjusted to life away from the comforts of the whelping den.

The pups began tumbling down the hill and he began to lope down after them, chuckling at Nightjar's repetitions about old knees, by the sound of it. "Lake Rod-ney," Peregrine gently enunciated for his son in the hopes that his pronunciation would improve. "It's that big blue thing up there. That's a giant puddle. How cool is that?" He paused, then added, "And there's another puddle close by that we'll visit too. You can't see that one from here, though." He was, of course, referring to the caldera itself on the mount's interior.

"Yes, very prilly," he replied when he caught his youngest's opinion. He chuffed at her. He had now joined the trio of pups at the foot of the hillock. "Go and explore!" he urged them. "Stay within sight for now," he added. Over the coming days, they would cut the umbilical in a sense, allowing Nightjar, Wildfire and Raven free run of the site even though it would mean not being able to see or even hear them at all times. It would be an adjustment on both ends, but a necessary step into the journey to independence and adulthood.

Perhaps later, Wildfire would come to miss the den and mourn the loss of her first home in a way. Right now, though, she didn't give the whelping den a second thought. The sensory input out here in the open was almost overwhelming, so there was no time to focus on much of anything else. At her father's encouragement, she began to slowly move even further into the clearing. She exchanged glances with her siblings, making sure they were close by, then scanned her surroundings as Wildfire tried to decide which direction to go in first.

Ultimately, she simply continued forward, roaming closer to the view of the lake, which meant she was going slightly downhill. Her legs pumped faster than they ever had before as Wildfire veritably hurtled across the uneven grade. For a solid thirty seconds, she galloped without incident. But then the inevitable happened: she tripped over her own feet and went sprawling roughly to the ground. Despite the hard impact, which knocked some of the wind out of her, Wildfire giggled to herself as she recovered nearly instantly. She jumped back to her paws, turning around to face her family.

Her parents were black and red specks up above. Wildfire's heart was beating rapidly in her chest. She had never been this far from them before. For a moment, two opposing instincts warred inside her. Should she return to her parents' side, where she felt safest and most at home... or should she continue exploring her new-found boundaries? It was a tough decision and Wildfire didn't make it hastily, allowing herself a moment to catch her breath.

In the end, the decision didn't come consciously. A movement to her left caught her attention. A chipmunk was fleeing uphill. It disappeared into a copse of trees in nearly the same instant Wildfire's yellow eyes caught sight of it. Nevertheless, the red puppy barked a loud, "Hey!" and ran instinctively toward it, its scent filling her nose as she tracked it into the tiny chunk of forestry.

Fox watched with wild amusement as the pups tumbled over their own feet. They certainly were a clumsy bunch, but she figured they would out-grow it. The three of them hadn't even been alive for that long, after all! Raven was certainly the most reserved of the three, though it didn't set off any alarms for Fox. Just because she was different in that regard didn't mean that there was anything wrong with her. In fact, she'd been the best about the transition from milk to meat, something that her mother was over the moon excited about. Nightjar, on the other hand...

"Prilly, indeed!" Fox said to Raven, who seemed quite taken with the landscape. Fox trotted alongside Peregrine, occasionally checking to make sure none of the three pups were straggling too much. It wasn't long before Dhole was getting herself into trouble, and Fox gave Perry a quick glance before heading off after the mini explorer into the thicket of trees. "Whatcha chasing after?" Fox asked, having not caught sight of the chipmunk her red-headed child was tracking down.

Peregrine corrected his poor pronunciation, but Nightjar just went right on chanting, "owd knee." Soon they would become acquainted with water, but right now, "puddle" was about the closest he could come to imagining the sheer breadth of a lake. From here, the glistening water seemed tiny and shallow. The small agouti cub turned to look at it for a while, twisting his right ear back to listen to his family while the left, as always, tilted to the side.

He was distracted from the lake by Wildfire's exclamation, and he turned just in time to see her run right up to the edge of the trees. His eyes then sought Raven, who was standing near Peregrine. When he glanced back toward Wildfire, she was gone, and he very nearly tattled on her before he spotted Fox tailing her into the trees. He relaxed a little.

The change was all too much for Nightjar to appreciate fully right now. He flopped down on his rump and continued staring out at the lake in the far distance. It seemed the easiest thing to focus on, oddly enough. There would be lots of time to explore; for now, Nightjar wanted to just chill and let his mind catch up with what was happening.

Raven stuck by her dad's side for a bit, listening as he confirmed that this was "home" now and explained what all those puddles were.  Raven was particularly fascinated by that, since she really liked playing in puddles when it rained.  "Daddy, beg pudders?" she half-asked, half-exclaimed with a grin, looking up at him and wagging her tail.  She'd never seen puddles in sunny weather before.  "Cuh...can we--" she started to ask if she could go play in the big, giant puddles when suddenly, Wildfire bolted away from them.

She watched her sister run as fast as her clumsy legs could carry her down the gentle, grassy slope.  Wifi's majestic galloping glory was shortly brought to an abrupt and ungraceful ending, though, when she tripped over her own feet and crashed, and Raven couldn't help giggling.  She felt a tug inside of her, an urge to run after her red sister and join her, but it was only when Fox stepped forward to go supervise Wifi that Raven did so.  She wasn't always the boldest of the three, and even now, she needed a little encouragement to go out and explore.  Trotting after her mom, Raven looked over her shoulder and called to her brother, "C'mon Nye-jarrr!"

His children were more or less obedient, so it surprised Peregrine a bit and caused his dark brow to furrow when Wildfire disappeared from sight. Fortunately, Fox shot after her, leaving the Alpha male in charge of their two other children. But then Raven went galloping after her mother and sister, leaving the family's two guys to hang out and stare after them. At least Nightjar seemed to be in no hurry to go bolting off in some random direction.

Seating himself next to his son, the caldera's king followed Nightjar's line of vision and belatedly answered the now absent Raven's question, "Yep, you could say Lake Rodney is a big puddle. We'll go there one day," he promised, looking down at the top of his son's head and smiling affectionately at the pup's floppy ear. He bent over to nip at it. "Don't you want to have a look around, NJ? Or are you just soaking it all in?" he guessed, keeping an eye out for Fox, Wildfire and Raven in the hope they would reappear soon.

The chipmunk vanished almost instantly, though Wildfire tried to locate it by dropping her nose to the forest floor and sniffing. She was just about to turn when her mother abruptly appeared at her shoulder, startling her. Wildfire jumped, then crouched, then relaxed in the space of three seconds. Her golden eyes darted around them for a moment, then she turned her face up toward the Alpha female.

"Uhh... mouz?!" she guessed excitedly, unsure of the actual species of her prey. Her black tail briefly stirred the air before slowing and falling still. "Getted 'way," she said in a disappointed voice, slinking to brush against Fox's leg and smiling as Raven's little black face appeared nearby. "'Most getted mouz!" Wildfire excitedly informed her dark sister.

Raven was hot on Fox's heels (in a clumsy puppy way), and she gave her dark daughter a cursory glance before listening to what Dhole had to say. "Happens to the best of us," Fox replied, licking little Wifi's head. "You’ll get it next time." Well, that was actually pretty unlikely, but she had to give the girl hope, y'know? In any case, Dhole would likely forget about this conversation by the next time she tried to chase something down.

"Why don’t we go back and see what Dud and ‘Jar are doing?" Fox suggested. Then again, perhaps the pull of prey would be too hard to leave. There were times that Fox was stubborn enough not to give up on the chase, even when it was long lost. "We can race back if you two want to. I’ll even give you a head start!" Not that Fox intended to use her real speed anyway. Letting the children race against each other was enough of a challenge.

Raven was fascinated with Wildfire's announcement that she'd almost gotten a mouse.  "A mouz?  Wha...whar'da he go?" she asked with wonder on her face, her eyes searching all around for the long-vanished animal.  Of course, she was too young to realize that if he had still been lingering around within sight, they'd all have been chasing him.  

Her interest in the "mouz", however, was broken immediately when the word "race" came out of her mom's mouth.  No self-respecting kid could resist a race, after all.  She pranced in place with excitement and gave her sister a menacing grin full of challenge.  "C'mon, Wifi!  Catch-a me if you caaan!"  She bolted away, running as fast as her clumsy legs could carry her back toward her dad and brother.

Last post for me.

Raven called to him, but Nightjar didn't follow. His curiosity was sated for the day and anything else was overwhelming. Wildfire's mouse was probably very exciting, but the young boy didn't have the capacity for it right now. He lolled his tongue as he watched them go, but made no move to rise, not even when Peregrine prompted him to look around a little.

Instead, he flopped down on his side and allowed exhaustion to penetrate through his curiosity. Within minutes he was fast asleep and dreaming of gigantic puddles that grew and grew and grew until they swallowed all of the Caldera.

When Nightjar flopped to the ground, Peregrine laughed out loud. "Not impressed, eh, little prince?" he mused, moving to stand over the boy. "Or did all the excitement just wear you out?" he added wonderingly, a fond smirk arching his lips. He took a seat with one broad black forepaw on either side of his snoozing son, keeping an eye out for their three ladies.

He caught a glimpse of them moving back in this direction and, satisfied that his family would enjoy their new home, the Alpha male stretched out beside his male heir. He kept his head off the ground, the tip of his black tail twitching like a resting cat's. One jade eye remained on his mate and daughters and the other roved over the gorgeous backdrop of their lovely new home.

Although she was a hunter just like any other wolf, it wasn't one of the child's passions and so she barely gave her failed hunt another thought. When Fox proposed the two girls go back and find their father and brother, even inviting them to a race, Wildfire didn't need to be told twice. She bolted, giggling and squealing as she tried to gain on the two larger wolves. She knew she would probably fall half a dozen times but she was going to make an honest effort!

When the three she-wolves emerged from the brush, they found Peregrine and Nightjar relaxing in the sunshine. It looked pretty nice. Forgetting about the race, Wildfire galloped up to them, then promptly flopped on top of her father's tapping tail, squashing it to the ground. Panting, she rolled onto her side to stare out over the view. The moment she caught her breath, though, she scooted forward to cuddle up against Nightjar to take their first tandem nap in their new home.

Fox trotted casually behind Wildfire and Raven until they came to where Peregrine and NJ had decided to settle down for a nap. Dhole had chosen a spot on top of her father's tail, but Fox was more in the mood to sprawl out on her own, so she did just that. The small red wolf yawned, stretched her front legs into a downward dog pose, stretched her back legs out behind her, and fell asleep to the rustling of the grass around them. Her final thought before she was whisked into a dreamless sleep was that her family was absolutely, wonderfully perfect.