Horizon

At a few days shy of three weeks old, Ash was a promising pup as far as physical development went. His coat was a few shades lighter already and his baby-blue eyes had a keenness to them, and though he was still chubby-puppy round in build his nose and limbs were no longer quite so snubby as before. He could stand, and did so as frequently as his energy levels permitted, and though his short stride still wasn’t quite on point, he was a lot less wobbly now.

And… he was off. Bye mum, bye Rowan, bye Saya. He’s leaving home, okay? At least, if he could have spoken, that would have been the determination level he had as he “crept” away from his family and set off up the tunnel to where the interesting smells came from.

quick mobile post, hope it’s okay x)

Rowan was gradually growing comfortable in his growing body. He’d learned to stand somewhat, and though he often found himself tumbling back to the ground, he was… getting better at it, okay? He was.

Bro and Sis seemed so determined to wander around in the den lately, and as such, Rowan began making an effort to follow them. Doing so certainly helped hone his sight and hearing further. Both abilities were still developing, but he’d begun to see clearer, hear clearer.

And he could certainly see, clearly, the sight of his brother toddling off to the den entrance.

Rowan grumbled to himself. His puppy paws brought him closer to Ash, but he stopped a little behind his brother, not quite making an effort to follow him all the way to the opening where the interesting colors and scents came from.

Instead, he sat, his blue eyes hard as he wondered where on earth Ash was trying to go. They’d bumped into all the walls of the den before, hadn’t they? Just because that one wall he was going toward was different-looking—changing from light to dark over the course of several hours—he wasn’t gonna actually try to, like, hit it, too.

Was he?

((Pffft is a Jill post okay <3))

Ash heard something coming behind him. Ah, that was Like-him-scent. His nose wiggled as he connected his brother’s smell to the image of him in his mind. His jaws parted and he let out a small grunt, not a spoken word, but the sound Ash used in place of ‘hello’.

Rowan’s presence made Ash bolder, and also more determined to be the first one into all those new scents. The little male took another step. Then another. A breeze ruffled his fluffy puppy fur as he took the final step outside.

And then he stopped. And sat. And stared. And sniffed.

It was so MUCH. Ash’s entire life had comprise of his mother, brother, sister, Regent and Tahti. That was it. Warmth, milk, baths, and family.

But this… this was… Ash could smell more than he could see, but even with his blue puppy eyes picking up on dirt, grass, rocks and juuuust at the edge of his vision the next oak tree along, that was heaps more than what he’d been able to see in the den.

Plus. The scents. Ash had no idea what any of them were. A squirrel had nested in the branches above them and he could smell its droppings and the shards of nuts it had dug up from a winter cache and messily eaten. A seabird had flown in and left a few grey feathers lying about. Ash could even scent the water from the stream, though that wasn’t in view.

More staring, then he turned his head and grunted at his brother.

Something amazing happened.

After Bro grunted a greeting, he began to step away. And step. And step. And Rowan was soooooo sure he was just… gonna bop into the den wall.

But he didn’t. He actually went beyond it.

Rowan was stunned, and his little jaw went slack.

“Mmmmrrrrrh!” he grumbled, as if to tell Ash to wait for him. His paws began to move again, bringing him to an unsteady stand. He had taken a few steps when, as so many times before, he over-corrected when going to step up the den entrance’s gentle incline.

Rowan rolled over, landing on his side. He was hardly deterred though, and quickly found his way to his paws again.

He scrambled toward Ash, accidentally bumping into his brother’s back, still oblivious to just how wondrous the landscape outside was.

There was a bump to his back. Grumble. But Ash was kind of used to Like-him-scent bumping into him. He was super clumsy with his paws and did it all the time. (Ash actually fell almost as often but don’t tell him that).

“Ra.” He commanded his brother as sternly as a tiny child was able to without the use of actual words. He wanted Like-him-scent to sit up and pay attention to… this. Whatever all of this was.

A finch darted by low to the ground, but it moved so quickly that all Ash saw was a blur, his little head tracking from one side of the horizon to the other trying to figure out what that had been.

Saya was snoozing, preferring to be where she was most comfortable and warm. The noise her brother’s made got her attention, waking her. What’s going on? The looked over at where they have gone. They were much further than ever before. The big white source occasionally went out that way and would disappear.

Now her brothers were going that way. Were they going to disappear too? She didn’t want that so she decided she’ll get up and wobble her way over to them. There was a lot more light, almost blinding. She kept going and eventually bumped into her brother Rowan and fell down on her haunches.

Her eyes adjusted a little better to the outside. It’s a lot of new things to smell and see out there. It got her more curious than to be worrying about her brothers disappearing.

A single paw twitched and her sides rose and fell, the only indication the lump of lean muscle and black-as-night fur was, in fact, alive. Tahti slept just outside the Dentree most days and nights, a silent guardian of her Holly and the puppies. Feed them, refill the cache, oo and ahh over the adorableness and growth of the little ones, occasionally babysit.

Pretty great overall. She’d started grabbing naps whenever the wolf could though. She loved to hunt but trotting all over the range to go to the cache and back to Holly and back to hunt and back and back and everywhere meant the wolf needed naps. The little grunts and yips of the kids was something her ears were long used to, but when they suddenly became louder, not muffled by earth anymore, one ear flicked in concern. That was weird.

Why were the puppy noises getting louder? A snort through her nose before the wolf opened her gold eyes slowly, blinking around herself and tossing a half-awake glance at the mouth of the den. Hmm…WAIT A DARN DIDDLY SECOND.

The mute’s head swung back to spot Ash poking out of the den, as well as what she thought was Ro right behind him and…Well Saya had to be right behind. She wasn’t the type to be left out.

Thank Lupus she’d noticed the little monsters before they fully escaped without supervision. Puppies that small were easy prey for just about anything. Tahti whuffed at them, not sure if she really needed to deposit them back in the den or if they could at least poke around a little. I mean, surely with her watchful eyes on them they’d be ok. They needed to explore anywho. ‘Rrr?’ The wolf cooed her ‘name’, really simply a vocalization she’d designated to him, at Ash. Scoot over, kid, let your siblings see all the cool stuff out here.

Motherhood was exhausting okay. Holly was a very involved mum, she did all the ‘aroo’s and playing and allowing her ears and tail and everything to be chewed on. So she was asleep while her kids ran away forever.

It was one little slip up okay shhh don’t judge.

Even if her light dozing, though, she had this little spidey-sense feeling something was off. There was a lack of puppy. No grunting, flailing, wibbling, or warmth.

Kay, where were her children?

Snapping up in a bleary grunt, she looked around.

Promptly had a heart-attack at the sight of no children where the fuck were they noooooooo don’t leave.

Scrabbling up, she went to stick her head out the den and… There they were.

Deep breaths, Holly.

“Kay guys, little early to be abandoning mum,” she sighed, flopping her head down behind them and looking around.

Bro grumbled at him, to which Rowan responded with what was becoming one of his classic little Rrrrs. Gee, he hadn’t meant to topple into him, okay? Okay. Glad they got that cleared up.

He’d only taken a step when something bumped into his back. He whirled around—which in reality took him a few moments of carefully placing his paws to turn and face his sister—and he promptly rebuked her with, “Ra!”

Okay. Glad they could get that cleared up, too.

With as much focus and sluggishness as before, Rowan oriented himself to face the outside world once again. If Ash had noticed a finch darting low to the ground, then Rowan completely missed it. His attention was on something else—specifically, Not-Mother when she rrred at them.

Well, at Ash, but Rowan liked the sound a lot and he thought she meant him.

His jaws parted to let his tiny pink tongue loll, and with a high-stepping gait, he proceeded to clamber in Not-Mother’s direction. He was maybe a foot or so into the journey when the familiar tone of Mother sounded at his back, giving him pause. His eyes went wide, trying to figure out how he’d heard her but could only see Not-Mother.

Oh good. There was Like-big-scent, he was just about to resign himself to trying one of the noises she loved so much to try and call her to come out here too. Big-milk-scent was next and she lay down, and Ash simply wagged his ratty tail once or twice at her.

He turned to examine the other wolf who had just arrived. Ah, this one was familiar scented as well. He stared at her for a good long while. Six or seven seconds, at least.

“Arp.” He announced at length. A butterfly flitted by. Ash solemnly put up a paw to touch it, but it was gone before he got the black foot in the air properly.

The new world was very strange. Little Saya noticed many differences here and there but didn’t know what they were at all. She didn’t worry too much since her brother’s were nearby so she was fine.

What got her attention was the familiar voice from behind. She wobbled a little bit as she turned and got back on her paws. There was a big familiar head right there in front of her. Saya clumsily placed a tiny paw on mother’s nose. Then spoke. “Na!” She just knew that’s where the noise came from and simply answered.

Ok, there was Holly. Good, so Tahti wasn’t simply abandoned with three pups who wished to exit the safe place.

Whew.

Whilst Ash firmly ignored her (neither the first time, nor, she suspected, would it be the last) Rowan responded and toddled toward her, causing Tahti’s tail to flip back and forth. Then Holly spoke and he stopped, earning a low chuckle from the dark wolf. While Tahti couldn’t really see Saya she could hear her ‘Na!’

Talking better than the mute already. Hmph. She wriggled forward a little ways, cutting out ninety perecent of the rest of the journey Rowan would have had to make and whuffing softly at both boys again. It wouldn’t hurt anything to let them toddle out of the den, right? And Holly would simply snatch them up easily if she objected.

Well, this was fun.

Ash was entranced by a butterfly, Rowan was running (if you could call a puppy waddle ‘running’) toward Star, and Saya… Decided that Holly shouldn’t be so worried and proceeded to tell her ‘Nah’ while booping her nose.

Kay.

Slinking out of the den fully, she stood over both Saya and Ash, blue eyes sweeping the area. Surely it couldn’t hurt to let them look around at the whole outside world? As long as the two adult girls kept their eyes peeled for any hawks or foxes, it’d be fine.

She nosed Ash forward, gently encouraging him to follow his brother. “Star, just help me keep ‘em in one spot-ish? I guess it’s good to let them explore.” Just like, don’t die kiddos.

Please.

Woah! Not-Mother came to him! Rowan continued to pant happily, his little tongue rolling with the effort. He might have been amazed at all the scents in the air he could smell and taste if his attention hadn’t been completely centered around the nice, dark wolf who’d wriggled close to him.

He would leave talking to Mother to Saya, and Ash could meet butterflies—he wanted to go closer the other big lady!

His tail picked up a slow wag as he took a few unsteady steps toward Not-Mother, arching his neck until his nose was lifted high enough to touch her own. Her muzzle held interesting scents. They weren’t like the milk Mother gave him, but still… interesting. He mouthed gently at her chin, alternating between gentle nips and licks. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was doing, but instinct… told him he should?

FEED BABY??????

Ash felt a nudge from Big-milk-scent. He head craned up to look at her, then at Like-him-scent. And… he didn’t know how to figure out the funny looking wolf, the one with fur the wrong colour. Totally-different-scent?

But he was interested in what his brother was doing. He looked at him, then up at his mother, and poked his own bunt nose at Holly’s lips with a ‘me too’ grunt.

The mommy suddenly flew above, Saya almost fell backwards when she looked up. After a little while she turned to face Ash who got nudged by mother. She noticed the movements from Rowan and the dark figure. Saya decided the wanted a closer look. She got up and walked around mothers legs and around Ash.

She hasn’t thought of trying to run but she was mastering the walking. She still wobbled here and there but she was steadily making her way to the other adult that was familiar.