Horizon

Yuna hopped down the last few rocks and turned to see how her three daughters were coping. “We’re here, girls!” She announced cheerfully. She was glad the girls would have a chance to meet other puppies her own age, and hopefully Yuna would be able to help Fox, and her old friends by doing so, as well.

“Now, you can all howl with me if you want - that’s how we politely let somebody know when we come to visit.” She instructed her daughters, and parted her jaws in a small, sweet little howl to let Efeon, Fawn and their puppies know they had arrived.

((You guys wanna do a loose posting order for this one?))

An excited voice made Fox look up from her most recent project. It had taken multiple days to this point to get each special pebble arranged appropriately behind her favorite boulder. She didn’t wanna stop what she was doing - she was so close! It was almost finished it just needed a few final touches, but a new voice was too scary to ignore.

She peeked her head around the edge of her boulder and basically saw a nightmare of wolves. Why were they here? A deep frown spread across her face. Fox caught the word ‘visit’ but no one wanted them to visit at all. Fox wanted them to leave in fact.

Pulling her head most of the way back behind the big rock - hoping they hadn’t noticed her - she considered her options. She could try to scurry back into the den, but she’d have to cross an open spot to get there. Or she could call for mama and papa - but she never knew where they were exactly - and that would certainly attract more attention.

Instead the orange girl hunkered down behind her rock and tried to stay still, and quiet. Maybe they’d just leave her alone.

Mahalo had kept up a steady pace the entire way here. She might fall over exhausted at night, but for now everything was still new and exciting and fantastic. They had continued south through the gorge and had come to a new exciting place.

At the exclamation that they had arrived at their final destination her tail picked up into an even more excited wag. It was very nice here and she liked it a lot. Yuna lifted her muzzle into a howl and the pup couldn’t resist the urge to join in. Her voice was not as small, nor as sweet, there was a loud, brashness to her call instead. But luckily it didn’t last long, the girl quickly becoming distracted by other things.

“Mama, can I swim soon?” She was eyeing the ocean. It still felt familiar and comforting, even far away from their home. Glancing around she caught a flash of orange and a grin spread across her face.

“Look!” She called, heading forward with a wag in her tail, approaching the place she had seen the flash of color that had soon disappeared.

Being in a new place Arashi hadn’t wanted to get left behind and worried she would get lost so she’d stayed close to her mother. She was right behind her as they made their way down the last rocks. She looked around when her mother exclaimed they they were there, “Finally,” she breathed. It felt like it had taken forever for them to get this far.

Then they were told they could howl with their mum a she let the wolves they’d come to visit know they were there. She felt a little awkward about it but then Mahalo joined in and Arashi couldn’t help but add her voice to her sister and mother’s.

“You always want to swim,” Arashi commented with a laugh and a bump to her sisters shoulder when she asked about them swimming. Her gaze too had gone to the ocean and found it a comfort even though they were in a strange place.

Her gaze turned in the direction when Mahalo brought her attention to something. She’d already started that way as Arashi didn’t see anything. “What was it?” She asked her sister before following behind her.

So far their arrival hadn’t attracted a lot of attention. But Yuna didn’t want to make a poor first impression on anybody, and she let out a wuff. “Mahalo, Arashi, not so fast please.” She called. She hadn’t seen whoever had attracted their attention but she knew there was at least one shy puppy living here. Who she was here to help, at that.

“Fawn? Efeon? It’s Yuna and the girls.” Hopefully another adult would help.

Eve popped her head out of the alcove.

Her eyes widened to see strangers, multiple strangers, and she rose with some hesitation. But she had a good view of Fox’s hiding place and without her parents responding yet, it was up to Eve to look after her nervous sister. 

“Fox, I’m coming.” She yipped softly, then came scrambling out over the sand, half feeling like a hero and telling herself she had to look after Fox and half nervous.

“Um. Hi, are you part of the pack?” Her voice wobbled a little. She hadn’t met everybody yet, so it was the first question that came to mind.

Fox hunkered behind her rock. The girl was wide-eyed, even though she had pressed her face against the rock. She’d just pretend she was the rock. She’d not think about the scary, new wolves out there and just stay still and quiet. Maybe the pup saying ‘look’ was looking at something else.

Someone was calling for her parents again, but she didn’t hear their voices in return. It was her name from her sister that made her look up, made her move. Eve had come to save her like such a good sister!

The orange pup moved away from the rock, waddling back towards Eve as quickly as she could. Her hips swayed, and bobbed up and down. She stepped carefully and in the odd little way that she had found made her the most comfortable. Eve was asking question as Fox reached her and the larger pup sank down again, hoping to burrow herself against the sand and Eve’s back leg. Eve was good, Eve was safe. She didn’t look at the strangers. They were scary and she wanted them to leave. Eve would understand.

Mahalo bumped her own nose back into Arashi as her sister laughed. Swimming was great, everyone should enjoy swimming! She managed a few more steps forward before mama called them back. She turned her head back to her mother but did dutifully pause where she was. “I dunno what,” she whispered to her sister.

She turned her head back, ready to crane her neck around and try to get a better view of what she had seen when a new voice caught her attention and she turned towards the little sandy colored pup.

All smiles for the new girl, she turned and took a few steps towards her instead. A pup she could see was more interesting than a flash of color behind a rock. “Hi, I’m Mahalo. This is mama and Arashi. We’re guests. Who are you?” She wagged her tail and waited for the little girl to respond. Puppies were friends and Mahalo loved playing with new friends.

Her smile turned to confusion when the orange spot she had seen emerged from behind the rock again and was revealed to be an orange puppy. However, things seemed very wrong. The girl walked really funny, and instead of saying hi she just sank down beside the sandy puppy and didn’t look at anyone. Mahalo turned back to look at Yuna. “Mama?” She asked, needing some guidance on this one. Mahalo had never met such a weird, unfriendly wolf before.

Her sister bumped her back but soon drew her attention something she saw. Arashi’s ears came forward as she tried to see what her sister had. Before Mahalo could answer her question Yuna warned them to not do so fast. Her mismatched gaze went to her dark sister as she whispered that she didn’t know what it had been. “We should find out,” she whispered back.

Just as her sister was doing Arashi was trying to stretch to see if she could see whatever it was that Mahalo had seen. She didn’t know what she was looking for exactly but surely she would know once she saw it.

Then there was the sound of a voice calling to the exact puppy they were looking for and a moment later a little sandy colored pup appeared.  Arashi was right behind her sister as she stepped forward and addressed the new pup. “Hello, we’re from a different pack down the beach,” she greeted amd answered the question they’d been asked with a smile and wag of her tail. She didn’t want the the pup to think her unfriendly. She was just as eager to make new friends as her dark sister was.

Movement caught her eye then and she saw yet another puppy and wondered if this was what Mahalo had seen. The thing was this puppy walked funny and as soon as she came out sank down next to the first pup. Her brow furrowed but she remembered that they had come to see a puppy named Fox who had something wrong with her back legs. “Hello there,” she said to the new pup, “You must be Fox. We’ve come to see you,” she said while Mahalo asked their mother. She hoped using a friendly tone would put the orange puppy at ease.

Yuna figured out which puppy Fox was when she saw the bright orange fur and saw her move behind her sister. It was very sweet the way the second pup was clearly protecting her shyer sibling. But Yuna’s careful healer’s gaze was already evaluating, seeing how Fox walked.

Mahalo handled the introductions and explained well why they were here, with Arashi quickly chipping in, both girls confident now they had arrived. Yuna would let Kalea introduce herself when she was feeling less tongue-tied. Yuna smiled at the girls. “It’s nice to meet you both. My name’s Yuna.”

She paused for a moment, giving them time before she explained further. “Fox, like Arashi says, I’ve come to help you. Your parents are good friends to me. And I’m a healer, just like your mother. Your father told me your legs have been hurting lately, and I want to try and find out why, and give you some things to help you. Does that sound all right?” 

She kept her tone at her gentlest, and looked away frequently as she spoke, passively trying to reassure the clearly anti-social child.

Okay, this was a lot to take in.

Eve carefully looked at the two friendly puppies, who reminded her of Percy a lot. Her tail waved shyly, but she stuck right by Fox. She looked over her shoulder, hoping for Doe since it seemed like her parents must have gone out hunting together the way they did sometimes. Doe was so capable, she always knew what to do.

Eve wasn’t sure, but she could try.

“My name’s Eve, and yup my sister is Fox.” She didn’t have much else to say to the strangers as she nuzzled at Fox’s ear. Something like recognition flickered over her face and she whispered to her sister. “Fox, I think Yuna is the one Mum talked about.” She murmured, having found something familiar about the name and the story of a healer from further up the beach. “I think they’re okay.” 

She looked up curiously at the new wolves, having noticed something. “How come your eyes are all two different colours?” She didn’t ask judgmentally, just curiously.

Fox remained pressed to her sister. She leaned into the little nuzzles that Eve gave and returned them by nudging gently at her sister with her muzzle. She would have tried to squirm right underneath her sister, except that Fox was the bigger puppy, and she couldn’t hide like she could with her mama and papa.

The others talked but Fox didn’t want to look at them. She could tell the pup voices from the adult voice, and her ears heard all of the words even if she didn’t like it. It did come into her mind that Yuna might be the wolf that papa had told her was going to come to visit, a good wolf. However, neither mama nor papa were here to confirm that.

Fox rose to her feet again, but she stayed thoroughly glued to her sisters side. She pressed her face against Eve’s and dared the briefest glance up at the blonde lady talking to her. Fox didn’t know how to tell if this was a good wolf or not. So far, basically everyone except mama and papa and her sisters were bad.

The orange girl turned her muzzle, pressing it right at the base of Eve’s ear so that she could talk in a tiny, quiet, barely audible voice. “Sure okay?” She asked, not wanting anyone except for her sister to hear her question.

With Arashi and their mother adding on to the explanation of why they were here, Mahalo thought they had pretty well explained everything they possibly could have to these other puppies. She did wonder where their parents were. And, she had been promised four puppies, but this was only two. However, once in a while her mama went other places as well, so it wasn’t too alarming that they were only meeting part of the family right now.

“Hi Eve,” she chirped back. Smiling and wagging at the pair of strangers. The orange pup, Fox, it turned out, was exactly who they were looking for. Except, she was super, super quiet and a bit weird. She seemed to whisper something to her sister Eve, but Mahalo couldn’t catch a single bit of it.

Eve had an interesting question though, something that Mahalo had not ever really thought about before. “That’s just how they are, cause mama’s eyes are like that.” She replied quickly. That’s how it worked right, they looked like mama. Except, Mahalo actually had two blue eyes, but she’d seen them in the reflection of the water, and they were still slightly different from each other.

Arashi was kind of proud of herself for being able to figure out that the little orange puppy was Fox. Between her and her mum they seemed to have explained why they had come and the little puppy Eve seemed to be a little more at ease but Fox was still shy. The dark girl also noticed how the Sandy puppy stayed next to her sister which reminded her of how her and her sisters stayed together. Arashi hoped that once they had been there a little while Fox wouldn’t be so shy.

She’d seemed to gain her own confidence as she spoke to the two puppies explaining they were from down the beach. Yuna spoke to them about helping Fox with her legs, while she spoke Arashi tried to see what was wrong with the orange pups legs but she couldn’t tell anything. She looked to her mother wondering what she was thinking about it.

Her attention was drawn back to Eve as she asked about their eyes and why they were different colors. Arashi hadn’t ever thought about it but she had noticed that her eyes were blue and green like her mum’s. Mahalo answered right along the lines that Arashi would have because that was the way she saw it too.

Yuna turned her head to smile at Eve warmly. She seemed nervous, but not so much as Fox clearly was, speaking only to her sister. Who seemed to have heard about them, or at least her, before. It made sense that Efeon had mentioned his visit to her to his family. But still, she wished he and Fawn would return. Yuna was not ready to give up and wait on a patient, if she could earn Fox’s trust the sooner she could begin to work out something to help her.

“Girls- my girls - would you mind going exploring for a little while? I’ll come fishing with you after I’ve had a chance to talk to Eve and Fox a little bit.” She requested, smiling warmly at her daughters, her expression full of love and affection as it often was when she looked upon them.

Eve nodded understandingly. “Ooooh.” She then slashed a slightly shy smile. “That’s shiny. They’re cool.” She decided she wanted a character with odd eyes in her next story, because it was such a good feature to mention.

Yuna asked the other puppies to go play. Hopefully Speck or Doe would come out because Eve figured they would quite like playing with the bigger puppies.

She nestled back into Fox and nodded against her fur. The mother wolf looked at her puppies just like she saw Mum looking at them sometimes. “Yep, I think so.” She whispered back. “I stay with you, kay?” That would hopefully make Fox feel better. Plus Eve was curious too - she might learn something.