~~~
Shifting the kitten against his chest and settling down closer to the pup’s level, Alder introduced the cat and its origins. Green eyes blinked at the creature, and with a few uncertain strides, the puppy came closer to give the feline a little sniff. His tail wagged lightly to show that he wasn’t going to chase the young animal, the gentleness evident in the line of his body and the softening of his face. Part of what made a King was the tender treatment of his subjects, and Skoll had learned gentleness from roughhousing with his siblings and the tiny shy girl he met on the borders. It was a surprising transformation from the rambunctious vessel of energy showing before, but the often cocky kid was nothing but full of surprises.
“Why’d his mom leave him?” the young Haskel asked with concern, looking up into the dark mask of his comrade’s face. A moment later, another question caused him to scowl and tilt his head, his tail twitching behind him with curiosity. “Is Crimson Dreams another pack?” It sounded familiar, now that he thought about it; perhaps he’d heard of it during the war, though not in the bad way as the grownups had spoken of AniWaya. He grew slightly more confident in this guess and nodded to himself before venturing one last question; at least he had learned to take breaths between them now to allow the speaker time to reply.
“Whatcha doin’ today, Alder?” Skoll yipped, his eyes returning to the cat though gingery-cream ears remained pricked for the answer. He hoped that the Marshall wasn’t too busy with something, as he’d come here to see if he could visit the horses or maybe even help if he could. It was no real secret that the boy aspired to work with them and ride them one day, though until he could shift he was limited in what he could do.
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