It was time… time for the pup to explore, but not too far, she’d not leave the vicinity of the cabin… well she would go outside, and explore, but she didn’t want to leave papa or mama too long. She found herself outside, her ears perked for sounds, everything was so new to her. Her ice blue eyes scanned the surrounding area, the dying grass, the leafless trees… everything… it seemed all gone. She could tell the grass had been green once, but it wasn’t so much anymore, and traces of leaves, though she didn’t know they’d been on the trees, were scattered under the trees, was there something wrong? She put her nose to the ground, smelling the new smell, the dirt, the dead grass, scents of bugs and other pack members that had come and gone. Her tail wagged slowly as she started exploring the new things on her own, to see what was what. She was a bit jittery from not being right by her father’s side, or her mothers, but she kept all opportunities of running open.

Arnette was a small little thing, she was even smaller than her brother Forte, but she didn’t have any other puppy to compare with. She didn’t care though, size had never mattered to her, she was just who she was. She started humming to herself as she moved to the side of the cabin, touching it with her nose gently to see if it was rough or smooth. It was the same as it had been inside, her young voice carried as she moved to more spots around her little home. She was learning so much right now, her little mind was in a whirl, she’d been taught what everything was but when she was out with her family she couldn’t take the time to actually do what she wanted, now she was going to take her time sniffing out the smells she wanted to.

She was still getting the hang of being out alone, though she was only feet from where her parents were, she was still edgy about not being able to see them, so when she heard the voice she jumped, for what she thought was probably ten feet into the air! She started running when she saw what had said that. It was another puppy, not her brother, but a little boy none the less… well he wasn’t as little as she was… in fact he was a giant of a puppy. She swallowed her fear, what did she have to be afraid of a puppy for? The word that came to her mind eased her a bit more, nothing, there was nothing to be afraid of another puppy.

Wha’s so weird about my home

Her little girlish voice squeaked, she was moving away from the wall of the cabin which she had skedaddled to, and was about to run into the door. She didn’t think her home was weird at all, in fact it was the most normal thing in her little puppy mind. There was really nothing more than this? And yet… here was another puppy, one she’d never met before, and she was booming with curiousity, but the questions wouldn’t come. She just thought and most of the time she got her answer one way or another. She didn’t get too close to the boy, but she wasn’t going to show him that he’d scared her either. She was after all growing up, and grownups were never scared. Her mama, though blind was the bravest person beside her papa, and she’d never ever seen anyone of them scared of what they use to be scare of, but the things in the cabin had once been unknown, just like the lands around her, just like this giant of a puppy in front of her.

Arnette looked at the giant pup expectantly. Wanting to know what these lots of things were, her mouth was pursed in a you are weirder than my house look. She didn’t offer her name right away, she wanted to know what was wrong with her house that it had to be weird. The boy moved closer, but Arnette stood her ground. She was going to be as brave as her papa, looking the boy up and down he did seem a bit scraggly, didn’t his mama and papa take care of him? At his introduction she sighed slightly before finally giving him hers

I’s Arnette.

‘weird name’ she thought but decided against voicing it out just in case he would tell her something was wrong with her house. She didn’t think anything was wrong, or strange, she’d lived here all her life… as short as it was, she’d never been much further than she was now, at least that she could remember. But she was curious enough to let the words spill from her mouth.

Who’r your mama an’ papa?

She asked eyeing him suspiciously. Did he even belong here? He’d never been with any of her aunts or uncles that came by… though he did smell like uncle Vigil… kinda, but she wasn’t so good with her nose still, and she was getting use to all the smells around her, not to mention sights and sounds, touch and taste of everything she could find. She wondered if he felt the way she did, but that went in passing, she really didn’t care much about the feeling of a boy, unless it was Forte, but he was tough, at least in her eyes he was. She silently thought that Forte could easily bring down the giant in front of her.

It did seem that the puppy in front of her was now a bit more happier to see her, though Arnette’s suspicious side was still on guard, she knew a puppy couldn’t hurt her… right? He was a giant though. Forte always won in their play fights what would happen if this big pup decided to do that with her, he’d probably crush her. As he spoke about not having his family with him it made her sad, but it seemed that he got lucky.

Unca Vigil is nice I like him.

She said, knowing exactly who the king was, if she didn’t she didn’t belong in the miracles pack at all. His next question was random and though she’d been outside many times she’d seen few birds, though the song birds seemed cute enough. The little brown finches that twittered away near the tower by their home were cute enough, she’d never seen a big one though… or were those little tweeting birds the biggest they got?

I like birdies, they tweet, it’s cute. See there’s some there

sure enough there were some birds playing around the roof of her cabin, flittering to and from some invisible line and then back again, it looked like they were playing and that reminded her to ask Kam something.

You like playing games?

This time her little tail started wagging. It was bushy like her mother’s was but wasn’t in the way, especially in this cold, she was feeling less defensive and she now forgot the question about why her house was so weird, but that wasn’t important anymore.

she’d never seen any birds other than the ones that ate the seeds that were laying around, or even the bugs, but one that hunted, that scared her, and she looked up. Kam had seen a hunting bird? She had met Uncle Niro too, but not for long, but she did like him from what she’d seen of him. He had a bird that hunted with him? She’d have to investigate this soon enough on her own.

Unca Niro has a bird? I dunno if I wanna bird that hunts, I can hunt, but I want a bird that tweets

she said, she thought that if she had a hunting bird, that it would eat her up. She didn’t want a bird that could eat her, but though she was scared of that thought the thought of play and games was much more of a better thought than fearing every little thing that came her way. He asked what kind of games and she giggled. That was an easy enough answer. Though she played lots of games with her brother, two of them stuck out in her mind.

Me an’ my brofer play chase, an we resle too. You can do those!

She said, she knew the boy had to have played these games. She had only known her brother as a puppy, and this boy, though he acted like a puppy… he must have been close to being a grown up with as big he was… though if she thought about it… he wasn’t half as big as the grown ups. She wondered if he had his own games that he played, but he hadn’t offered to share any game ideas at all when she’d asked… maybe he didn’t think he had to, because he knew that all puppies played the same games…right?

At Kam’s comment about tweeting birds being food she felt rather indignant, she knew birds weren’t food, not to her… they were too fluffy, and skinny, couldn’t even get meat off their bones and still be satisfied, but she said nothing, she just locked her jaw and stared at him. Her stare was one of absolute unhappiness, one that dared him to say more, but the time passed, and she would hold the grudge but there were better things to do.

As he bent down in play and asked her if she was too small, she growled a little in play as well as a challenge… she didn’t like being called to small, and knew she might get hurt, but that was the fun of playing… She jumped at him without a word, doubting she would make him move but, if she got him, she’d figure out what to do next…