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Normally Skoll was a good, obedient boy. He did his best to follow his caretaker’s orders and would ease their natural worries by staying in sight and not wandering off. Of course, he did forget sometimes when something interesting grabbed his attention, and now that his body was getting a little bigger and his mind sharper and more curious, those lapses became longer and more frequent. He would wander away from the familiar landmarks of Cour des Miracles territory to investigate the coast or the hills or the forest’s edge as he was doing now.

While there were trees within the territory, the small Prince hadn’t seen so many as this, and so close together. The branches crisscrossed in the sky, leaving Xs on the ground that he pounced on, his golden body framed by shadows. He rolled around in the snow and the dead leaves underneath, tumbling against the root of a dead, hollowed-out oak tree and kicking his hind paws against its trunk. The resulting drumming sound echoed through the woods, and it was then that he realized just how quiet this place was.

He flipped over on his white tummy and perked up his ears, a little more uncertain than he’d been when he first found the tree line. There seemed to be nothing here at the border to the neutral territory, and yet, even in his curious and adventurous mind, he knew that venturing further would be too dangerous for a kid like him.

Sighing, Skoll wiggled forward and dropped his pale muzzle into the snow. All of this traveling seemed to be for nothing. He could only lay and listen for the sound of the last birds chirping in the barren trees, his white-dusted golden coat shining under the sunlight that filtered through what had been a great canopy in the summer.

400 words; Sometimes I fear the child will spontaneously combust.

An onslaught of sounds drew the boy’s head up from his paws, and his rosy ears twitched as he turned his head wildly from side to side. Someone was coming this way! He hopped onto all fours, a conflict brewing within. The only outsider he met was the AniWayan lady, and that had been with his mother. Should he go find a grownup to let them know someone was coming? Was a prince supposed to let others take care of business?

He didn’t quite know what a prince would do, but he knew that Daddy would meet this stranger confidently, his big doggish head held high. And so Skoll turned with his golden tail curled over his back, paws splayed as he stood before Court lands with nose chin comically upward.

Of course, any semblance of dignity he carried vanished when he actually saw who was coming. It was a funny-looking young lady—and she had so much stuff with her! All kinds of knickknacks hung from her, contributing to much of the noise she was making. His bottom jaw dropped then met the upper again in a broad, childish grin of excitement.

“Heyyyy! Who’re you, lady?! Whatcha got, whatcha got?” Skoll scampered toward her, slipping on the wet leaves hidden underneath the snow, but he didn’t manage to completely lose his balance and fall down like usual. Tail wagging, he proceeded to dance around the strange lady—though he couldn’t quite put his paw on why she was so strange, exactly. It wasn’t because she was an outsider, this time, though her scent made his tail wriggle even faster behind him. Despite her being oh so new and interesting and possessor of tons of fun stuff, though, there was something else—

His eyes grew large, and he plopped down in front of her; if she hadn’t already stopped at the sight of him, she would have to now or risk tripping over the cub. “Are you a ghost?” Skoll gasped. She didn’t look quite as silly as wispy Caspa did—at least in her body shape. She looked wolfish enough if with odd frazzled dark hair, but maybe her weirdness was because she was a spirit!

The boy blinked then, realizing that he must be acting rude somehow—though he couldn’t quite pinpoint what to do to remedy the situation. Instead, he supplied a safe, “Please and thank you.”

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The pale young woman grinned at him; in his excitement, he hadn’t even noticed any of the disappointment that might have passed across her face. He was excited to meet this new stranger and did his best to sniff as hard as he could so he might be able to remember her scent later. She had traveled for a while, he could smell that, and she had traveled from another pack. Not AniWaya, he didn’t think, though he could hardly remember what the brown lady from there had smelled like; he’d been too worked up then.

Waggling a painted nail at him, the purple-draped lady informed him that there were no ghosts. His head cocked in sheer confusion at this new piece of information, though angering spirits didn’t sound like a good thing; he might as well be sure about it. “Whas the diff’rence?” Skoll questioned, hoping that the spirits could forgive his ignorance. He’d always seen them all as the same thing—ghosts and ghouls, spirits and specters.

His eyes widened again; her wares spilled from the bag as her advertisements spilled from her jaws. He found himself unable to focus on what she said, however, as he was too busy stepping forward and nosing around at some of the chicken bones and pretty smooth pebbles and weird things that a puppy like him had never even dreamed of seeing.

“Skoll Haskel,” the boy chirped as she asked her name. He paused a moment before adding, sitting as regally as he could, “Prince Skoll Haskel, son of th’King!” That was a very important detail to him. Being the kid of a pack leader gave him some perks and protection within Court lands, at least, though he’d yet to brag about this to other strangers. Reaching out to roll a small jar under his paw, he questioned, “Who Legba?”

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The mysterious woman continued to allude to the mysterious Papa Legba, and Skoll nodded slowly as he began to comprehend what she was talking about. Spirits were good and ghosts belonged in the next world; it was all a little above the puppy’s head, but religious and other beliefs were slowly swimming around in his mind, where they may eventually take root. His nodding pace quickened when she laughed at him, and he was relieved to know that he wouldn’t be in trouble for making assumptions about ghosts from now on.

He giggled again as she gushed over his title, and he placed his small paw in her hand with tail wagging. “Nice meetcha too, ’Zulie!” he returned graciously, like a prince should.

And his rosy ears stood at full attention as she described Legba to him, explaining that he was a Gatekeeper—of what gates, the boy didn’t really know, but he figured a spirit kept some important gates. Imagining a fatherly spirit opening doors for him made him grin, not quite grasping the metaphors—but being led to his desires was a good thing. Maybe Legba could open a door to summer and fairies, or to him being all grown up and strong!

Her grave warning made his ears lower, though, and his eyes widened slightly. He shook his head as to dispel the thought of ever crossing Legba. “No, I’m a good boy,” Skoll assured her, without the realization that he wasn’t being so good by running all the way out here unaccompanied. But he was here with this lady, so that was okay, right?

Erzulie pointed out the jar and offered to draw a veve on him, and while he didn’t really know what that was, he nodded in agreement. “Yeah, like-a color,” the golden boy said, rolling the jar some more under his paw and grinning at her words. “I pay attention! Make Legba good favor an’ meet lwa. How many ’Zulie know?” He wondered what all the other lwa did, though he was too excited about being drawn on and blessed to ask her about them. Wiggling with excitement, he gave the jar one last push toward her and tried to suppress his impatience.

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A child was a blank slate. Children could be strongly conditioned at a young age to follow one set of beliefs and reject all others, planting the seeds of pride in their own religion or prejudice toward others’, but that was not the way with Skoll. While he had heard the legends and prayers of his mother, he had been open-minded to every other story he heard told in his pack. The Court of Miracles was founded as a place for misfits, a mishmash of wolves and dogs who didn’t belong anywhere else. Even though it might not be the same as it had been at its inception, its characters were still assorted, and the boy found himself eager to learn all he could about the different lore. Perhaps his yearning for knowledge would manifest in a literary young man at a later age, but for now his excitement sparked in his green eyes and danced up his wagging tail, as eager as any puppy could be.

A magenta-nailed hand patted him on the head, and Skoll grinned at the praise. He responded best to it, often wriggling and beaming as if he were going to burst with delight. Always striving to prove himself in one way or another, he was happier than most children when he realized he’d attained whatever image he had strove to create for himself.

Erzulie motioned for him to come near after unscrewing the lid, but the boy could scarcely contain himself. Blue dropped onto his blonde pelt as she reached out for him, urging him to hold still though he had to bite his tongue to do so, suppressing his giggles at being poked and jabbed in his ribcage. Slowly, however, with the patience of the painter and the effort of the canvas, the veve began to take shape on the pale golden pelt.

The young Haskel was glad to be picked out by Papa Legba; it made him feel special and really smart, smarter even than his sister Charlotte. His small sister had a quick mind, but would she know anything about the lwa? He grinned devilishly at the thought of teaching her and Hati, taking his mind off the ticklish sensation so the d’Artisan could make progress on her drawing.

“So you see veves an’ then lwas?” Skoll asked, trying to wrap his mind around her strange explanation. He wondered if he could see spirits too, like the fairies that Caspa had taught him did not exist. He wondered what his not-half-a-ghost friend would think about what Erzulie’s claims then decided that he wouldn’t bother the wispy dog with it.

Her last statement and the swirl of her fingers made the boy gasp. “I wanna see when done!” he barked, jumping a little before realizing that he would be jarring her. He crouched sheepishly, resolving to keep more still from now on as his pale coat absorbed the paint.