Again the Aston child was trespassing into Crimson Dreams without a thought. Again the blonde child should have waited on the borders and call for the one she wanted to meet, but this third time was no better than the rest. The golden eyed girl did not ever realize her rude behaviour. She never seemed to do, because every member she had run into while going wild in another pack’s territory had been exceptionally nice to her. Noir Aston had only visited Crimson Dreams whenever she stepped over her beloved Aniwaya borders, and she really liked it here. In addition, as she never quite felt truly safe in neutral area (Brennt would always hunt her mind and suggest that loners could be evil), crossing over CD borders filled her with relief and safety. She wished Aniwaya and this pack could have lied right next to each other. Perhaps they could have been one pack too then. Noir had so many ideas, and could not understand why they were not a reality. Things would have been so much easier if the packs had not been scattered about. The blonde girl had also wanted to find Lysander the duck house man fixer extraordinaire, but she did not know exactly where Phoenix Valley was located, and not entirely sure if it was in that pack that the man had come from. Uncle Ho had come from there, and from his doubtful tales it sounded like a creepy place, so Noir was not sure if she dared to go there. Lysander should come to Aniwaya with Noir too.

Baby Duck was probably waddling after uncle Ho in the house they were now sharing, so Noir was alone. The girl had never dared to take her baby along on such a long walk, and she was still a bit afraid of that some people would want to eat it. She did not wish for that, even if her baby was a bit challenged in every way. There was something seriously wrong with Baby Duck’s neck. It was super long now, and he was still gray and not colourful like most of the ducks in the lake. She did not really understand. Dull as the girl was at times, she had now yet admitted that there was a possibility that her Baby Duck was a growing swan. Toefur had been chosen as her companion today. Cambreeah had not yet met him! The girl hesitated in her tracks and looked upwards when she thought she heard a flutter of miniature wings. There was nothing to be seen, but she did not feel as if she was alone. The odd feeling reminded her kind of about the day she met Kinigisdi. Dawali had said that they could be invisible too, these spirit guides. The girl chose to believe just that. There was comfort in such a thought. Today she really wanted to see Cambreeah (or Cambi, as Amata had said), so the young wolf attempted to produce her first howl, which ended out sounding more like a whiny howl than any other kind of howl.

When this was done, Noir dropped her head and lowered her muzzle to the faded and somewhat dirty octopus toy by her side. Was she too old for this? Never, the girl decided without a second thought.

Noir was not patient enough to wait for anyone to come and greet. She had already ventured deeper and was an official trespasser anyway. Not that the girl was aware of this, but she continued further, because she thought she knew the exact location of Cambreeah’s home. There was no respond in the air in the form of another howl, so the girl thought that perhaps Cambria was playing hide and seek or something. Noir bounced through the light forest with the poor octopus plushie dancing after with its arm stuck in-between the young girl’s sharp teeth. She also looked for Ares, because he too lived here and she thought about him a lot because he had been so nice to her. Thinking about the boy created a funny, tickling sensation in her chest and belly, and she wanted to see him and stick her muzzle into his fur and sniff, because she remembered his smell as something very pleasant.

It was not Ares, but Cambreeah indeed that was discovered first. Once her golden eyes were locked on the dark puppy, Ares retreated to a distant corner of her brain. Almost instantly, Noir started to giggle. The butterfly puppy was eating leaves! It looked funny! Noir bounced over to the brown puppy and let Toefur fall to the ground without a second thought. ”Cambi!” she cheerfully yipped, using the nickname that Amata had used on her sister. Noir’s tan tail easily competed with Cambria’s tail, revealing all too well that she was thrilled to see the other child again. It was so nice to have friends and come to visit, because it felt extra nice since they had not seen each other for a while. Noir’s smile almost seemed to want to cut her face in half.

”Why are you eating grass? Are you playing? Can I too?” maybe Cambria was playing deer or something. They ate leaves. ”Look, this is Toefur, he wants to meet your butterfly.” the girl added, directing some of the attention to the miserable toy on the forest floor.

Noir had been in the lands several times with the quest of finding Cambria. Unfortunately, Noir was extremely easy to distract, so the two times before when she had come, she had found other super fun kids instead! This did not mean that Cambria was any less super fun, but Noir had always left afterwards so that she got home before the scary dark came and chased away the sun. The dark was scary, and she always seemed to see Brennt the puppy eater walking around in the dark, looking and her and wanting to eat her. Such scary thoughts were far from the blonde girl’s mind though. She beamed blissfully at the reassurance that Cambreeah was happy to see her. Noir stared at the leaves as the girl stated that it was for Leafy. What was a leafy? There were lots of leaves there? Or,.. Noir found out that she did not understand at all. Then all of a sudden she did, because the chocolate coated puppy told her what and who Leafy was. Oh, it sounded so exciting! Why did Cambi have a Leafy and not Noir? She had to meet him. ”Oh, yes, so much please, I really want to see Leafy! He sounds super cool!” Noir squealed, sounding more like a child on Cambria’s age than a youth closing up on adulthood.

She was happy to see the girl greet her long time plushie friend so warmly, and wagged her face from side to side pleasantly just like her tail. She picked up the faded pink toy and danced after the girl. Wow, she was going home to Cambria now! She had never seen the girl’s house before. So much excitement and fun today, she was so happy that she finally had come and found the butterfly puppy! ”Yes, show way! Yay!” Noir bounced up on Cambria’s side. Her salmon tongue stuck out of her mouth together with Toefur’s arm as she panted happily. Life was so good.

Expectations were high as they padded to the house. Noir knew what a caterpillar was, but she could actually not remember when she had seen one last. How exactly did the baby insect become a butterfly? Noir let the brown puppy enter the house first (because or else she would not know where to go!) She slipped in through the entrance door right behind the butterfly puppy, and her tail thumped forcefully against the wall for a few moments before she bounced after the Marino girl. Once she had too had issues with running up stairs, but now it was so easy. Noir followed behind Cambi, thinking of how big she had to be now since she did not have troubles roaming around in those odd human stairs things. She was much bigger than Cambria now, and she did no longer hold the puppy rank either. She did not like the times she was drifting towards, because she felt like a child still and wished only to be that.

Finally they entered a room that did not lead into yet another room so that meant that they were there. There was a large jar there, and Noir stood still in the doorway for one moment watching Cambi set down the leaves next to it. The introduction was cute, and Noir strode in with long, proud steps, pretending to be elegant. Her tail was still doing its own thing though, because this was so so super exciting. She pressed her face lightly against the transparent glass, looking at a little green coloured creature that crawled around inside the jar. An excited squeak left her lips involuntarily, because it was very cute though not as cute as a butterfly. It would be a butterfly soon though, wouldn’t it? Noir detached her face from the jar slowly. ”Hello Leafy, how are you today!” the girl asked excitedly.

Noir was completely sure that the little green cat-pill was saying hallo, because it seemed to turn to her and wave with its small legs. Oh, it was so very cute. Noir could not get over the cuteness. Noir nodded at Cambriaaah, smiling (as always). ”Yes, he is, is waving at me!” The tan child turned her attention back to the caterpillar, tilting her head in awe. So extremely cute. Even if the young insects did not have any pretty wings, they were still super duper cute. Noir had never touched a caterpillar, but it looked soft and was probably very nice to touch. ”Leafy, you are super cute, I too want a Leafy, do you have any friends I can borrow?” One should have thought that question was intended for Cambria, but no, Noir was conversing with the green little thing as if actually expecting it to talk back. Perhaps she actually did.

”I think you have done a very good job, he seems very happy. When will he become a pretty butterfly and do you knows what kind of butterfly he will become?” Noir really liked the ones with lots of red and other colours on them, but the yellow and blue ones were cute too. Well, all butterflies were super pretty, so it did not really matter. Oh, Noir wished that she could be here when Leafy turned into a super pretty butterfly. Perhaps she would. She would ask Cambria later about it anyways, if she would not forget about it. Noir knew what she was going to do the next day now. She was going to go out and see if she could find a Leafy that she could keep and watch turn into a butterfly.

”Baby Duck is fine, but I don’t think he is well, because he is still greyish and his neck is really, really long now, and I don’t think ducks are supposed to have super long necks.” Was Cambria Leafy’s mommy? Oh, yes, she was! ”Cambria, you are super best mommy with Leafy, I think.” the girl said, nodding with approval at her younger friend.

Golden eyes could not stay away from that little wriggling thing. It was odd. There were insects that she did not particularly like. Maggots were not all that cute either, but she actually did like caterpillars. It was not only because she knew that they would turn into super cute butterflies, but their baby form was actually cute. Cute colour and so cute face and body. She wanted to ask Cambria to touch it, but none of the girls seemed to have the required optime form to do such a thing. They could not risk hurting him in any way. Well, she was super happy that Cambria had liked her enough to introduce her to Leafy. It was a real honour.

Noir felt a bit sad for not being able to answer when Leafy would become a butterfly when it was revealed that Cambria had hoped that she could answer that question. The girl’s eyes narrowed in thought. How long was a while? Noir knew that they grew up very fast, because the summer was so short and her mommy said that insects did not live as long as wolves. That knowledge made the girl a little bit sad, because she did not want butterflies to die in winter. She wished there was a place where there was summer all year around. ”Well maybe he will soon then, because they grow up superfast, much faster than you and I.” Noir suggested, not planning to mention that all the cute butterflies would die in winter.

No matter how he would look like, Noir was certain that Leafy would be the cutest and most handsome boy butterfly in the whole wide world. Now, changing subject to Baby Duck, Noir was not really sure what to think anymore. She had not yet played properly with the thought that this could mean that her lovely duckling was in fact no duck at all. Swans were snow white and pretty and gracious, and Baby Duck was gray and clumsy and weird. ”I will go to doctor Dawali soon and see if Baby Duck is sick.” the girl mumbled, definitely planning to visit him and find out what was wrong with her beloved baby.

Suddenly Cambria was all over her and licked her face. The golden eyed girl was taken completely by surprise and fell down on her bum, then curling around on the floor while giggling loudly because it tickled so much. The blonde girl tried to squeak a few words out, but nothing intelligible managed to escape her smiling lips. This was super fun, Noir just loved hanging out and playing with her bestest friend in the whole world. ”Tickles!” the girl eventually managed to gasp, rolling around on the floor. Leafy had to be laughing too, because he was lifting his upper part of body up and down and wriggled with his little arms inside the jar.