The quiet barks of his sister drew Skoll out of the house, his rosy ears perked and his tail wagging slowly behind him. Once he nosed past the cracked-open door, however, his jaw dropped open and his green eyes grew huge. He’d seen snow before, once or twice, during walks with his mother—but never an entire world blanketed in it! It was almost as amazing as the fairy-stories, only now it was all here in front of him. Too much of it was perfectly smooth, though; it was just asking for him to run around and make footprints in it!

“Lottie, Lottie—snow!” the golden Prince howled to his sister, stumbling down into the white stuff and giggling. It tipped his blonde coat, making him look even paler than usual as he trudged through, wagging his tail excitedly. After a quick sweep of the lawn, however, he realized that his sister was nowhere to be found.

“Lottie? Where’d ya go?” The boy’s brow furrowed worriedly, and he stuffed his muzzle in the snow with a few quick snorts, busily wading through it to track his sister. Soon the intelligent idea of just following all the tracks came to him, and with a chortle he began to chase after the pawprints. He found the big drift and, with a little wiggle of his butt, pounced into the pile, yelping excitedly as he crashed into the warm fur of his sibling.

A sharp growl met his laughter as the boy leaped into the snow, and he could feel his sister’s smaller body underneath his. Quickly, though, Charlotte recovered and grabbed his ear, showing that she was just as formidable as the bigger Prince was. This Skoll could accept, as though she was his sister, she also had the blood of the King running through her veins. They were both royalty in his mind as well, both worthy of their lineage—though Skoll liked to think he was more like his daddy since he was a boy.

Regardless of his warmth toward his sister, though, he did push awkwardly out with a hind paw at her belly, trying to get her to release her hold on his ear. He growled and wriggled, but she took the time to first pronounce her love for him then berate him for pushing.

“You started it!” Skoll barked, knowing full well that he’d been the one to start it. He made a lunge for her russet scruff, but she had already leaped out of the pile of snow and started running.

“I get you!” the puppy howled after his sibling, struggling to free himself from the deep snow. He shook his coat out, giving her a further head start; it wasn’t fun catching her right away, and he had quickly learned the tricks adults used to make smaller and slower puppies think they had a chance. He began to bound after her, stumbling occasionally in the snow but keeping a more or less straight course. After a while of running he tipped his head back and howled, demanding his brother’s appearance—play time was much more fun with three.

The howl echoing, or so he liked to imagine, he quickened his strides in the final stretch and tried to bite his sister’s tail—gently—and pull her to the ground. Skoll loved roughhousing, and even if Lottie didn’t, she’d gotten herself into this mess.

The boy loved to run. Even for his age, he seemed to have tireless energy. He of course tired out like the other puppies, but his willpower was commendable; when he began a chase, he wanted to be the one to end it. His mother’s determined nature showed in his pursuit as he kept getting back up and running, because even if he wouldn’t grow up to be the fastest wolf ever, he had great endurance. Surely this game would be felt later, but for now, his only thoughts were of grabbing his sister and besting her.

Charlotte spun unexpectedly, however, and the prince was going too fast to stop or change direction. He yelped as he struck her flank, flipping over her small russet body and landing heavily in the snow. Perplexed, he craned his neck to look at her as if unable to believe what she’d just accomplished. Chases ended in the faster wolf winning, not tricks like this!

A burst of laughter from another made Skoll look up across his white tummy to see that his dark twin had come outside to play. “Lottie beat Kol!” Hati proclaimed, snickering, and the golden puppy huffed as he flipped over onto all fours. He glowered at Hati then abandoned his sister to rush at him, hoping to put the Catori child in his place.

Despite his sister’s display of pride, the golden boy was dead set on revenge against his chortling dark brother. Realization lit Hati’s eyes, and he spun away to flee, Skoll hot on his heels. For a few minutes, sun chased moon, orbiting around the piles of snow until the chase ended in a heap. Like yin and yang, the brothers tumbled over each other into the white stuff, where they writhed briefly before a low whine reached Skoll’s ears.

Relinquishing his grip on Hati’s thrashing tail, the blonde Haskel blinked and looked to his despondent sister. Her tail and ears hung, her mood changing seemingly out of nowhere. While normally he would dismiss it as a girl thing, he didn’t like to see his siblings upset. He liked to think himself as the head of the litter, whether or not that was true, and as head he had the responsibility to look over his brother and sister and protect them.

“Whassa matter, Lottie?” Skoll asked, padding up to her. Hati popped his head out of the snow and made as if to ambush his brother, but somberness took over for a brief minute as the male puppies approached their whimpering sibling with tilted heads and wide eyes.