Rio had yet to spend much time around any of the other cabins. In face, she hadn't done much exploring at all; her grandest adventure had been her encounter with that boy called Gotham Phoenix. Not to say that this hadn't been pretty exciting. But other than that, she spent most of her time at home. She knew very few of the individuals who shared Phoenix Valley with her. Only Mama, Papa, and her siblings. She could not take into account all the wolves who had been at the pack meeting, because most of her time in attendance there had been spent tucked beneath the safety of her mother. Today, in spite of the freezing temperatures that threatened to turn her nose into an ice block, the girl made her way down the steps of the cabin she shared with her family and toward the others. To her amazement, she saw that someone else was outside too.



The Marino child sped up, hopping like a rabbit through the snow toward the little group. The pale female looked very much like Mama, except this one had bright gold eyes. Wasn't this the lady who'd been recruited to look after her while Mama did other things? Rio remained unsure about why this was, but she wouldn't fight it. She trusted her mother, and, being so young, also inherently trusted the alabaster woman she had just approached.



The three puppies playing in the snow had not failed to capture Rio's attention. For a moment, she quietly watched them, strangely curious, her face tilted to one side. The draw to play with them was strong, but she remembered that she couldn't remember their mother's name. "Miss, what's your name?" she queried softly, a little abashed. She kept a notable distance, feeling subconsciously that she should first be invited in some way.

She was glad that it did not take the frosty woman to notice her. Rio had finally gotten a grasp on the concept of size, so she was aware that she was very small, even for a puppy. She often wondered what had made her so small, particularly compared to Caprica; they were both girls, and the same age besides! It didn't make sense to her. She had indeed spoken, and Xeris greeted her in a way that did not scare her at all, but rather caused her little feet to bring her closer to the female and her pups. There was something the pallid fem, a new quality apart from any Rio had detected in strange adults so far. She liked it. Perhaps this was why Mr. Scar Man had put Xeris in charge of her while Mama went to take care of whatever business she had been appointed to.



Rio was puzzled about how Xeris would have seen her without her having any kind of recollection of it, but after a quizzical look she understood. "Oh, I sorry, I not re'ember," she said with a slightly sorrowful expression on her gaunt face, as if the snowy wolf might hold this against her. There was some point beyond which Rio remembered nothing, a realm of her existence where everything had been so big and daunting that she was unable to comprehend any it. She'd left that universe, however, and was in a place where things made sense. But before, in the days following her birth, everything was nothing. The girl smiled at the little girl with bicolor eyes. She liked how the pup said her name. "Xion!" she repeated, excited, her small tail waving. "You are.... ah, pwetty!" she said; maybe the other young wolf would like that. Smiling, Rio turned her sparkling purple gaze toward the adult to answer her question. "Mama's good. So're my sibwings, we're growing, 'specially Caprica." Rio grinned proudly. She loved her family.