Niles was supposed to be listening. Actually, he was supposed to do a lot of things, the most important of all being that he was supposed to be listening to his father and paying attention to what Angier had to say about Willow Ridge's history and what was to be expected of him as he grew older. Really, all the little Archer-Lyall wanted to do was play... Being out here meant that his sisters would not be immediately nearby and that also meant that he would have to make his own fun. It had started out innocently with him leaping in and out of the willow's curtain-like branches, soon leaving him on his own adventure with his father prattling on about how Elettra had pretty much single-handedly established her pack. At this point he figured that he would revisit all those stories or, even better, pull them from his mother's own mouth.. or his aunt and uncle's... maybe... if he ever met them again.

As the cub began to stomp around and gambol about, it had never occurred to him that he would attract the attention of someone else who wasn't his mother, father, his sisters or older brothers, or even the heartening Kiki. "Hello?" a voice called out. "Where is everybody?" It made Niles stop in his tracks and prompted his large ears to cup forward. It sounded like a boy... like him! It was startling - both frightening and exciting at the same time. The fur at his neck and shoulders stood up on end before flattening as he tentatively stalked forward.

I'm here, he had wanted to answer. My dad's... over there... somewhere... but, I'm here. The words felt as though they became jumbled up in his throat, jammed at the back of his skull, and knotted up his tongue. He winced as he drew even closer, highly aware that he would probably meet this other cub at any given second if he kept placing one paw in front of the other. His sisters would probably have a field day if he told him about this.

Instinctively, he dove behind a curtain of willow branches, peering through and scampering from one tree to the other until he saw a flash of white fur. On first impression he had thought that he had seen Ravenna but logical reasoning brought him to the idea that his sister was too far away from the pack den to be here without a chaperone (something which was an absolute no-no). He braced himself from behind his 'screen,' then let his little tail wag upon actually verifying that the voice had indeed belonged to someone about his age. His head poked through the leaves and he let out an inquisitive yip, one that could have been translated to a simple, "Hello?!"

"Hello. I'm Sven." the other puppy greeted. "Who're you guys?" The plural in the latter sentence struck out at Niles, alerting his nose that his sister, Ravenna, was actually nearby. It could have been surprising, but something eventually told the little prince that she was bound to come around and try to tag along, even if Dad had told his girls that the little walk he had in mind was for "boys only." Niles' ears swiveled to and fro before returning forward as he stepped out from behind the veil-like willow branches. They seemed to be the same size; visually, though, the other boy looked like the sister that was lingering somewhere in their midst. It begged the question of whether or not he and his litter mates had another sibling. The pale puppy smelled nothing like him or his sisters though.

"Ro," Niles tried to say 'hello' back. It made him inwardly cringe - seeing as he was unsure if this other boy would be as accepting or as lenient as Isolde - and he refused to continue, knowing that he was not as practiced with his words as Sven. "I, Niles." he offered in a huff and a half-bark, waiting to see if his sister might come forward before making a face. He raised his right paw as if to timidly point at Sven before planting it back down on the ground. His head angled curiously to one side. "Rooo?" he asked. You lost?

He then stretched down in something like a play bow but his tail did not wag and he made a sound that was like a sneeze and a loud sniff. It was enough force to make Niles' ears to flop about atop his head. He panted with his tongue hanging over his bottom teeth. Not s'posed to be out here. Dad says.

It didn't seem like the other boy understood him, leaving Niles suddenly uncomfortable in his own skin. He could have growled, angry and displeased with Sven for his own inability to communicate with him, but before he could do much else than stare in disgust, Ravenna was upon them. She didn't even have to touch him to make the fur about his nape and shoulders flatten. Just by being there with him was enough to soothe the anxiety that was starting to creep up along his limbs and into his underbelly.

"Rav...enna." she announced herself and Niles made a sound to acknowledge her and the pronunciation of her name. When the other kid, Sven, parroted her moniker back to her, the Archer-Lyall boy made a face, especially after he mentioned that her name was long. The expression was discarded soon enough, however, as the conversation moved along. By the looks of it, Sven seemed to want to play.

If Ravenna hadn't been around, he might have accepted the invitation, wanting to see for himself if the pale Archer was a likely playmate as his own sister. As it stood, he didn't want his siblings to be or feel misplaced. Niles withdrew his invitation to play and stood up straight. He hummed a note that clued his sister in on his judgement over Sven, seeming to be somewhere in-between judging their age-mate as trustworthy and outright casting him out. The fact was, most of the time, he sided with his sisters' decisions; the other part of the time, he didn't much like talking to anyone outside of his own family.

His head canted over to Ravenna with a sneer and a "Mrrrr." which could have been translated into something like, "I don't think I like him that much. Should we leave?" He suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be with Angier. A grimace was cast in her direction, a silent look that could be assumed to say: "Should tell Mom and Dad about him, too."