Karina yipped with impish delight as she saw Orren nose-dive into the dirt. In her eyes Aleksei had vanquished him and he would no longer come after either of them. A bark sounded from somewhere nearby, and it was not a voice that Karina recognized. Not her mother or father. Before today, Karina’s entire world was made up of things that could be tasted or smelled, and seen now that her eyes were open. She had just now discovered that there was a whole new part to the world that she hadn’t even imagined existed, and that frightened her. What else could actually exist that she hadn’t already imagined existing?

She forgot all about the disembodied bark when Orren began to make a very sad, very loud noise that their elder brother tried immediately to imitate. Of course, Aleksei’s nose wasn’t the nose that was hurting, so he wasn’t getting it quite right. Orren had feeling behind his howl, and despite her young age Karina’s heart reached out for her middle brother. Maybe he bit her a little hard sometimes.. but he didn’t deserve to be in pain. Karina wriggled over to his position, licking Orren’s nose out of some strange instinct that she didn’t understand. It tasted like dirt.

He and Aleksei were both howling now, and it seemed to Karina it was just for the sheer fun of it. The pain was gone from Orren’s voice, so she started to get excited all over again. There was something about the noise that made her heart pound and gave her energy that she hadn’t had moments before. She joined in their fun with gusto. ”Arrp! Arrrr.. AAArrriiiip!” She had trouble achieving the same resonance as her brothers. They didn’t seem to even notice though, as much fun as their little musical klatsch was having.