Kova defended her supposed bravery with ardor, and Karina couldn’t help but smile even though she couldn’t quite find it in herself to truly believe his words. Maybe some wolves would think Karina talking to strangers was brave, but the only reason she stuck around to meet the Downs pair was because she was afraid to leave the skull behind. Afraid to come back empty-handed, with nothing to aid her ailing father. Afraid there was nothing she could do, nothing she would do… Karina had been living with fear since she was born, and she knew it well. She knew that below everything on the surface, there was fear. Perhaps her journey beyond the River border would look like adventurousness to some, but Karina would always know it was fear that pushed her out of her homeland—the fear that something terrible was about to happen, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She didn’t voice any of this to Kova. If he was like Leki, then she knew self-depreciating talk would quickly get on his nerves. It was no fun playing with someone you constantly had to reassure. So the pup accepted his compliment with a tail wag, and as he grabbed the other horn she growled playfully on instinct. It felt like kind of like they were initiating a tug war, which was one of her favorite games to play with her siblings. However, it was an entirely different sensation when they began moving in the same direction instead of pulling in opposites. She couldn’t remember ever doing this before, but it was fun! She tried increasing the pace every now and again, giggling through her grip on the horn as they fell out of step and stumbled around. She was so absorbed she forgot all about Firefly and whether she was even following.

”On three!” She instructed, the horn slightly muffling her words. Karina had never gotten to be the counter before. ”One.. two.. THREE!” As soon as the horn left her mouth she was barking excitedly. The skull fell a little ways, hit an outcropping on the side of the cliff, and then rocketed out over the stream. Karina thought she heard a crunch as it landed at the bottom, but it was hard to tell through her naturally mackled vision. ”Think it worked?” she questioned her partner in crime, laying on her belly to inch closer to the edge for a better look.

Karina nodded at Kova’s description as she squinted, and her tongue flicked out over her nose as it usually did during moments of intense concentration. She was so used to her brothers verbally dictating their surroundings that she didn’t think twice about accepting Kova’s version of what happened to the skull. Karina’s brothers had always been quicker and sharper than her, and so it made sense that Kova would be too. “Yeah, that’s what happened,” she agreed, eyes still fixated on the bottom of the gorge. Now that Kova had said it, she was certain that’s what she saw too. She began inching forward to locate the skull down in the riverbed when she felt a tug at the end of her tail. She turned to her companion as words tumbled out of his mouth. If she hadn’t known better—if she hadn’t known that Black Thorn Downs wolves weren’t afraid of anything—she might have thought Kova was a little nervous. Fear was Karina’s specialty after all, as it seemed to be her near constant companion.

“The antler didn’t fall…” she reminded him slowly, “We threw it.” Karina backed away from the edge anyhow, her sensitive nerves picking up on Kova’s energy. Now that he mentioned it, this was sort of a frightening place to be standing. Kova  spoke again, redirecting the attention back to Karina and what she saw, or rather what she hadn’t seen. “I.. I had a bad angle,” she explained, and before he or Firefly could say anything more to the subject she said, ”Let’s go!”  She dashed from the outcropping and began running alongside the gorge, looking for a point at which the riverbank was sloped enough to allow the wolves entry to the creek. When she found her slope she began stumbling and sliding down to the creek, not stopping to wait for the others until she was splashing into the water. ”Come on!” she shouted to the slowpokes, ”It’s fun!” She splashed through the chest-deep water and snapped playfully at the creek’s surface. 

Karina splashed over to her friend as he joined her, his mentor in tow. He asked her about the antler piece, which she had almost forgotten in her delight playing in the creek. “Uhmm..it’s somewhere..” was her noncommittal answer, and she swung her head around in a cursory search for the antler. She had heard a splash after tossing the antlers, so she knew at least a part of it must be under the creek’s surface. As she scanned the creek she noticed the little silver creatures, sunlight reflecting off their scales as they darted through the water. The beauty was breathtaking, and Karina had trouble looking away from the schools of fish as they danced and wove between each other. @Kova must have noticed them too, as his next question was about fishing. The Downs prince started choking after his question, and Karina tore her gaze from the fish just as he was expelling water from his nose and looking very silly doing so. The princess looked away so he wouldn’t see her smiling with laughter at his misfortune.

“I love fish,” she said hesitantly, and it was true—a fish was the only creature she had found the ability to stomach without feeling guilty about eating another living being with a soul that felt fear and pain as it died. Now that she saw how beautiful they were alive, and how fascinating—the school changed direction so quickly, it was as if they all had one mind!—she was having second thoughts about fish as well. Firefly offered to teach the pair, and Karina found herself nodding along with Kova’s enthusiasm. “I had a lesson once, but I don’t remember very well,” she admitted, knowing that her lapse in retention was a result of far too much focus on her tall, dark, handsome teacher and too little attention to the actual lesson. She found her gaze drifting back to the swirling groups of fish, wishing she could go back to just splashing merrily through the water. Why did everything have to turn into a lesson when you brought an adult along?

Karina nodded at the instruction; it was the same for any hunting really. Be quiet, don’t make sudden movements.. Of course Karina could be quiet and still and observe and animal, it was one of her favorite things to do. When it came to actually catching and killing that animal it was an entirely different story, and the pup’s prey always slipped away from her because she lacked the motivation to actually harm the creature. Fish were different though. As long as she spent sitting by Cut Rock River and watching the fish circle, she had never seen one display anything that could be considered a feeling. A fish was like a bug, just a bundle of nerves and self-preserving reflexes. The child would likely never enjoy the violence associated with killing even a fish, but at least the process didn’t repulse her and break her heart. 

As Karina stood quiet and still, as Kova requested, she watched the school of fish dip and dive within the creek in fascination. There was a group of fish that had found something on the bottom of the creek to nibble, and after a moment of very hard, squinty staring Karina realized what it was. ”There!” she shouted, sending sprays of water in every direction as she charged forward. A quick dive, and she surfaced with the horn piece in her mouth and a triumphant look in her eye. She deposited her find on the shore and then turned back to Kova, who was standing in a very still, very fishless creek. ”Oops..” she said, realizing her antics had scared away their prey. Karina looked at her paws, wondering if @Kova was going to yell at her, because it was what Orren would have done.

Orren. Oh no.. Without realizing it, Karina had done exactly what Orren would have done! She started out on a mission but let herself get distracted by hunting of all things! And when her father was sick and in need of medicine, no less.  Karina’s disgust with herself deepened, and she was overcome with the pressing urge to be home. “I’m sorry guys..” Karina said, looking back up at her new friends. ”..I should really be getting home anyway though. They don’t exactly know I’m gone.” Ah there it was.. guilt.. Guilt added to disgust and embarrassment, her usual trifecta of emotions. The pup cocked her head, hoping Kova wasn’t too disappointed in how their fishing venture turned out. “Maybe next time..” Karina started to say, but then trailed off without finishing the sentence.