She was balancing on a fine line, the one between her curiosity and her apprehension. This new place was interesting, so different from the dark, damp den that had been her whole world for the first month of her life. But it was also scary, full of strangers, many of them so big and odd-smelling, and also packed with loud sounds and confusing scents. Most of the time she remained in their new den, a little smaller than the one where she was borne, but still plenty big for the three of them; her mother, her father, and Nalda herself.

There were days though, when her curiosity outweighed her fear. Days like today. She had been spending more time alone, her parents now busy fulfilling their duty to the pack, safe in the knowledge that she was protected by the wolves around them; it was a weird new thing, this pack life. She wasn't lonely, both Nova and Camio checked in on her often, and there was always at least on adult nearby, though she didn't interact with them much. But she did have a number of hours left to her own devises, and it was at these times that the urge to explore was the strongest.

Today she felt particularly brave, wanting to investigate further away from the den site than she had before, and once both her mother and father were gone, she set out on her mission. Before exiting the den, she looked around to check for anyone else in the small clearing, then, once satisfied that she could escape unnoticed, she slinked away. Her large, bright colored ears made it easy to spot her against the vibrant green undergrowth, but once she reached the fallen timbers bordering the den site, she blended much better with the landscape. The brownish grays and deep russets of her short hairs matched perfectly with the towering - and toppled - red cedars, and it was like she was born for living in these woods, her tiny body slipping easily through openings between the piled tree trunks.

Every now and then, she would pause and look around, cornflower eyes wide and round as she studied her surroundings. The forest continued to amaze her, every new shape of a leaf or color of a flower making her smile brightly. She loved to explore, to be able to study and learn at her own pace, and pause whenever she wanted to smell a unique plant or pile of dung left by a passing creature; she still didn't understand why these scents in particular fascinated her, but never the less, she found them extremely interesting. Her progress was slow, short legs and many breaks keeping her close to the origin of her little journey. Still, when she finally started to feel tired and turned around to start home, she found that she had no idea where she had ended up, and how to get back.

Word count: 491

There were so any things to see, hundreds of new impressions battling within the young mind, eagerly taking them all in. Therefore, her fear was not immediate, there simply wasn't enough room in her mind for panic. Instead, when she looked around trying to orient herself, her attention was captured by something new - a small patch of dirt that looked darker than that around it, and was almost completely free of needles - she merrily trotted over to it, content to keep exploring. The ground was uneven, and when she pawed at it, it moved easily, like it had been loosened by something, recently dug up by another wolf, or some other creature of the forest. This new discovery, like everyone before it, brought a fresh smile to her face, a small chuckle even escaping her as she continued to dig at the dirt.

Her large, russet ears were pointed forwards, down at what she was doing, and so, she did not notice her nanny's approach before the voice suddenly sounded. Despite Iopah's care to be calm and non-intimidating, the unsuspecting pup still jumped high in the air, spinning around to face the suddenly materialized wolf. Her stubby tail curled tightly along her belly, eyes widening to big circles as she looked up at the pale woman. Nalda knew Iopah, not just from that day on the borders, but from several days left in her care, even if the shy pup had mostly kept her distance from this queen of the pack; A term the young child still didn't fully understand. Now she was suddenly faced directly with the golden eyed lady, seeing no opportunity to slip away, especially not if she wanted to get back to the den. "Uhm..." She began hesitantly, mouth growing dry; "I uhm..." In the end she just shook her head, bashfully casting down her eyes. She didn't know how to talk to adults. Really, she didn't know how to talk to anyone, other than Moma and Dad of course, but that was different...

She could feel the mother's eyes on her while she stared awkwardly at her paws, burning into her murky fur like the midday sun. The girl had a strong sense that she should say something, but she had no idea what. It wasn't that she wanted to be rude, in fact she very much wanted to act properly and respectfully, like her mother had taught her, but she didn't know how. In a moment of courage, she took a deep breath, looking back up, briefly meeting those piercing, bright amber eyes. But it was impossible for her to hold the adult's gaze, and she turned her eyes to the side, feeling heat rise in her tiny cheeks. "Nothin'." She finally mumbled, demurely, unable to say anything else.

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She felt trapped under the adult's gaze, wanting nothing more than to scurry for her den and her parents, even as the sturdy woman laid down in a show of amity. It wasn't that Nalda was scared of Iopah, yes she knew perfectly well who the creme-pelted queen was, she just, well... She just didn't like to be the center of attention, to anyone! Except maybe her dad. It felt like anything she did was being studied, scrutinized, and the smallest little mistake would be held against her. While she waited for another question, she knew one would come, grownups loved to ask questions, the murky pup glanced up, seeing Iopah's head turned and inadvertently following her gaze. The forest behind them was quiet, tranquil, only small signs of disturbance revealing that the two wolves had just travelled through. Cornflower eyes landed on the small pile, obscured by the needles, yet clearly visible to nay wolf's eyes.

The girl was so lost in thought that she almost jumped again when Iopah finally spoke; another question. She tensed up, head jerking back to look up at the timber woman. Her pale eyes were widened, but no longer only from fear; her russet ears perked. She didn't know the word the adult used, but she was still quite confident she knew what she was referring to. Tiny, reddish head tilted a faint light deep in her eyes revealing her delight in learning something new. When Iopah asked the second time, more directly, the child forgot her shyness, caught up in the joy of learning, and pride in showing what she already knew. "It's poop!" She announced, a smile flashing across her face before she realized her brashness, and gasped in horror. Her eyes grew wide and afraid once more, quickly falling back to her paws, oversized ears flopping in embarrassment.

But even as she cringed at her outburst, she knew she was right, and the part of her that longed to learn battled the shyness that wanted to drive her back into hiding. Shuffling her paws , the girl bit her lip, heat flushing through her body as she tried to get control of her chaotic thoughts. Then she shot out her chin, looking back up at Iopah; "Well it is." She stated, a bit defensively. Her gaze then drifted back to the droppings, brows furrowing and lips pursing a bit; "I-Isn't it?" The adult wolf had called it something else; "Pellets..? Pellets, pellets, pellets!" The young pup mumbled, then turned her eyes back up, bravely meeting those piercing, golden orbs; "They came out of somethin'... not wolf." She finally stated, confidently. She knew about other animals, she had heard about them, smelled them, seen their tracks; But she couldn't identify one from the other, and she still wasn't entirely sure why she found them so interesting. Still, she knew that those, pellets, came from one of them, and she felt rather proud that she had been able to answer the question.

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It didn't take much to shake the timid pup's confidence, and Iopah's gentle chuckle was enough to make her oversized, russet ears fall to the side. But the mother was quick to quiet, lowering her head to bring their eyes on level. Nalda looked into the golden orbs, suddenly no longer feeling uncomfortable under their scrutiny. She lifted her ears again, even stretching forwards a little, now that they were face to face, the girl finally realized that there was no malice in those sharp eyes, that maybe Iopah wasn't so scary after all.

At the confirmation of her answer, she even smiled, a small, but satisfied curve of her lips. When Iopah moved, the young girl quickly pulled back her muzzle, eyes following the adult's nose as she lifted it skyward. Yet another confirmation made her smile wider, and she mimicked the pale lady, bending back her own head to sniff intently at the air. The scents of the Pine's were all a jumble to the young wolf, animals and plants all melting together in a spiced mess that made her sneeze. Blinking moisture from her eyes, she wrinkled up her nose and shook her head, tiny pink tongue slipping out to touch the tip of her snout. Curiously, she looked back up at the sandy dame, tilting her head to the side. Iopah didn't seem to have been overwhelmed by the sensory input the way the pup had been, instead looking like she rather enjoyed the smells of the forest. Nalda wondered if maybe there was something wrong with her nose, raising a paw to rub it as the memory of the strong smell made it itch.

Then Iopah spoke again, and the child's eyes widened. She stared in wonder, mouth slightly agape as the former huntress took one last breath, and then looked back down. "H-how d'you know that?!" She gasped in awe, glancing back over at the tiny, negligible pile. It was like magic to her, that the adult could somehow tell all that by simply... What, sticking her nose in the air? Yet the little girl never even considered that Iopha could be lying, why would she? The comment about eating deer made her look back up at the pale woman, eyes still wide with wonder; "Eat?" She asked, pursing her lips thoughtfully; "W' eat meat. Meat is deer?" She'd never before made the connection, her nose were still not nearly sensitive enough to tell the similarity in smell, and what she had so far eaten other than her mother's milk and regurgitated food were scraps, ripped from a carcass and brought to the den, having no resemblance to the animal it originally came from. The complete implications, that what she had been eating was also alive, still hadn't hit her, but her curiosity was aflame, eyes glowing up at Iopah as questions tumbled over one another in her mind; "Catch, why catch meat?" It sounded on the adult like it was something that wasn't so easy, wouldn't it be simpler to simply eat the scraps the adults brought, they didn't need to be caught; Though she had to admit, it could be very fun pouncing on them, like the other pups sometimes did on each other. But the meat didn't have feelings to be hurt by someone attacking it, and it never fought back, she liked that a lot more than brawling with her age mates; That was something she actively tried to avoid.

Word count: 580

The mysteries of the world were unraveling before her very paws, every answer sparking several new questions in her inquisitive brain. Things she'd never really thought about before suddenly presented new ideas and widened her horizon. Iopah's words made the pups eyes light up with curiosity and wonder, tail starting to wag behind her from sheer excitement. The smile on the adults face might have caused the insecure youngin to pause, had it not been for her utter fascination with learning, large ears clinging to every sentence. The huntress was proposing that, not only could she remember the scent - implying that her memory retained a whole catalogue of different smells - but she could clearly tell it apart from all others, even the ones you would imagine to be similar. Not only could she smell that these pellets came from a deer, but a mule deer, and a female one. Nalda was stunned.

She wanted to ask more questions about scents, but filed them away for later as Iopah moved on to the next question, and the child's mind followed along. Russet brows furrowed as the women tried to explain about the cycle of life, connecting the dots that Nalda had yet to. The added comment made her nod solemnly though, she had gone through the face of putting everything in her mouth, learning the hard way that most things didn't taste that well. She'd gotten over that pretty quickly. There was one thing she was a bit confused about, and this time she couldn't wait to ask; "E-ev'thing? So wolf too, wolf is meat?" It was the only conclusion she could draw, yet, she needed confirmation.

Meanwhile, the grown up seemed to be pondering a little on the latest question, and Nalda tilted her head, watching her intently. The concept of hard and easy questions was still unknown to her, surely everything had an answer, and giving it shouldn't be so hard. Finally Iopah formulated her response and the pup widened her eyes even more, mouth falling slightly agape. If there was one thing she had learned in her limited existence, it was that everyone needed to eat. She knew the pain of hunger, though luckily not the more severe starvation, but she recognized the need for food in a way every wolf did, she had just never thought about where it came from. To Nalda, as to every young wolf, her mother was the source of food. For a long time, Nova's milk had been all that sustained her, then she had begun regurgitating small amounts of food, and finally, the cub had been introduced to strips of raw meat, again mainly brought to her by her mother. But it was only in this moment she realized where it had come from.

The pale wolfess' sudden movement brought her audience's attention back on her, bat-like ears twitching curiously as she noticed the flaring nostrils. She was smelling something. Like any good student, the pup copied her teacher, sniffing at the air to try and figure out what it was Iopah had scented. While the picture she got was not nearly as detailed as the skilled hunter's, she did catch a sharp smell, which triggered her memory. The scent of blood hung heavy around the adults when they returned from a hunt, and clung sharp and strong to the scraps of meat they brought with them. As Nalda visualized the memory, she realized that she had just done what Iopah had earlier, smelled something and remembered what it was. Her mouth was still agape, but murky pup-eyes twinkled with triumph, and at the woman's question, she nodded eagerly; Yes she wanted to see, she wanted to see everything.

Word count: 620