Delight rushed through him as Inna recognized his image, realizing that the reflections in the water were pictures of the two of them. Surprise and confusion in her tone, she looked between her brother, and the delicate scout, clearly dead-set on figuring out the mystery. Orren was amazed to see only wonder and determination in her face, no sign of the frustration that he remembered feeling when he himself had once struggled with the same problem, almost a year ago; Has it really not been more? But Inna was of a different mind it seemed, stubborn like he youngest brother, but with the steeled determination of the oldest. It made a strange mixture of feelings bubble up inside him, to recognize Aleksei in their younger sister.

Naia was not giving it up easily, turning now to Orren to assist in her lesson. The brash yearling remembered how he had resented her for attempting to teach him this way when he was at his youngest, all he had wanted was the answer, and back then, he didn't see the wisdom in avoiding shortcuts; He still didn't all of the time. "Well," He started, looking back down at Inna as he answered the question, knowing that this was all for her benefit; "Ya' see Lightning-bug, everything has a scent. Sometimes your eyes, or even your ears, can play tricks on ya', tha's when ya' need to use your nose! That will tell ya' what's real and what aint." He winked, glancing up at Naia to see if she approved of his explanation. Of course he was biased! As a blossoming tracker, Orren had learned to rely on his nose above all else, trusting in his strongest sense to guide him whenever he was unsure. Though, given that it was largely the nimble scout who had taught him this, he doubted that she would say anything against it.

And she did seem to support his words, moving forwards to finally supply Inna with the last piece of the puzzle. The black-saddled boy smiled at her, stepping aside to allow her access to the water next to the ebony pup. Naia explained, touching on the same thing he had about tricks of the light. "It's a reflection." The hefty lad supplied, coming up on his sister's other side, muzzle lowered to be next to hers; "What you see in the water is an image of the things above it." Then he lifted his eyes a little to look at Naia over the pup's head, smiling warmly. He watched as the agouti woman demonstrated another trick, persimmon eyes shifting down to see Inna's reaction. After giving the girl plenty time to see, the adult then turned, asking the two younger wolves to 'find her when they were ready'. Orren smiled knowingly, nodding in agreement, then turned his attention back to Inna, while Naia moved away.

Speaking in a confidential tone, the boy glanced out at the river, then sought to meet his baby sister's bright, cornflower eyes; "It's strange eh? Bu' light really loves to play games! Tha's why I don't like trustin' my eyes too much." There was a teasing glint in his eyes, but his smile was gentle and loving. He knew this all must be confusing to her, but hopefully it wouldn't be too much; I guess she has to learn... The yearling wasn't entirely sure his baby sister was ready for this lesson, but he trusted that Naia knew best, after all she had a lot more experience in teaching than him. A sudden impulse made him add: "This' a good thing to remember when you're fishin', the light will bend like that, makin' it look like the fish is somewhere else." It was natural for him to draw on his own experience in this, whenever it came to hunting and tracking, he was more than eager to share what he knew. It was highly possible that Inna would forget this again before she ever needed it, if she had even understood it in the first place, but that didn't matter much to him.

Straightening up, Orren glanced in the direction Naia had gone, checking that she had gotten a sufficient distance away, then he looked down at Inna; "Ok Lightning-bug, s'time to use your nose!" A broad grin was spread across the hunter's face, excitement aglow in his eyes; Now THIS is gonna be fun! Another glance was cast to the north, than attention returned to Inna; "Ya' know what Naia smells like, right? See if ya' can find 'er!" He would be ready to assist if she needed any more help finding and following the trail, full of joy to be introducing his sister to this, the most interesting of all things he knew; TRACKING!

Word count: 796

Thoughts ”Speech”

Excitement rose up in Inna when Naia told her that she was right in her deduction about the smell telling her something about the puppy.  The thing that she had to figure out was what exactly it told her about the puppy.  She looked back at the puppy and sniffed it once more thinking that might help her to figure out what she was missing.  Inna knew that she was missing something but she didn’t know what it was as she tried to sort out the facts in her mind.  The appearance of her brother beside her and the puppy though did help her a lot by giving her one more clue as to why the puppy wouldn’t come out and play with her.  It was then that she figured out that the puppy wasn’t another puppy but her.

Inna turned her attention back to Naia as she spoke about Orren and how he knew a lot about smells because he was a hunter.  Perhaps her brother could help her to put the clues that she had together to figure out the problem that she was now facing.  When he spoke she turned her head to look up at him and listen as he spoke about her eyes could play tricks on her but her nose would always tell her the truth about a thing. “My nose is my best friend when it comes to figuring things out,” she stated to show that she did understand what the older wolves were telling her. “But what if I can’t figure out what my nose is telling me?” she asked looking between the two wolves.  For instance now, she smelled water when she sniffed what she now realized was her.  Shouldn’t the other her smell like her and not water?  Inna shook her head in the confusion that she felt.

Naia explained that the water and light could play tricks on the eye, Inna wasn’t sure that she fully understood what the female meant so when she moved toward the water she watched intently as the woman showed her straight leg before plunging it into the water.  The youngster could see that her leg which had been perfectly straight a moment before was now bent and as Naia pulled it back out of the water her leg was straight once more.  Then Orren supplied her with the answer to the problem, “Reflection?” she said curiously. Went on to tell her that the water showed what was above it, “Which is why that me,” she pointed at the Inna in the water with her paw, “Smells like water and not me?” She was sure that she was right in that but she wanted to confirm it with her brother and Naia.

She decided that the advice about trusting her eyes that Orren gave her was good advice that should be committed to memory, she could tell by the way that he spoke that it was important.  “Like how the water made Naia’s leg look?” She asked curious to see if she understood exactly what Orren was saying as he spoke about fishing.  Inna’s attention was drawn once more to the older woman as she explained that she had another lesson she wanted to teach. Inna was excited to be learning another lesson and watched a moment while Naia moved away from them before turning to her brother questioningly.  She didn’t understand how the older female was going to teach the lesson if she wasn’t there until Orren supplied her with the answer, she would have to use her nose.  Inna nodded when he asked if she knew what Naia smelled like.  Inna’s confusion about what Orren meant was clear on her face, she knew that she had to use her nose but she wasn’t sure how so she tried to sniff the air, “Like this?” She asked her brother.