“You shouldn’t stray so far away from the pack,” Vaken advised, a small smile twitching at the sides of his mouth. He had been resting behind some trees, staying well hidden and close to the border. He had watched the pup with protective instinct but kept a fair distance back. He didn’t want to get caught carrying around the pup of another couple. It wasn’t quite his place, but his eyes were focused on the black ball.

When the pup hit the tree, Vaken slowly got onto his paws and walked over. He found the situation quite comical. In an attempt to not to embarrass the pup, Vaken kept his face relatively void of emotion. He lowered his muzzle down and gave the pup a little push with the tip of his nose.

“Where did ya think you were gonna go?”
 He looked over his shoulder into the dense woods. “All the fun stuff is back there,” he joked, gesturing back into the pack territory. “Out here is the bad stuff. A bunch of nasty ol’ prey-stealing gremlins- not fun at all.”

Vaken took a timid step towards the pup, but kept his head low in fear. It didn’t feel right to enter pack lands this boldly, especially without the secure company of Sahalie and Kino. He’d prefer to situate himself right at the border. It was his safe zone, and he knew he wouldn’t be crossing any lines and starting any trouble.

He wasn’t sure how to explain this to the pup. It was a hard concept to understand, surely a young wolf wouldn’t been able to completely grasp the complexity of pack hierarchy. How could you dumb that down? Vaken narrowed his eyes in concentration and let out a little huff as he thought. “Maybe I should be in there,” he admitted. “I guess I don’t like fun.”

With that bold statement, Vaken plopped a seat a few steps in the territory. If the pup was lost, Vaken felt obligated to return him to the main den- but that didn’t feel right to him. Strolling into the centre of pack territory was more than he was comfortable with. Rather than continue, he settled on a reasonable few feet. “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“Fun for you,” the yearling snorted, pulling his face away in mock annoyance. “Not fun for me.” He scoffed, but a smile was playing at the sides of his mouth. It was fun for him, but he wasn’t going to admit it. No way. Instead, he pretended to be the grumpy lone wolf that he so often was.

He watched the small pup collapse onto the floor, and with an understanding nod he smiled. Deciding to follow the pup’s actions, the scruffy furred boy began to lay as well. He kept his face towards the black pup, dangling his nose around his paw to entice him in a game of smack-a-face. As long as the boy was close in pack territory, Vaken didn’t mind playing around.