Her world had become wet! It seemed every other day now, water was falling from the sky, turning the dusty chasm into a surge of mud. Now, this was not actually a bad thing, not to Apolline at least. She absolutely loved the mud! Splashing, rolling, digging, and chasing all the funny critters that lived in it, the cinnamon pup usually looked all brown, covered head to toe in grime.

The only downside so far had been the ‘mudhole’ filling with water – apparently that was how it was supposed to be, and the adults seemed relieved – but at least she had plenty of mud to dig in elsewhere. Now that her legs were stronger, and her parents less keen to bring her back to the den whenever she strayed, she also had much bigger reign of the land around the chasm. Jumping on the opportunity to explore further and find even more mud to dig in.

Today, her ventures took her north, with plenty of stops along the way to inspect potential new mudholes. So far though, none of them had passed her rigorous requirements, and, in the way of kids her age, the girl was starting to lose interest. So, when her roaming eyes caught sight of something bright yellow, she instantly left her path to inspect this other new thing in her world.

Thoughts ”Speech”

Having grown up during a draught, Apolline hadn’t seen many flowers in her short lifetime – mostly small whisps of white or pink amongst the dried grass. This was entirely different! Giant disks of brown surrounded by golden pedals as big as tree leaves, each one towering higher than her head, so she attempted to stand on her hind legs to examine them further, only to fall on her tail.

So captivated was she, that the rustling behind her didn’t even make her ears turn, muddy eyes transfixed on one particularly large flower. Even when the voice sounded close behind her, she only perked one ear, head tilting as she pondered aloud: “Per-dee…” Her muzzle bobbed in agreement, gaze finally tearing away briefly, to glance over her shoulder.

She didn’t recognize the grey wolf, but that meant little, up until this point her whole life had been about meeting strangers, to her this might as well be another pack mate. She was much more interested in the flowers, turning back to admire their grandeur; “Is like th’ sun, but more close.”

Thoughts ”Speech”

Muddy eyes glanced sideways as the silver stranger came to join her, briefly lifting to study his pale face. The golden eyes stood out brightly against their steely backdrop, again making the pup think of the sun, as so many things seemed to do today.

However, her attention was instantly drawn back to the flowers when he gave her the name, and she turned up her face in wide eyed delight as he offered her a closer look. “Fleur… Soleil?” She muttered, tilting her head a little, it didn’t sound quite right, but she liked it anyway.

She gave the flower a good sniff, then, finally, turned to give the stranger her proper attention. Perhaps testing her father’s language finally made her remember the manners he had tried so hard to teach her. At least, she finally found it appropriate to Introduce herself, complete with bright smile and wagging tail; “I’m Apple!”

Thoughts ”Speech”

Her tail wagged happily at his response, which she took as a compliment, something she didn’t get all that often. She smiled widely at his own introduction, perking her ears to make sure she heard it right. However, the question gave her pause, head tilting and brow furrowing as she tried to understand; Of course she lived here, didn’t he?

Before she was able to properly formulate her confusion into words, a sharp voice drew her attention away from Malien. The sudden appearance of her mother brought the grin back to the pup’s features, her sheltered mind entirely missing the seriousness of the situation – sure, she’d never heard her moms voice sound like that, but she had yet to realize that she’d done something wrong. Thus, tail happily wagging, Apolline ran to Woya’s side, all joy and excitement; “Maman!”

She danced in front of the pale alphess, briefly glancing back over her shoulder at her new friend; “Lien’s showed me the sunflowers!” To her this was all good, she’d made her first friend, on her own, after all and learned about something new and wonderful. The truth was about to hit her like a rock slide.

Thoughts ”Speech”