The black mask tainted with red, and dark, brown, glaring eyes often hung in the edge of her dreams. While she believed always momma would protect her, it didn't keep the nightmares from coming. It didn't stop her from thinking what other bad things were out there. When yellowed, sharp teeth had flashed at her face she awoke with a start. Blond limbs trembling, quietly she tried to collect her breathing, fight against the quick pace of her heart not to wake her brother or mother. While she could see them, and assure herself all was well she could not go back to sleep. She couldn't erase the terrible picture. The idea of waking Borlla, or just cozying up to her sounded very appealing she didn't want to worry her. Though young she felt like the incident itself weighed enough for her mother to carry. With the faint glow of a promise of morning she crept past Kyros.


The young pup had never seen a sunrise, and the idea was enough to help her reach the open door of the den. While she still felt disturbed, her golden eyes looked around, searching for the sun. The sky held no bright sphere, just gray fluffy shapes she managed to puzzle at. If there was no sun, why was there light? She didn't ask them, when her muzzle tipped down she spotted the pale form of her father, relaxing in the grass. In that instant all of her troubles were forgotten.


A broad smile the golden pup, who was beginning to carry more colors, scurried as quick as she could to reach Phineas. The length of her tail doing quick curls to show her glee, hindering her slightly in her course, but she didn't pay notice. She had missed him in his absence, and was thinking she wouldn't mind having him all to herself. Without a sound but her litte paws, she rushed into his shoulder, and nuzzled his furry neck, licking at the tufts of his ear."Morning, dad" she attempted to whisper, which for a child it wasn't half bad.

Giggles rushed from her throat, while she did her best to evade her father's mouth. Hypatia managed to protect her cheek, but not the tufts of fur below it. That only made her giggle harder. Especially when she found herself gently holding a piece of his ear in return. Wiggling it for a second in satisfaction, she quickly released when it began to part from her teeth.

Hypatia instantly sat beside his paw, cocking her head thoughtfully without looking him straight in the eye. "Couldn't sleep more," she replied, matter-of-factly, not too worried about him asking why not. She didn't know enough words to describe her feelings. The little girl scooted closer, pressing herself into his warmth. It was a little colder than she was use to. Beside Phineas she felt instantly better, the nightmares of minutes before losing strength in her young mind. Borlla had her ways of making Hyp feel better, there was something about the strong stature of her sire that made her feel nothing in the world could conquer him.

"Yo mean sun gettin' up?" The girl didn't bother to hide her wide grin, though maybe it was sunset? She was still learning, and wanted to get it right. Quickly, she shook her head. "Where it go?" She asked, finding her orange eyes searching the tinted clouds above them. She didn't understand, and eagerly awaited to listen.

His tawny daughter – so closely resembled to his siblings and as he was told, many of Borlla’s, giggled at him, the sound like a song as it echoed across the silence that fortified Magnolia Glen. The sound stirred a small chuckle of his own, and as Hypatia settled by his paws, the ivory Leader allowed his eyes to stray over the richness of her pelt, the brightness of her eyes. She shone so brightly, and the confidence that exuberated from her by far outshone the sun that was now rising across the skies.


Explaining she couldn’t sleep, Phineas grunted in response. As she pressed herself closer to him, he bent his muzzle down, smoothing his nose gently across the crown of her head. “How come?” It was a natural question – one raised by a parent that would instantly assume the worst. Had she been scared? Was something troubling her? Was she restless?


One ear flicked as she questioned the sunset, and a smirk pressed to his muzzle then. Glancing up at the sky, nodding in the direction of the horizon, a soft sigh escaped him. The sky drifted from grey to a pale purple now, while flecks of orange began to brim along the horizon edges over the tree tops. “The sun sleeps at night, just as we do,” he offered, his gaze briefly scanning her features for her reaction before he stretched one paw further before him. “Your grandmother once told me that there was a sun god named Helios – a great red wolf the size of a horse with flames that licked from his fur. He was the brother to the beautiful moon goddess, Selene, who’s fur was as silver as the night.”

Settled what she thought was the best seat in the house, she took in a breath of content. There was an ever present smile in the crook of her muzzle. She wanted to hold onto this picture. Keep it tucked away to fight off the ones she rather forget. She had yet to know how quickly life carried on. For now it seemed to go so slowly she could not wait for another day.

The young girl leaned not the comforting touch. Upon the question, the folds of her brown ears flattened in shame, and awareness. Forcefully, in the slightest way she raised her chin. Hypatia did not know what it was to lie. There was a great part of her that wanted to answer. Pale brows touching, she let her eyes flicker to familiar fiery amber. "Scary badder." Phineas would have heard of the badger incident, how close to the den. Maybe, he didn't know how Hyp had witnessed the very beast.

Suddenly, she was very interested in what his quiet nod meant. Shifting carefully, not to drift from his side, her orange eyes take in the light that was glowing more earnestly in the distance. Curiosity would gleam in her irises, a spark of intelligent and wonder. She had never seen such a pretty color. Yet her ears were listening earnestly to his story. Both wolves sounded so beautiful, and real. She tried to picture it in her mind. This wolf was not as grand as he was painted, and she turned back to Phineas in bewilderment. "Bigger than you?"She would ask. The other she was picturing as someone like mamma, though she some how new silver was not the word for the color of her family. Then she decided to add, "Silver?" Hoping he would explain what she should be looking for.

She remained where she had initially sat, despite shifting her weight as the moment’s passed. The warmth she emanated was welcome to him, and despite their conversation, every so often the pale regal would nibble at her fur, preening at her and tidying her, much like Borlla would if she had been here. The slurred speech of her words stirred a small smile to his muzzle, though he did correct her speech upon the badger. His mind stirred back to Borlla’s telling of the tale, and he withheld a soft sigh – their cubs were so young, and there was much to protect them from. Despite Kyros’ trouble physically, the Argyris-Tainn’s had done well as a family.


“Bigger than me,” he quipped, amused that she might consider this feat to be almost impossible. He was large, but others were just as so – Inkheart among them. As Hypatia continued to consider his story that delved slightly to her greek heritage, he could not help but withhold a smirk. “Silver.. much like Zia, though brighter. The goddess, Selene, would glow at night like a beacon.” He knew @Zia played an important role to his children – she had been there to help take care of the badger. She was also seen at Inkheart’s side many times, and at times, the ivory leader wondered how long it would take before the two branched off to create a family and pack of their own. “Helios and Selene were very close,” he rumbled, continuing their light conversation. “Much like you and your brother.”

The girl practiced the word badger, if mastering the sound of its name would conquer her fear. To a point it did, with the reassurance of Phineas presence. Especially they way he fussed over her thickening fur. Something she thought she would never grow tired of, because she had yet to understand getting old.

Orange eyes lit up in surprise, because it was odd imagning anyone bigger than her father. No one was as tall as he. These wolves must be huge. "Big, big," she murmured. Again, she stared at the sky trying to imagine Helios up there. The girl cocked her head, and mouth formed a tiny "O" when Zia became the clear picture of silver. So she had seen it before. It was something Hyp tucked away to perhaps tell the lady she was a very pretty silver because she really did like the blue eyed wolf. Always there was another question.

"Can I see night?" This Selene, she sounded really, really pretty and Hyp wondered how she could glow. They always seemed asleep before darkness came to witness it for herself. Quick she was to add, "Kyros too?" Part of her wondered if he might glow slightly, and she did not want him to miss such a thing. Quieting, his voice held her ears, and his face captured her eyes that wanted more. This story sounded even more interesting if they were like Helios and Selene. How else did the story go?

A slow grin smoothed to his lips as she questioned him, and with a small chuckle, the regal gave a nod. Such an innocent question, and one so simple to fulfill, how could he not say yes? “You, your brother, your mother and myself shall all stay up tonight to see the night,” he rumbled in approval, his muzzle bending down to preen at her ear.


Stretching languidly across the terrain, the ivory male regarded his daughter with adoration that could be unmatched by anyone else in his life – Kyros and Hypatia were everything to him, and while he had often wondered what the cubs he had thought he had fathered previously were doing now, he had always shut them from his mind. Whatever had become of them, he did not know – Desdemona’s presence so briefly to Relic Lore had seemed ages ago, and he had never questioned their whereabouts.


This moment was his second chance, however, and resting his muzzle down to one outstretched forepaw, his eyes fell upon his daughter – a girl who reminded him so very much of his brothers. “How about I tell you the tale of how Selene had tried to steal the day from her brother, Helios, and that was how an eclipse was created?” His day would start soon enough, and once Borlla and Kyros drew themselves from the den, it was likely that Phineas would seek out the rest of his pack mates to see how they were. For now, his rapt attention was upon his daughter, and without waiting for a true answer, the ivory male began to weave the tale his mother had told him and his brothers many times over.