Following her nose, the littlest Baranski exited the Cedarwood Forest for the first time in her life. She was theoretically allowed to go exploring with the adults of the River, but Karina preferred her own company or that of her brothers to the company of the adults in her pack. They were always trying to teach her things that she just wasn’t good at. It was always “look at that” or “see this?” and it took her ages and a lot of squinting to find what they were trying to show her. Terrified of being hurt or hurting someone else, she was rotten at fighting too, and as for hunting… even if she could see the target she would rather make friends with an animal than hunt it down. Lachesis was the only wolf who taught her things that made sense. He showed her how to use her nose to identify the useful parts of plants and other wild things. “Wound mending” usually smelt one way, and “sleeping” smelt another way... it was hard to explain to her brothers, but she could just sense things about plants. She would have loved to find Lachesis and talk about the plants of autumn (summer plants were on their way out) but he was so busy these days, what with taking on all her father’s responsibilities. Karina wondered if he even had time to heal her father properly, and that was when she came up with this brilliant idea to gather the healing herbs herself.

Karina sniffed at a fruity smelling plant, wrinkling her nose as she tried to remember. It was so odd, but the farther she got from home the less she could recall from her sessions with Lachesis. She had assumed it would be just as easy as one of their lessons where she picked the correct herb from a pile. Gathering from the wild was nothing like that, she was realizing. Live plants looked and smelled so different from their dried counterparts, and the right answer wasn’t so easy when the question wasn’t multiple-choice. All she had managed to gather was a mouthful of minty-smelling stuff, and she couldn’t even recall if it was useful. All it was doing was clogging up her nose so she couldn’t smell other stuff properly. She spat the minty plant onto the ground in annoyance, and when her nose cleared she caught an interesting smell in the air. She knew it would be a bad idea to go too far out of the Cedars, but as long as she could find her way home…

She darted after the pungent scent, knowing that it was highly unlikely anyone would check for her or even know she had left the Forest. There were so few River wolves now, and they were all so busy now that Dad was sick. Soon she came upon the carcass of some horned creature. Karina supposed it was a deer, but it was hard to tell when it smelled so rotten. The pup was pretty hungry—she always was, it seemed— but even if she was starved she wouldn’t touch that meat. The antlers were a different story though. Karina felt confident that there was something useful about deer antlers, even if at this moment she couldn’t remember exactly what it was. If it was possible those horns could help her dad, she was going to get them. Breathing through her mouth, the pup started chewing through the decaying flesh at the base of the skull, attempting to sever the head from the carcass. She gagged as she got a mouthful of rotten hide, spitting the putrefaction onto the ground before running a few paces away to breathe. She could really use that minty plant right about now.

Staring at the carcass from a distance, Karina had trouble summoning the resolve to approach the putrid mess once more. It would be so easy to simply walk away and pretend like she had never found the deer and never left the territory on this silly mission. No, Karina thought, her blue eyes trained on the antlers. If they could help her dad, she wasn’t leaving them. She wasn’t some fair-weather daughter. She approached the carcass, each step filled with steely determination. She wasn’t like Orren slipping out of the den at any opportunity and slinking back hours later, wondering if anyone had noticed or if he was in trouble. Her parents needed the comfort of family now more than ever. Karina and Aleksei had been by their father’s side almost constantly. Karina began chewing around the base of the deer skull again, unsure of whether the sour taste on her mouth was from the deer or from her poisonous thoughts toward Orren. Where was her good-for-nothing brother? Where did he go when no one followed?

Here, apparently. Karina saw Orren’s hesitant approach in her peripheral vision. She had a fantastic nose and would have noticed his presence sooner had this rancid stench not been swamping her senses. As it was though, she pretended not to notice him; the silent treatment was just what he deserved. He wanted to disappear? She would treat him like he was invisible. If you’ve nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Well, silence was Karina’s specialty as a matter of fact.

And then he had the nerve to question her—not only that, but to actually bring up sickness. ”No...” she said slowly, so surprised at her brother’s gall she forgot her vow of silence. ”That would be Dad. Or had you even noticed, Mr. Gone-When-It’s-Gets-Tough?” She looked up from the deer to glare at her brother. His coat was all wrong—light in place it was supposed to be dark. Had he rolled in something weird? That would be just like him, to get all dirty and then stay away for hours because he was worried about getting a bath when he returned. The thought of Mom swiping Orren with her tongue and lecturing while her brother squirmed and protested made Karina smile a little despite herself. She sighed, looking down at her paws instead of continuing to chew. It was harder to be mad when he was standing right here, and it had been so long since they had spent any time together. ”Nevermind,” she conceded, her tone apologetic. ”Help me with this, would you?” She tore a piece of rotten flesh from the dead beast’s neck and flung it toward the other pup playfully. She could be mischievous too.

Orren insisted that their father was better, and Karina with her jaw busy could only answer with a puppyish growl. Is that what he was telling himself; Dad is all better so it’s okay to run off every day? How would he even know? The next time he spoke he was closer, questioning her objective and talking about bellyaches. Karina was still busy trying to detach the skull from the top of the spine, but Orren’s words struck a funny note and she paused her efforts to look up. Since when did Orren care about the end purpose or consequences like tummyaches? The brother she knew would already be attacking the carcass, gleefully strewing deer guts left and right. The other pup—who seemed much more prone to thinking out loud (or really thinking at all) than Orren—took his place opposite her and began chewing, after figuring out all on his own it was the antler she was after.

Karina’s soft blue eyes widened, and she took a step back from the stranger. He asked more questions as he worked, but Karina’s brain was frozen in panic. She had never met anyone outside of Cut Rock River, and even interacting with River wolves made her nervous. It hadn’t even really occurred to her that other pups her age existed who weren’t her brothers. ”I made a mistake..” she squeaked, "I thought you were.. you-you’re not..” The pup stammered, unable to really get out what she was trying to say. She inched backward another step before lowering her body to the ground reflexively. If the stranger had been an adult she might have taken off in the other direction, but the girl was just curious enough about another her age that she stayed put, watching him through cloudy blue eyes. "You’re not my brother,” she finally said, a little more confidence behind her voice. That much of course was obvious to the other pup and had been for a while, but Karina’s frozen brain couldn’t think of anything more intelligent to say. What were you supposed to say when you met someone who wasn’t Cut Rock River?

Karina eyed the strange pup warily; it did not escape her that he was laughing at her. She was used to that. Being the youngest and smallest and the only girl in her litter, she was always the butt of some stupid joke. It didn’t help that she seemed to be the worst at everything too. Well, she was good with Lachesis’ lessons, but for all the stuff that mattered—hunting and fighting and stuff—her brothers were already much better than her. It would seem that this boy was no different. He introduced himself, and Karina noticed that his name had a pretty flair. ”Kova Lagina,” she said, seeing how it felt on her tongue. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had to learn a new name. ”Oh.” Karina realized that he had asked for her own name, and all she had done was repeat his. ”Oh. I’m.. Karina. Baranski. My parents lead Cut Rock River.” She tried to think if she had ever heard of Black Thorn Downs before. She felt certain she had overheard the other pack mentioned during a pack meeting, but she couldn’t remember if Downs wolves were good or bad.

The pup took a step toward Kova. If she couldn’t remember what her parents had said about the Downs wolves, then she would make the judgment herself. She liked this new boy, even if he had laughed at her at first. He was curious like Orren but not wild and impulsive, and he was smart and thoughtful like Aleksei but not so uptight or high-and-mighty. And he wanted to help her get the antlers.

”..Yeah.” she finally agreed, walking back over to the carcass. "Well, there are two.." she ventured, not quite realizing that his threat to take the antlers for himself was empty. Who wouldn't want such a cool prize? Karina saw no reason why they couldn't each have one. Instead of getting back to work chewing though, she found that she was overwhelmed with questions for the strange boy. "Do you live here in the Forest? Are you a prince?” she asked. She had been told from a very young age that she was a princess, and her brothers were princes. A new thought struck her, and her eyes lit up with excitement. "Wait.. do you have sisters? Can I meet them?!” Everything would change if there were girls around here to play with! Maybe they would like playing pretend and birdwatching and doing all the things Karina liked but her brothers thought were silly. Quite suddenly the deer antler was pushed a few spaces down on her priority list.