With the new establishment of Hearthwood River on the banks of a waterway not unlike the one near which she had grown up, Karina had finally been able to fill her belly with fish. Karina knew how much Orren enjoyed the hunt, however lately he seemed to be spending more and more time by the river, pulling fat, unsuspecting fish from the shallows. Karina had a sneaking suspicion that Orren had caught on to her food preference, and the extra fish carcasses in the Hearthwood stores were intended for her. As she trotted westward, the girl marveled at her newfound energy, realizing that for the first time in weeks she was able to look around and enjoy the scenery while on the way to Kjors’ densite. Typically at this point in the journey she would be trudging with exhaustion and stumbling every now and then as a weak muscle gave out suddenly.. there was no energy to spare except to keep eyes on the ground in front of her. Kjors usually had a carcass of something to offer her upon arrival, which she would wolf down thankfully until she had restored enough nourishment to be disgusted with herself for eating the flesh of another creature.

Arriving at Kjors’ den, she found it empty except for a curious fox, sniffing at the remains of whatever meal Kjo had left sitting outside his den. Knowing that the meal had been left out for her, a possessive growl rumbled within the girl’s chest. Never in a million years would she have attacked the poor, hungry thing, but seeing as wolves and foxes do not use the same language, Karina knew no other way to communicate her annoyance to the critter.  The fox turned its vulpine gaze to her, seeming to size her up before trotting away from the den reluctantly. Approaching the carcass, Karina ripped off a sizeable chunk to fling into the undergrowth for the fox. If Kjo returned to find the fox trying to steal again, Karina knew it was as good as dead. Perhaps now it would be content to take the giveaway and head home.

Leaving the rest of the carcass untouched, Karina chose instead to lower her nose to the ground and search out her missing friend. As she tracked her mentor’s scent , Karina finally fount the swarthy man when she arrived at the shores of the great lake. Joy leapt into her heart at the sight of her friend, and the girl bounded eagerly over to older wolf. It would have been weeks since he saw her so energetic. “Kjo! Kjo! Guess what!” As she reached her companion she halted, body lowered and tail wagging wildly against the ground and flinging sand right and left.  She brushed her face against her mentor lovingly, nuzzling under his throat before gracing him with several deferential licks upon his chin.

"Did'ja find a fox?" he groused out loud, drawing his gaze away from the brush in which the vixen had disappeared. It was an unusual amount of foxes, really – but @Karina did not deserve any of his ill temper. She had little to do with their very distant cousins, and the man mentally rebuked himself. With a soft croon, he leaned into the affectionate embraces before reaching out to wrap his mouth around her snout. The dragon gave the yearling a gentle shake before releasing her, twisting to brush his side against hers. It was his gem that brought him peace – and it such an exuberant mood, he found her to be slightly infectious.

Examining his own, queer desire to be near the young female, it finally dawned upon Kjors that the medic-in-training was practically vibrating with energy. He'd never seen her so lively. There was a new sparkle in her periwinkle eyes, gentle like a lustrous opal or topaz. Something coiled in the creature's chest, vocalized as a husky growl as he reaches out to nibble on her ruff. It was an intimate gesture, but one he did not feel apt to deny himself as he pressed closer. "Yer awful bright t'day, jewel," he murmured, banner swishing over his back. "Ain' so used t' tha'. Looks good on ya."

As much as she was pleasant company prior, it was a vast improvement to see her so animated. He'd dare anyone to gainsay his admittance to the pack had only positive effects on Karina. Eventually, he sat down next to the princess, tipping his head to one side. She'd come bounding out here with some news, he assumed, before he'd made a sarcastic remark (and was sidetracked by her remarkable improvement in state). Reaching out, he nosed at her shoulder. "So tell me, Princess. Wha' happened?"

Karina giggled as the man buried his nose into her ruff, his hot breath tickling her neck. She batted softly at his muzzle with her forepaws, collapsing over onto her side with a snap at the air beneath his chin, as if to induce him to play.   “Well.. yes.” The girl answered, just a little disappointed that he had actually guessed correctly about the fox. But- but--” she amended, scrambling to flip back over onto her stomach, “I chased it away! It was scared of me!” She wasn’t used to being big enough to scare away other predators, and typically she would choose retreat over aggression no matter how small the enemy was.. but somehow it was different when it was Kjors’ densite that was being intruded upon. She met Kjors’ eye with pride.

“We have a new den,” she added when he prompted her further, “It’s for the healers…” she trailed off, breaking eye contact as a note of annoyance entered her voice, “..For all of the healers.” Karina had gotten used to Amisun’s presence on the journey to Kingsfall, and she had even grown to appreciate the unique perspective that the woman added to her training, but another female healer in Lachesis’s life hadn’t yet ceased to be a sore spot. It was especially apparent when they were all trying to share a medicine den, and organize the herbs and supplies differently, and when they were all in there at once it could be more than a little stifling. Lachesis had even dug out his own wing in the den, presumably for a place to escape the ladies.  

”And Lekalta and the other.. the- the pups.. they’ve opened their eyes. They can kinda scoot around too.” This news was delivered with even less enthusiasm. Each new developmental feat reminded Karina that soon Lekalta and the other one would be walking, talking princesses in their own right.. a position that had formerly belonged to Karina alone. She and Kjors rarely discussed her sisters, as clearly it was a difficult subject for the princess. ”Kjo.. when, uhmm.. when did you know for sure that your brother was... that your mom preferred.. him?”  Karina was unable to meet her tutor’s gaze, and chose instead to stare down at her shuffling paws.

The girl beamed at her teacher’s praise. He placed a paw on her shoulder in what appeared to be pride, but it quickly turned into a comforting gesture as the conversation took a sobering turn. By the time Kjors had finished describing his childhood. Karina was more or less completely back to her somber self. It was a story she was familiar with by now, this being the third or so time he had told her, but it was a tale that never ceased to be fascinating for the child. By now Kjors was reassuring her of her own specialness, which she had also come to expect after he told her the story of his own childhood rejection. Karina flattened her ears bashfully at the praise, and though she would never acknowledge it on a conscious level she enjoyed be exalted like this. It was one of the reasons she kept asking for the story.

Though Kjors extended the invitation casually, the magnitude of what he offered Karina did not escape the girl. Kjors, the man so solitary she doubted he had even met all of his packmates, had offered to share space with her should this be her desire. He didn’t even live with the badger woman, Karina recalled, wondering vaguely what had become of this friend Kjors had mentioned. Perhaps she was simply not a treasure to Kjors.. not like Karina; his beautiful, imperfect gem.

The swarthy man changed the conversation topic quickly, and Karina realized with a jolt that her companion intended to actually do the thing he promised her mother he would do: teach her combat. The girl felt panic swirling in her chest.  She had hoped Kjors had forgotten about the “lessons” pretense and was content with simply meeting up to talk, but she supposed he had just been waiting on her to regain some energy. “I don’t want to fight!” she  blurted. Worried about disappointing her mentor, she amended quickly, “I mean, I don’t want to have to fight.” She shifted her weight awkwardly, knowing she was being unclear. “I want to scare bad wolves away, like the fox, without having to fight at all.” She knew she sounded ridiculous, but was it so crazy to want to resolve issues without bloodshed?

Perhaps Maksim or Aleksei might have comforted her at this point, telling her that of course she would never have to fight, that she would always have them to scare away the bad wolves.. but those words were only so much comfort to the princess, who knew that despite her protectors’ good intentions, she would be the undoing of that arrangement herself when she snuck away to be on her own. Kjors, a fellow introvert, understood naturally that there would be times when Karina was alone, and there was a chance that she could cross an enemy without having a protector at her back. Karina’s ears flattened as he reproved her request, and her gaze trailed away from the golden scrutiny of her teacher. She didn’t want to hear his antiphon but knew deep down that he was right, and she was putting off the inevitable.

“I’m not scared to fight,” she insisted, surprised to discover as she spoke the words that they were true. Even as a child, intimidated by everything and everyone, her terror had not derived from a fear of injury or pain. Rather, her anxiety was born out of a dread for the unknown, which had developed into a pervasive social phobia. “I just don’t want to hurt anyone.  Or any.. thing,” she explained in a small voice, chancing a glace back up to Kjors for his reaction. It was the closest she had come to admitting to anyone her abhorrence of battle and the hunt. If others, even loved ones.. even Kjors.. knew that she was more deer than wolf, that would only give them one more very substantial reason to reject  her.