Firefly Grove i remember how it all changed

@Cyril first, and after a round or two, @Piety too <3 Set September 2nd

It had been a whole month since she'd left Hearthwood River, and Ris had just returned with Lachesis the day before. She had been too tired to do much all of the previous day, but now she felt tons better and her legs wanted stretched. Not helping her case was her itchy paws, which still, after all that had happened, wanted nothing more than to explore and travel and see everything possible.

The silvery pup had made her way up to the weird place where the sun barely shined, but she liked it all the same. Especially on mornings like this, where there was fog and the sunlight hit it and gave the place a really beautiful glow. Huh, she thought. That might have been where the place got its name - Fireglow. Glow. Yeah, that was definitely it.

Edging up on the very beginning of the beautiful, expansive grasslands that were Larkcall Lowlands, Ris peered out across them. She knew that she wasn't even facing in the direction of Wild Rye Fields, but she couldn't help but imagine the Rye wolves waking up and having a good morning. The child hoped that they weren't angry with her for leaving, and hoped that they never forgot about her. She made a mental note to visit them whenever she got the chance - to bring them food and presents and shower all of them in love if she ever happened to run across them in the future.

But now was not the time for such thoughts - she wanted to spend a bit of the morning playing.

Risaela hopped from the grove into the lowlands, fog trailing her out and blending with her fur. A soft giggle rose in her chest, and she darted back in and out again, watching the fog dance with her movements. The sun hit the lowlands harder than it did the woods, after all, so the fog was much denser in the forested area.

He didn’t know why he headed for the trees. They were so tall and ugly, and the boy really had no interest in seeing what was beneath them. It looked dark. Dark and stupid. And he wanted nothing to do with it, for the barren landscape, albeit boring, was satisfying enough.

But for some reason he was skirting the familiar terrain and heading straight for the wall of trees before him. Only to satisfy his curiosity, he kept telling himself, for he wanted to see as much of the north as possible. He was sure his parents knew every inch of the expanse and Cyril wanted to be just like them. Well, mostly like them, just way cooler.

As he passed beneath the trees the shadow was surprised at how much colder it was beneath the canopy of branches overhead. His steps faltered as his yellow gaze swept up to where the sky should have been, but he was greeted by an array of green. Huh. It was a nice change from the bright orb in the sky, but he didn’t like how he suddenly felt trapped. He frowned, his tail swaying slowly behind him as he remained parallel to the border, for he did not want any sour encounters with the locals…

Mother was going to kill him when she found out how far he had gone.

Worth it.

The further he went the thicker the fog became. It was held hostage by the looming redwoods, unable to disperse due to the lack of sunlight overhead. 
His small body weaved through the trees, the sun hitting his left shoulder occasionally as he re-entered the lowlands. How could wolves live here? A frown cut into his lips at the thought. It was far too dark and earthy smelling. Gross!

Suddenly his paws ceased their movement, his frown growing deeper as a soft giggle echoed through the trees. No, it couldn’t be… A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of running into the annoying silver-eyed girl once more. It had already been two times too many!! He couldn’t handle a third!!

The boy panicked, his yellow gaze searching frantically for an exit. He just hoped she hadn’t smelled him, too…

It was after some time of playing the dancing with the fog game that Ris caught an earthy, rocky smell that was very familiar and very welcome. Because, although their last encounter was... weird, she still deemed the dark smudge a friend now. Especially since she knew his name and all that fun stuff. Besides all that, he had the best eyes! They looked like buttercups, which were her favorite color of yellow, and she thought it was cool that he had that color trapped in his eyeballs.

Especially when she only had the grays and silvers. Not really colorful at all.

Regardless, she was excited to see her friend again, and her tail swished excitedly from side to side as she turned toward his scent. He was much easier to spot in the fog than she was - a dark stain in all the whites and golds. It made it very easy for her to sprint through the morning mist and leap through the air, forelimbs outstretched, in order to tackle him. But, in the last moment, she thought better of it and instead slammed her paws down and skidded to a halt, accidentally ramming her nose into his chin.

It hurt, but it didn't really matter. Tail wagging and eyes creased into half-moons with a smile, she decided to speak a verbal greeting, and (mercifully) managed not to stutter this time. "Hi."

There was no escaping—he knew it was too late. Even if he had turned on his heels and fled through the tundra, she would follow, because she was annoyingly persistent. If it was even possible, his frown continued to deep, his toes glued to the damp soil as he waited for what was to come. His yellow gaze remained fixated on the tawny shape as she barrelled through the fog, launching herself at him. Aw, heck, he thought to himself as he took several steps back in a feeble attempt at disarming her attack. Clearly her pack had never taught her proper greeting skills. Perhaps they were feral, barbaric wolves? Seemed fitting for the silver-eyed pest.

Fortunately for the smudge the girl had changed her mind mid-air and skidded against the ground, her nose colliding with his chin rather than her entire body tumbling over his. His brows narrowed as white hot pain seeped through his body from the spot where they collided and he took another (big) step away from her. Hi. He scoffed in response, a single ear tipped to the side as he studied her, his expression clearly showing how irritated he was to be in her presence once more. “What’re y’doin’ here?” He grumbled, dismissing her verbal greeting with a sharp lash of her tail. Perhaps she was following him… he wouldn’t doubt it. She kept showing up everywhere and it made his skin crawl.

He had told Everly that he would apologize to the annoying Bug the next time he saw her but now that she was standing in front of him, the boy wasn’t sure he wanted to. But he also didn’t know if he wanted to break his promise. His tawny teacher would be super disappointed in him if she found out he had spewed more mean words at the river cub. If she found out.