I know a place where no one's lost

Despite her growing amusement with the pups' interaction, Calanthe's attention was rapt on Rose as she listened to the girl finally divulgate a bit more information. On one hand, she seemed honest enough about having come all by herself - not to mention that the scant evidence available to her clearly supported it. If an adult had come with her, or even another pup, Calanthe could imagine very few benign reasons why Rose would have appeared by herself; if anything bad had happened to separate her from a companion, surely the Woodlands pup wouldn't seem so unbothered by her situation. She simply didn't seem the type. On the other hand, something didn't add up about Rose's claim that her parents knew she was away. For one thing, if they knew, what kind of parents would ever even consider allowing their daughter to go beyond pack lands without at least a yearling along to supervise? And for another, if they really did know, surely they didn't expect her to have wandered anywhere nearly as far as Rose had come, nor so close to another pack's lands... although she supposed one way or another, Rose's parents would be finding out soon enough that she was missing, if indeed the girl was being honest about her brother not being the sort to let her do much. And if Rose was being honest about not being very tired, perhaps she really should march her straight back home... Still... she supposed Rose could stick around for just a little while longer. The girl certainly seemed to want to, and Draven was rapidly deflating at Calanthe's side, probably because he thought Rose was going home before they had any chance to play together. Surely - surely an hour or two wouldn't make much of a difference in the long run, could it? Rose would still be home on the same day if she left now or a little later in the afternoon, and maybe the longer they waited, the better their chances got of one of Rose's pack mates coming along looking for her. If they did, then Calanthe wouldn't even have to travel that far from the Crest before she could safely pass the girl along to someone she knew. Not that the hunter in training was afraid of going to the borders of another pack's lands, of course... but she wouldn't mind avoiding it if she could, within reason. “Well...” she finally said, “I suppose... If you'd like, I don't see any harm in letting you play with Draven for a little while. I'm not sure how many mice you might find around here,” she added to Draven, “but as long as I'm watching you, there shouldn't be any problem with the two of you hanging out for a little while. But, Rose?” She turned her attention back to the girl. “I want you headed home again before sunset. No more than an hour or two out here, okay? Then I'll take you to the Crest's borders and we'll figure out how to get you home again.”

From hunching in on himself dejectedly, Draven suddenly found himself slowly but surely perking up. Listening to Rose divulgate what she did, it sounded like she was definitely not too tired to play, but didn't seem like she wanted to leave right away either - and she actually wanted to see Draven catch mice! Nobody ever seemed to want to watch him hunt anymore! At least, whenever he'd offered before... whenever he'd offered right after his first one, anyway, everybody had been either too busy or too tired or too... too... well, too Kino-and-Ari. And nowadays everybody was still too busy or tired or Kino-and-Ari, but it was different now, and he knew why. "There's a grief that can't be spoken," he'd heard Cal tell him now and then, and he knew what she meant without having to ask. Even still, Rose was the first person to be genuinely excited about watching Draven show off his hunting skills - maybe going outside the pack boundaries wasn't always a bad thing after all!

His excitement already barely contained in his still-small frame, Draven started wiggling outright as he listened to Calanthe tell Rose that she could stay after all. It didn't need to be forever - just long enough for the two of them to play and maybe find some mice. An hour or two sounded perfect for that, and Draven bounced to his paws yet again and said, "You hear that, Rose? Cal says you can stay for a little while if you want! We can play all sorts of games and explore this big area here and - and - and if we're really quiet I bet we can find some mice, too," he added in response to Calanthe saying there might not be any mice around. "If you want, maybe I can even show you how to hunt mice! It's kinda hard - you gotta watch for them really hard, and be really quiet until you're close enough to pounce on one, but they're little and pretty easy to kill once you catch 'em!"

He hopped again, much too excited about how well everything was working out to be able to sit still anymore. "Do you wanna play first, Rose? Or do you wanna try finding mice first? I'm good with either - this place is brand new for me, too, so there's probably all kinds of exploring we can do until you have to go home! He cast Calanthe a sheepish grin over his shoulder as he added, "Uhm... Lots of exploring without wandering away from Cal, I mean." After all, the woman probably wouldn't be incredibly happy if they both wandered out of sight. Having her around to supervise their games would be kind of a pain in the butt, but he figured they could still find plenty of stuff to do anyway that would still be lots of fun. The dark-bodied boy crouched in a play bow and said, "So? Whaddaya wanna do first, Rose? You get to pick!"

You turn me into a crumbling fool.

Rosen

With wide azure-like eyes, Rose began almost prancing around the older wolf. A couple of hours? The Hervok had yet to fully grasp the concept of time, but that sounded like, well.. A ton! "Thank you! Thank you so much!" The auburn youth yipped. "Dis is da bes' day of my life!" tail wagging at an alarming pace, she carefully listened to everything Draven had to say.

The offer was definitely kind, though having someone attempt to teach Rose how to hunt mice sounded a bit overwhelming. Tries had been made in the past, but the former-princess simply wasn't good at that sort of thing. The pup didn't want another wolf getting frustrated with her, and ultimately that outcome had a probability of spoiling the bond she wanted to form with him. "Are you.. Patient..?" she questioned, worried but far too kind to completely decline his request right away. "Cuz I'm not really a fast learner..." at least with the specific topic at hand, perhaps something was wrong with her. "But maybe do something else first.. Gotta warm myself up for the hard stuff!" she smirked, gently nudging his side.

Pondering for a moment over all of the standing offers, Rose finally decided that it'd be best for them to explore the territory a bit. After all, She'd only just arrived. Everything still remained quite a mystery to her. "Le's look around! Not away from Cal, she can come too!" the girl maintained her positive expression. "Maybe we can play tag later! You ever played tag?"

Let me love you to death.

Rosen

ooc: Just assume from here on that Cal's sticking close by; if she gets directly addressed, she'll post again, but otherwise this can be total Rosen until they're done playing. :D

---

Calanthe dipped her head and smiled warmly at the excited little pup. “You're very welcome,” she told the russet girl - but Draven had already stolen away her attention again, so Calanthe fell silent and listened on without attempting to interject anything more. She was glad to hear that neither pup planned to stray out of sight, at least; relief colored the pride she felt in Draven for showing that level of maturity, and it was all she felt towards little Rose, who had still made something of a... lively first impression on Calanthe. The pale woman was not interested in chasing either pup down this afternoon. Leaving the pair to whatever mischief they decided to get up to, Calanthe padded quietly away from the pair, this time choosing a somewhat more elevated stop to lay down and watch over them from. Rose's appearance had given Calanthe a badly needed fright before the girl herself had come into view; the pale wolf could not, would not allow herself to be surprised like that a second time. And her new vantage point gave her a better view of the territory itself, with fewer shrubs and rises of the earth to provide barriers in Calanthe's field of vision. No one and nothing else would be able to sneak up on the trio as invisibly as Rose had managed to. She wondered if Minka would have approved of this - of Calanthe allowing a pup from another pack entirely to play with her son. She had not known the queen very well, but there had always been the sense that Minka was, in some ways, a bit more closed off from the rest of the world than @Gent - not that the woman had been afraid, but that she had simply not turned her eyes beyond the borders very often, or ever for any friendly reasons. Would Minka have wanted her son to be here now, happily romping about with this harmless girl-child from the Secret Woodlands pack? Would she have been angry with it? Would she have put a stop to it, if she were here now? I'm so afraid of failing you, even now, my Queen. Calanthe squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and sighed. I will follow Raela and Gent to the ends of the earth, but I owed you my life as well - and now I can never repay that debt, because you've gone where none of us can follow. She could only hope that in whatever afterlife Minka watched them from, the former Alpha was not disgusted with any of them. With Calanthe, especially, for presuming to step into her place alongside Raela and attempt to bring Draven up into the sort of wolf Minka might have taught him to become. She supposed that was another answer no longer worth pursuing; she was not among the ranks of the spiritual cognoscenti, and doubted even the wisest among them would have any answer she could trust to be true. Better to leave unknowns and dead ends for a time when sorrow didn't ravage her soul and the souls of everyone around her... and besides, in spite of the looming rain clouds overhead (which fortunately had not broken yet,) this day was shaping up far too nicely to be spoiled with any more dark musings. With a smile once again unfurling across her lips, Calanthe opened her eyes again and watched the children with a determinedly easy heart. “Speech.”

Draven had expected an enthusiastic answer, and he'd even been ready to be wrong about Rose after all and have her get angry for suggesting she needed to be taught how to catch mice - after all, he didn't know whether or not her family were teaching her how to hunt yet. It occurred to him a bit belatedly, and only once he saw her hesitate at his offer, that it might even be rude to assume somebody else didn't know the same kinds of things that he did. He hadn't meant to be rude at all; he only wanted to show off a little bit for his new friend.

He was just opening his mouth to apologize for making Rose uncomfortable when she asked asked him if he was patient. When he tilted his head, confused by the question - what did patience have to do with him being rude? - she explained herself a little more. He wasn't really sure what she meant by not being a fast learner; didn't everybody learn at the same pace? And when they didn't, wasn't that just because they weren't interested in whatever they were being taught? Plants and hunting interested Draven, so he learned those faster than he learned how to fight or sneak around and break rules like the others did. Maybe that's what Rose was trying to say - maybe she was more of an exploring type than a hunting type. Draven guessed that was fair.

In any case, it seemed like Rose was uncomfortable about talking about it anymore, so instead of asking her what she meant by not being a fast learner - because he hated to assume he was right a second time - Draven let her change the subject without prying any more. Prying was just as rude as assuming, and besides all that, Rose wanted to play and explore the territory with him a little bit! That definitely sounded more fun than having to pad around real quietly and look for another mouse that might bite him like the first one did!

"Okay, that sounds like fun!" Draven's whole body moved in time with his tail as he turned to glance back at Cal. The pale woman had already moved off a little bit, perched on a higher spot this time and smiling encouragingly down at the two of them. "I think Cal can see us from just about anywhere if she sits up there." Excited fern-green eyes turned again to Rose as he added, "Come on, then! I was just looking at that funny bend maple tree over there; it's too high to climb, but I bet there's all kinds of neat stuff around it, and it's a good place to start exploring, don'cha think?"

Rose's next question made him stop and laugh a little bit - but only until he remembered it was rude to laugh at someone for saying something, even if it was something silly, unless they were hoping for you to laugh at it. The line between a joke and an unintentionally silly thing was one of those grown-up things he hadn't quite learned had to pick out on the fly, but he was pretty sure this time he shouldn't laugh because it might hurt Rose's feelings accidentally. "I've played tag a couple of times," he told her. "But I haven't played for a while, because... because everybody's been busy," he finished lamely. Then he grinned and his tail started wagging again as he added, "So I bet you're a lot better at it than I am, Rose!"

You turn me into a crumbling fool.

Rosen

I'M SORRY SHE'S SO ADD WITH HER RESPONSES. Puppies, sighhh.

The cute bird-like pup seemed completely content with the idea of skipping through the hunting tutorial for now, temporarily putting Rose's nerves at ease. Perhaps a bit later she'd once again bring up the topic, though make it clear that while she'd love to just watch him hunt, killing wasn't quite her biggest accomplishment yet. So kind, the Hervok wondered why she couldn't feel at ease like this back in the secret woodlands. 'Korrin's too protective.. And Nineva... She hates me..' the thought was enough to make the small girl frown, though only momentarily for Draven had soon taken her traveling suggestion to heart and began their exciting escapade.

Bounding after her new friend, she listened as he spoke of playing tag before. Not surprising in the least, but she was a little disappointed that she wouldn't be able to teach him something today. "N'body's got time to play with me, neither." she sighed, quite displeased with the lack of time the Hervok family shared with their youngest daughter. "B-but I am pretty fast!" Once again, thanks to the lanky legs she possessed. "I like to race, I can beat.. well.. Everyone!" Possibly an exaggeration, but a little bragging never hurt anyone. Rose wanted her new friend to like her, who on earth wasted their time taking interest in wolves with no cool skills?

Rose stopped briefly to admire the tree that was perfectly placed in front of the pair. Draven was right, it was so neat! She wished her family would have moved somewhere cool like this instead, and without all of the stupid new faces. "Draven... I'm a princess, I think.." likely a random statement, though thoughts of her family somehow drifted toward the topic. "Are you a prince?" Korrin was. In fact, she wasn't quite sure what defined royalty. Was every puppy a prince/princess?

Let me love you to death.

Rosen

Rose seemed almost as obstreperous as Draven felt, and he was relieved to see that. He had been really worried that he had upset her accidentally by laughing at her question about tag; he didn't want to lose a brand new friend by being accidentally rude. That feeling definitely doubled when he heard that Rose seemed to get passed around by her family just like he did with his. They seemed like they had a bunch in common, and that was a really good thing, because maybe that meant they would at least be able to talk to each other about stuff they couldn't talk to the adults about.

At her claim that she was faster than anybody else, Draven grinned and wagged his tail again, eager to answer the unvoiced challenge behind that claim. "Maybe after we're done exploring, we can race and see who's fastest," he said. "And the winner can... uhm... well, we'll think of something when we actually do the race," he added quickly, trying not to lose any face in front of the blue-eyed girl. "But right now we can focus... on..."

Her comment about being a princess was voiced just as he spoke, and he trailed off awkwardly as she asked him whether he was a prince, too. This time, when he plopped down onto his rump, it was because her innocent question had managed to kick him squarely in the chest. He had been having such a good time that he'd completely forgotten about why he hadn't been having a very good time at all for the last few weeks, but a few words from Rose had brought him back down to reality again.

Why did you have to ask that? he wondered as he stared down quietly at his paws for a moment. You're making the whole world sad and dark and cold again. Don't you hear? The winter wind is crying... But she had asked, and wasn't there any way at all for Draven to answer her without having to say the certain words and names that would completely ruin their afternoon? All she had asked was whether or not he was a prince like she was, and wasn't that an easy enough answer to give her?

"I... I used to be a prince," he finally answered, struggling to keep his voice even. "Raela still sometimes says I'm a prince, except I don't think I am anymore, because... because..." He squeezed his eyes shut and blurted out, "Mommaisn'taroundanymore--" there was the hardest part out of the way; Draven raced through the rest, but not as quickly as before: "--so she isn't Queen, and I think that means I'm not a prince anymore, either." He almost didn't have enough air to finish, but somehow he pulled through. When he'd gotten the last syllable out, he gasped and panted a little bit for air, his forepaws praced on the ground in front of him.

There; that hadn't hurt so much. He just hoped Rose had been able to catch the important parts, or at least that she wouldn't ask him to repeat himself. He didn't know if he could bear to say it twice.

You turn me into a crumbling fool.

Rosen

'Used to..?' The statement definitely piqued Rose's curiosity, though the sudden gloomy aura that came with the response left her wondering instead what she'd said wrong. Royalty could become past tense? How peculiar. "Hey..." the Hervok whispered lightly, though only just in time for her friend to elaborate a bit more on the subject. "Yer Mumma's gone...?" Gone where? And what of his father? The pup had so many new questions for her company, but quickly grew terrified that they'd only make the situation worse. She gently nuzzled herself into his neck, wanting to comfort the boy so they could continue on with their exciting play-date. "You can share my mumma! She's real nice.. But.. She's not a queen neither, so I guess I'm not a princess anymore..." Disappointing, nevertheless she'd see herself atop of the throne soon enough. "She'd prolly like tah have another son, too!" the dainty fae smiled warmly, wondering if the offer was something he'd take interest in. "Jus' think about it!"

Rose romped around her dark-coated friend, desperately trying to restore the excitement that filled the air only moments prior. "C-mon, let's es'plore! Then we can play hide n' seek n' tag n' you can show me the mouses!" That was in their original plan right? Surely she hadn't soiled their perfect day together, right?

'M' not gonna ask no more questions.. M' sorry, Draven..'

Let me love you to death.

Rosen

Draven's ears pricked a little bit as he listened to Rose start to ask another question, in the process unknowingly stumbling on one of the words he tried to avoid applying to the whole situation all together. Fern green eyes snapped shut as he waited for her to tack on the inevitable "what do you mean?" - because it must be coming. It's what he would have asked if the situations were reversed, after all. Could he bear to tell her what had taken her away? Could he manage to stay as calm as he was right now if he had to spell it out for her and say the things he didn't want to say? Worse, what if he tried to tell her more and she was mad at him like the others had been?

He flinched and opened his eyes wide as he felt Rose nuzzle against him, showing him a level of kindness he hadn't expected at all - mostly because he hadn't expected anything short of her telling him to stop being mopey and ruining their fun. He was the only pup so far who hadn't outright attacked somebody else for being visibly upset; he had started to think maybe not being upset was the normal thing, and that in spite of everything Cal and Raela told him, he was the weird one for crying and being sad after it had already been weeks. Everybody else was trying to be normal again...

But Rose wasn't trying to make him be normal. She wasn't telling him to shut up and stop being sad like his own siblings did, and she wasn't just letting him be sad, either - she was trying to fix it for him so he would stop being sad by himself. "You can share my mumma! She'd prolly like tah have another son, too!" That was way more tempting than he wanted to admit... at least until he thought that maybe sharing somebody else's momma would be another way for him to be selfish. And... And besides, this was supposed to be a fun, happy afternoon. He couldn't go spoiling his first-ever play date just because he was feeling gloomy!

Crying at all is not allowed, he decided as he hopped back onto his paws, his tail slowly starting to wag again. "Right," he said, quickly beginning to grin again. Rose's enthusiasm was infectious, and soon he was romping around with her, leading her over to the funny-looking maple tree so they could check out the base of it and clamber around and on the tree itself. After a few moments, he sat down and looked thoughtfully up at the tree before asking, "Hey, Rose? D'you think the both of us working together could climb this bendy part of the tree here?" He reared up and braced his forepaws against the bendy part in question. "I'm too little to get up there on my own, but I betcha if we worked together one of us could hop up there and see how high we could get! Then we could trade places so the other one could see how far they got!"

You turn me into a crumbling fool.

Rosen

It worked! Draven was smiling again, her efforts weren't completely useless after all! The fae quickly chased after him, keeping up previous enthusiasm. Having a friend was better than she'd originally imagined, too bad she'd likely decide to keep the experience a secret from her fellow kin. 'They wouldn't understan', Korrin prolly won't let me come dis' far by myself again..' though she would, in confidence. Rose had no intentions of losing her new buddy, even if it meant telling a few white lies here and there.

Draven led the pair closer to the obscure maple tree, the most notable landmark of their new playground. He appeared quite concentrated, studying the tree before sharing any further words with the Hervok. "Mmmm" she hummed, sharing no previous experience with climbing tree's. "I bet we could get pretty high up there!!" wonder filled the small pups expression, how different would the world look from that height? "Bu' we gotta be careful! I dun' like gettin' hurt.." Rose added quietly, the plan was definitely exciting but there was no denying the fact that she was still just a fragile little baby. 'N mumma won' be happy if I come hope with scratches n' stuff...'

Let me love you to death.

Rosen