Walking was getting tiresome but Orionis did not want his mother to know he was tired. Not yet. He wouldn’t stop until his nubbly legs crumpled beneath him or his paws started bleeding. Or both. He was determined to impress his mother and continue forward to the big lake. There were important wolves he had to meat and a big body of water he had to drink out of; the sooner they got there the better! And if they kept stopping for poor little Orionis they would never get there… and that wasn’t good at all. That would make momma sad and that was the last thing the ebony magpie wanted. Seeing momma sad made him sad. And he didn’t like being sad.
… you can play in the shallows too …
He did not know what that meant but he squealed in excitement regardless. His little body wriggled at his mother’s side as he continued his march forward, his navy blue gaze fixated on the path before them…