Dead Empress Backwater is the sea

Every rabbit in the backwater was definitely dreaming big, but the enthusiasm and excitement had Rosemary thinking maybe they could do it, if they tried. Could they even eat that many through the winter? They'd all grow so big and strong, she was sure of it. A giggle escaped her and she waved her tail. "We'll have a whole mountain of them!" she announced, fully swept up in imagination now. "Everybody'll be sick of rabbits by the time they're all eaten up!"

He confirmed that, yes, loss did hurt a lot, and Rosemary relaxed a bit, feeling a bit more validated and understood. It was an impossibly difficult topic, but one they'd both been acquainted with already. She didn't want to ask him who he'd lost, because she didn't know if it mattered, or if the feeling would change based on who had left or fallen asleep forever. All she knew was that realizing Nia wasn't going to wake up had made her feel like the whole world was crumbling around her, like she was sinking into cold water, and yet nothing else in the world had changed. The sun came up and the birds chirped and her mother wasn't there to see it.

Her eyes widened a little bit when he continued. And he was right - she did have lots of wolves to spend time with now, even if the prospect was kind of intimidating. She was newer than he was, and it wasn't always easy to just strike up a conversation with anyone. Her tail thumped on the ground. "Yeah," she replied with a smile, feeling warmer now than she had just moments ago. "It's scary to meet new wolves, but-but I'm trying! I want to meet everybody." Pack is pack was a lesson Rosie wasn't bound to forget anytime soon. She smiled a bit bigger, pleased to learn he'd liked talking to her too.

"Do you wanna be friends?" she asked, hopeful. Morven and Eclypse were her friends, she knew, but she hadn't ever had one her own age, and she wasn't really sure how to go about the whole process of making friends. The older two wolves had kind of just snagged her up and become her friends that way. Did you usually have to ask?

Atlas answered her question without hesitation. “Yes!”

He hadn’t felt so much happiness in a while. It was like his first time exploring outside the den, but instead of marveling at the new world, he was marveling at this sudden fast friendship. It felt so novel; not a sister or a brother, just a friend to talk to. They were surprisingly similar, Atlas found. Both Rosemary and he had lost a lot in their short lives. Both felt the pain, the absence where their mothers had once been. Now it seemed they were finding something new here, together.

“You’ve already met me and my dad. I can help you meet the rest of the pack if you’d like. You’re my friend now, Rosemary. Just ask if you need help, and I’ll be there,” he said with a grin. He was bursting with energy, warm despite the chill in the air, his tail uncontrollable in its movements. “I promise.”

Oh, that had gone far better than she'd expected. Her own tail whipped around behind her, spurred on by his excitement and her own relief. And he was right - she had already met him and his dad, which was basically the worst part, right? Viorel had to be the scariest hurdle to cross for sure.

And not only that, but Atlas was going to help her meet the others! This was a very good day, she decided.

"Yes please!" she said, a smile stretched broad across her maw. While she wasn't sure what she could offer in return, she found it didn't really matter, because she'd probably be willing to help with just about anything. "And if you need help, you can call me too. Promise."

She bounced a little, eager to do something with all the energy that had built up inside her during this conversation. "Do you wanna go see if we can find some rabbits?" she asked. Even if they didn't catch any, it could be fun to at least try.

"Yes! You'll have to show me how you caught your rabbit." Atlas bowed down in front of her with a wide grin. His tail whipped back and forth above his head, wiggling his whole back end with the force of it. He bounced around her with a youthful joy he hadn't felt much recently, raring to go.

"Come on, let's go find some." Atlas looked over his shoulder after bounding only a few yards. He hoped she would follow him away from the creek and into the wood's thickets to find their fluffy prey. "We'll give everyone a nice big meal tonight," he said. It was wishful thinking that they'd find so much food. That didn't stop him from pretending he and Rosemary could feed the whole pack by themselves, or at least they could catch a meal to share together.