Willow Ridge Beat the Heat

For @Enoki

Freyja was bored. Bored and miserable. The scorching heat that had graced the entirety of Relic Lore seemed never ending. She knew of only but two ways to cope so she didn't burn herself out. Stay underground in the den where the temperature was considerably cooler. Or, emerge after sunset when the persistent heat had faded, for a while.

Deep in the recesses of the den she had been napping, laying side by side with Ragnar, while he and her other siblings were out cold. She on the other hand, had been dreaming, oversized puppy paws twitching sporadically. In that dream, she could've sworn she had heard the trickling of water. Fresh, cold and inviting. With a sudden little gasp, she jolted awake, blue eyes flying open. Had she really dreamt it all? Yearning to know the truth, she padded outside, despite the heat. She knew close by there was indeed a stream...she had heard it's babbling many a time before. But now she wanted to witness it for herself.

Sometimes it was near impossible to escape the wrath of summer, but damn did Enoki try at times. Ebony sides lifted and fell rhythmically as the elder rested just outside the entrance to the communal den where a watchful eye could be kept on the slumbering children inside. Closed eyes giving the illusion of taking a nap herself, but the magpie was anything but asleep. It was too hot out.

The sound of shuffling coming from the den warranted a silvered ear to rotate backward and a single smoldering eye to reveal itself as one of the twins emerged. An all too familiar look of determination cloaking those tiny facial features. For a few fleeting moments Enoki allowed the blonde girl to waltz past her as if her presense had gone unnoticed, keeping her head on her front paws once she spoke up. "And where do you think you're going, little one?" An amused smirk tugging at her lips. 

Lifting her head, a yawn parted her jaws before a salmon tongue gave the edges of her greyed, scar riddled maw a quick lick. Expectantly awaiting to hear what pied piper was luring the child away in this dreadful heat while the others continued to sleep. 

She had thought she could sneak by the dozing form of the piebald female. She was stealthy enough, she figured. Apparently not. The blonde pup froze right in place when that gentle, amused voice broke the silence. Freyja was the picture of a youngster snooping away off to no good, but her expression wasn't at all concerned. After a moments pause she turned round to face the adult, plopping her rear down. "Ish hot." She stated with a matter of fact nod of her head. "Wanna see tha noise is." Her head tipped in the direction of the soothing babbling. An invisible line was tugging her, urging her closer. "...Sounds nice..."

Caught red pawed and as such the little girl froze mid step once her sneaky attempts were thwarted which earned her a small chuckle from the elderly woman. Shortly after the pup whirled about to plop herself down on her rump with an exclamation that it was hot and indeed some pied piper was luring her away. Alternating an ear just off to the side, Enoki picked up on the soft babbling of the nearby creek which most likely was the culprit in this mystery piper case. It was of the liquid variety today.


An earnest smile adorned the woman's lips and with a bit of struggling she rose to her paws in order to pad over and brush the top of her maw against the fluffy cheek of Freyja's, gently urging her to rise to her feet. "If you promise to stay with me and not run off I'll take you." The sweltering heat bared down and honestly, it would be nice to escape the heat's iron clad grip even if just for a little bit to get their toes wet.