In Dire Straits

       Today, Carbine was more wise when leaving the tower, hopping down from the cobble floor to the snow instead of falling. She wanted to roam further today, now armed with the knowledge that the bones she found on the ground weren't guaranteed to have meat on them. The determined puppy instead headed away from her home, her stubby tail and oversized head held high. The Progeny was quick to get away from the cobblestone tower, not wanting any of her siblings to ruin her adventure again.

       What would the green-eyed princess discover today? She wanted to see where the interesting scents on her parents' pelts came from. What did a river look like? What did the wolves of Alteron look like? She had seen very little in her three months and she decided that it was time to spread her wings and leave the den...nest. The silver and cream scion followed the most interesting scent.

       The tri-colored child's attention was drawn to the canopy above. Everything was so big to the tiny pup and her mind bloomed with questions. How did the trees get so big? She spotted a bird flying through the trees and wondered how they could fly. She wished that she could fly, it seemed fun.

       The puppy failed to look what was in front of her instead of above her and didn't notice the drop below her feet. With a startled yelp, she fell down a hole. She landed in the soft dirt and quickly scrambled to her feet. The walls were too steep for her to climb up and even on her hind legs, her small puppy paws couldn't grab enough the of edge of the hole to climb out.

       Not knowing what else to do, the girl yelped. Help! Help!

       Carbine hadn't felt this feeling in a long time, or at least not very often in her three months of existence - well, two months if you count actually being able to see, hear, talk, and remember - and it was an unwelcome feeling. She had spent three months under her mother's watchful eye and rarely allowed to leave her sight and surrounded by her family. This was the first time she truly felt alone and it made the fear even sharper for the young pup as she looked at the walls around her. She could feel her heart beating faster than a bird's wing as tears threatened to fall from the puppy's eyes.

       Where was her mother? Her father? Would they be able to find her? What if they already forgot about her - it wouldn't be a stretch considering how many siblings she had - and what if no one found her? How long would she be in this hole for? Would she ever get out? What would happen if she couldn't get any food or water? What if the dirt fell on her and then no one would be able to find her? All of those questions and what-ifs clouded the green-eyed princess' thoughts.

       The emotions overwhelmed the tri-colored child and tears began to fall from her eyes, staining her cheeks as she began to sob. The girl hadn't cried in a while - or at least not in recent memory - and part of her hissed at her for being weak. But there was no other options in her mind and this was her first time being in a situation like the one she was in now. She wanted to go home to her mother and father- and her siblings, she guessed - and not be in this hole.

       Then the sound of heavy pawsteps approaching brought the silver, cream, and charcoal child out of her crying. She perked up, all of the fear sliding off, thinking that her parents had come to rescue her. She rubbed her foreleg against her face, wiping away the tears the best she could, though the slightly pink eyes were still there. The scion's stubby tail wagged in anticipation but the face that peeked over the edge of the hole wasn't the familiar crimson-eyed grey and black face of her mother  or the green-eyed brown and white face of her father.

       No, the face that looked over the edge was an unfamiliar one. One with brown and reddish brown fur with green orbs in a much brighter hue than her father's. He was bigger than her father and the child was afraid for a second before his face softened. He asked her a question and it seemed like he was lying down.

       That made a spark of indignation flare within the forest-eyed daughter. Why wasn't he helping her? She looked up at him, her mind racing with questions that covered her initial anger. Who was this wolf? Why was he so big?

       Who aw you? slipped from the puppy's lips before she realized that that wasn't important right now.

        I'm stuhk in dis 'ole! she added after a pause, a small puppy squeak. I-I wander'd away from our towah and den fell down dis 'ole. Could you ged me oud of 'ere?

       Carbine regarded the giant wolf with wide, forest eyes, having never seen a wolf of such size before. It seemed like he was bigger than her father and her mother, maybe even more than the both of them combined! Questions began to bounce around her mind, ever an inquisitive girl she was. How did he get so big? Who was he? What was his name? Did he know her parents?  Did he know who she was? There were so many questions that filled her head, the puppy almost missed what the man said to her but she quickly looked up at him.

       The little girl didn't know what "predicament" meant and her head tilted with the slightest look of confusion crossing her face. Wha' does 'preh-dee-kha-men' mean? the puppy asked, butchering the pronunciation of the word. She liked learning new things and this would be something new for her to learn. Regardless of whether or not he answered her, the puppy was satisfied with adding a new word to her lexicon. Maybe she would ask her parents further about the word when she got home.

       The wolf took a long time - for the forest-eyed princess at least - to rescue her and the puppy's tail began to tap against the ground impatiently. She didn't like waiting and five seconds was a lot for a puppy in a hole. But the male moved quickly and then his bulk filled the hole until he grabbed her scruff and pulled her out. A soft squeak came from her in surprise as she quickly found herself quickly lifted upwards. It turned into a delighted squeal as she soon found herself out of the hole.

       Dank you! Dank you! the silver, cream, and black puppy squeaked.

       The sudden question made the green-eyed girl look up and her chest puffed out with pride as she began to introduce herself to the male. I'm Caw-bean, da daughter of Oh-cwist da Cheh-ree-ut of Al-der-on 'nd Cuhff da Page of Al-der-on. And then the little girl paused and then asked, Who aw you?

       Carbine looked up at the male excitedly. His name was Cancer. it sounded a bit like her name! She filed that away for future reference, realizing that she didn't have too many names to remember. All she had were her mother and father's names as well as her numerous littermates. She hadn't met many people she could remember and didn't know too many names. Knowing someone's name made her happy, she had learned something knew and someone gave something to her. Something important. A name was important in Alteron, that was one thing that the puppy knew by heart.

       The Alteron scion didn't notice the male's struggle with her name, or she chose not to. She said her name differently than most wolves, her parents called her "Car-bine" and she often referred to herself as "Car-bean". It didn't bother her too much and she gave little indicator of the proper pronunciation of her name. It didn't seem too important since the male quickly referred to her as "Car-bine" like most people. It was fine.

       Then Cancer asked the tri-colored princess again, how did she get into the hole - or pit. I was exploh'wing! All by myselv! I snahk oud uv ou'wuh towuh and my peh'wents and siblings din'd notice! the little girl said proudly. Den I saw dis buhd and it eas weally pwetty. And da twees aw so beeg! I was lookin' up and twying to see e'wee'tin when I fell in dis hole!

       The the forest-eyed daughter paused. Do you knew who my peh'wents aw? The puppy was curious and questions flew out of her mouth with very little thought.