[Gaven]

BELLAMY

“YOU,”

She saw him, minding his own business, not a care in the world, as if he wasn’t some freak–

“I’ve been looking all OVER for YOU,”

She tripped as she was storming his way, faceplanting ever so delicately in a dried patch of mud, before picking herself up, dusting herself off, and continuing her march–

“YOU,”

Bellamy finally stopped in front of Gaven and attempted to land both of her front paws on top of his boots to get a closer look at his face, and peer into the very windows of HIS SOUL. WHO IS HE …

“WHO ARE YOU??

“WHAT are you?”

Rook had told her all about humans on their trek from Gemini to Inaria, when the pup first took note of Gaven and wondered aloud. Rook didn’t like humans. Ergo, Rook didn’t like Gaven. It was now up to Bell, of course, to find out exactly why, in a totally unbiased and professional fashion.

GAVEN

The Starreaver was vaguely aware he was being yelled at. The wiry creature bent over a sizeable piece of glass resting in his lap and used a very small, very sharp knife to carefully slice away his hair. The amount of concentration required to give himself a terrible haircut was so incredible he did not seem to notice the screaming child until she was in his face, staring up at him with large icy eyes. His own eyes widened for a moment, pausing, before he tilted his wrist and cut away the lock of chestnut hair he had grasped in his other hand, letting it harmlessly fall on her snoot like a wayward leaf.

“Such demanding questions from someone who hasn’t introduced themselves, ah, but you must be royalty, I see it now,” Gaven hummed with amusement. “How important of you. No worries, your royal highness, all answers come in time.”

He smiled playfully and flicked another chunk of hair in her direction.

“It’s coat blowing season for elves apparently,” Gaven said. “Which is what I am.” He reexamined the mirror, ruffled his fringe, and sighed. “This just does whatever it wants. Hopeless. Anyway.”

He brushed the rest of his untamed cuts of hair to the side and offered the little wolf the tiniest of sitting bows, “I’m Gaven, also known as The Starreaver, the Lorekeeper and Sabor of Gemini, how do you do?”

BELLAMY

She didn’t notice the tuft of hair falling to her face, and gave THE CUTEST PUPPY SNEEZE when wayward strands landed on her nose. What came next was even more impertinent, however! After the second snip of hair fell unceremoniously on her, she jumped away and shook her whole body, before glaring back at the man with a pout.

“You’re INDOLENT.” The word was insolent. She had tried.

“But you’re right. I’m Bellamy. My mom RULES GEMINI'S LANDS. I’m sure you’ve seen her. She’s HUGE.” That was, of course, meant in the most endearing way possible. Big wolves such as mommy dearest held a big chunk of Bell’s heart.

She found another strand of hair on her nose. She “ptooey’d” it away.

“What are … elves? Rook said you were a human.

“Oh! Is it like with wolves and dogs? The same, but not exactly, right?” Now the question was; were elves the wolves, or dogs?

She rolled back onto her haunches and gave a good scratch behind the ear with her hind leg. “You sure have a lot of titles, Gwen. That don’t mean nothing to me, though. I just need one and I can bring anyone to heel.”

She glanced up at him, piece of glass still in lap and knife in hand. “Why do you do that to your fur? Is that why your face is naked? Did you cut away all your face-fur? ELVES have such STRANGE customs.”

GAVEN

“You’re very loud. If we’re exchanging random facts about each other,” Gaven replied. “A pleasure to meet you, Bellamy. I am familiar with your very large mother, but not all of her many, many children or grandchildren.”

Gaven stabbed the piece of grass into the soft ground next to him, stuck the knife in his belt, and dramatically collapsed on the ground. He was indolent, in fact. He was supposed to be socializing with the wolves of Inaria and making a good impression in the name of Gemini, but this was much better. The lands of Inaria were so lovely that all he could think about was relaxing. This was a vacation to him, one which he looked forward to, and he wasn’t going to waste his precious time doing anything of importance.

“Who is Rook? A liar, I suspect,” Gaven mumbled as he stretched out on the ground. “It’s like that. You’re quite smart. Maybe you could be a Whisper…or take my job. I’m due for retirement.”

He peered up at her boast of bringing anyone to heel and smirked. That sounded like a challenge.

“No one brings me to heel.”

Questions, questions.

“I don’t grow fur on my face,” Gaven answered. “Some humans do. If I didn’t cut the fur on my head though, it would grow forever, down to my feet, and that would make life very difficult for me. My turn. How are you enjoying Inaria? It must be very exciting seeing all this for the first time, yes?”

BELLAMY

Any humanoid creature plopping to the ground is a dangerous game when in the presence of a puppy, so when Gaven stretched himself out on the grass, Bellamy immediately jumped onto his chest and began probing her wet nose all over his face to get that SWEET, SWEET ELF SMELL ALL UP IN HER SINUSES. She also snuffled through his fur cloak, thinking she detected something tasty. Did he have treats hidden somewhere?!

Something he said made her stop, though, and stare. “Grand … children? You know my mom’s … grandchildren???” She knew she had older siblings, but the thought of them having kids of their own never crossed her mind.

She felt a bit dazed, and only snapped back to reality when she realized he was waiting on answers to … um, something.

“Sorry, um, yeah, Inaria’s pretty cool I guess, but it’s got nothing on my Gemini. I think the Inarians are weird, though. I found one starving to death in, like, a bush. He looked disgusting. I think the Inarians should visit us instead, though – see what a real kingdom looks like.” She proudly huffed at this, before returning to a contemplative expression.

She suddenly remembered the other pups on the trek that weren’t her littermates, and gasped. Then she proceeded to yell in Gaven’s face. “MY MOM’S GRANDCHILDREN!!! Was it those other kids when we were coming here?! Why does nobody tell me this stuff?! Doesn’t that make me an … an … AN AUNT?!”

GAVEN

The wolf dropped on top of him, her paws punching into his gut before squashing all the air out of his lungs. He was regretting this vacation, offering one miserable grunt as he was treated to a face full of wet wolf nose. Bellamy possessed godlike focus for a pup her age and was distracted only by the prospect of Serrate having grandchildren she didn’t know about. Gaven offered a response in the form of a drawn-out groan, urging her to take her paws off him.

“Maybe you would appreciate the experience more if you spent less time trying to compare it with your homeland, hm?” Gaven suggested. “Inaria is lush with beautiful flora, plants that don’t grow in Gemini, and animals that don’t roam Gemini’s lands. Because it isn’t the same doesn’t mean it’s not valuable…and on the subject of filth and misery…one could say not everyone in Gemini is content.”

A comment Bellamy may not appreciate, but one day she would know. This was an inevitable of life. There was no utopia, but they made the best of what they had while they were here.

Gaven lifted his arms as Bellamy began to shriek in his face, trying to gently push her off, and winced at her volume.

“I’m sure some of them were…and, uh, yes? Congratulations on your flourishing family! You must be proud to hear the news.”