Something about the night had the boy feeling restless. Perhaps it was the unexpected warmth, after so many nights in a row of the temperature slowly growing colder and colder. This night, though, saw slight warmth in the air – autumn’s last effort to cling to the realm before winter sank her frozen claws in. Whatever the reason, Atlas couldn’t sleep. He emerged halfway from his den, immediately distracted by the billions of twinkling stars high above him, and he paused for a second to simply enjoy the view.
Wakeful paws then began wandering, and Atlas found himself crossing the borders of his home into the vast fields to the west of Diveen. He’d never done much wandering away from home – what need was there for it? His family was in Diveen, his self-proclaimed duty was in Diveen, and nothing else truly existed to the young warrior. But the inability to sleep, and the fact that he was alone in his alertness, saw him roam. The tall grasses of the fields, parched and dry due to the lack of rain, brushed against his gradient hued sides as he silently made his way across the plain. He had no destination, simply a desire to keep his paws moving.
The beauty of the stars kept him distracted for the most part, but his ears tilted this way and that, listening for anything of importance. He may have been young, but he was not naďve. He knew there were things that went bump in the night that were not simply tales told to pups. Danger was an ever present thing, and it was his duty to protect his nearby pack from what might be lurking in these fields.
His ears suddenly pricked forward at the sound of a soft whine, and he froze, dilated eyes searching the grasses for the source of the sound. It was a distressed noise, and Atlas was immediately on guard. It was her shifting, the way the grasses rustled around her that gave away her location. He proceeded towards her as quietly as possible, hoping that if someone was causing her duress he could sneak up on them and take them by surprise, thus enabling him to chase them off. As it were, there was no one to chase off, which he did not realize until he was a mere few feet from her, peering through the grasses at her back as she lay on her side. “Hmm, miss, are you ok?” Atlas whispered softly, hoping not to startle her, but wanting to make sure whatever had caused her to whine in such a fashion was now well and gone from her presence.