aurelia did not wake up that morning and decide to get lost.

in fact, she woke up that morning with a stubborn attitude (which was really, nothing new) and alone. aurelia was unused to being alone, especially in the morning - if her mother wasn’t there (which happened rarely), at least one of her siblings would be lingering. however, the den was empty. which, could be because it was actually mid afternoon.

but that did not change the fact that when her day and night eyes opened, she was met with the sight of an empty den. and that had led, almost immediately, to the realization that aurelia could do whatever she wanted without her mother scolding her or her siblings hovering. a grin blossomed, wide and bright and a touch crazy. the masked pup had bounded into the snow outside with a wild grin and a furiously wagging tail. she threw herself into the snow and spent the next half an hour playing alone in the snow, ending flat on her back, panting.

after a few minutes letting her breathing slow, the girl was back on her feet and working her way down the mountain. heights had always been a thrill to the mountain born child. the den her mother had chosen for them wasn’t too low, nor too high on the mountain and offered easy access to the paths that lead towards the peaks. however, with the winter, she’d gotten enough lectures geared towards how unsafe the higher parts of the mountain were and she was reluctant to get another. thus, she headed downwards.

she didn’t venture down the mountain very often, generally more focused on finding a bigger and better perch in which to see spirane from. the temptation of unexplored land was much too big to be ignored, and paired with the thought that she would be the first of her siblings to see it made it impossible for her to even dream of stopping the downwards trek.

the slope was different from when she was coming and going from the higher parts of the mountain, but she figured it out with sure, small paws and soon was traipsing down with glee. there were definitely not as much to see, at least not now, but it was still enjoyable to preen in the knowledge that her brothers and sister hadn’t seen this part of spirange yet. all too soon, however, aurelia found herself at the bottom. a pout puckered out her bottom lip as she stared forlornly at her paws, not ready to go back home yet when suddenly, she was struck with the memory of the playdate the pups had earlier in the season.

she could have her own playdate!

but first, she would need to find the perfect place to have it. aurelia started off, features set with stern determination. the girl did not know about borders or packs - not much, just that their queen’s name was daenerys and that she had been there when the four of them were born (and my how aurelia had preened when she had learned of that) and that there were other packs. anemone hadn’t yet showed them where spirane’s lands ended, and thus was why aurelia crossed into taviora with innocent ease, still set on finding the perfect spot for her playdate.

it wasn’t until she had found the perfect spot, a clearing all surrounded by trees with enough space to play a few proper games, that aurelia realized she had no idea where she was. it would have been easy enough to get back to the den from the bottom of the mountain, but now she was surrounded by trees on all sides. a low, distressed noise leaked from aurelia’s maw, but the pup set off in what she thought was the way she had come - and that was a good idea, but she was heading further into taviora’s territory and only becoming more lost.