’De-escalation’ was not a term in Pine’s vocabulary. Nor was it a concept she could understand. The ‘princess’ continued to growl at her, making faces, and acting as if her paws didn’t touch the dirt. “My parents don’t exist!” Pine countered with a snap, completely unware that this statement was not something common among most puppies. “They taught me nothing! I’ll take your teeth before you take mine!” The small girl bristled, her teeth still bared to their points. All she wanted to do was knock this girl into the dirt and show her that a princess, too, could get dirty. She refused to take her paw off the carcass of the vole though. It was not until Zarah assured her that she was not going to take the prize that Pine calmed down. She even sat down, to show she was not going to attack the other girl. Though she still peered at her through narrowed eyes.

”Big Wolf saved me! He found me by a tree and fed me! I wanted to bring him this...thing… Once more she looked down at the dead rodent. Suddenly she was extremely concerned this gift would not be good enough. It was a very small dead thing. Mavrick often brought her bigger things to feed her. This was barely a snack for her.Two toned ears flattened sadly and she turned away in shame. This was not a good enough gift for her Big Wolf. And it was starting to smell.