Walking walking walking! What good did walking do? I had tried to find some sort of plants for Lazarus when I had gotten home to find him sick. Even went so far as to bring loads of moss and some sort of clumpy looking weed to the den only to be told to 'put that stuff outside' by mother. Not even a thank you Aster for trying to help. It wasn't like I knew what to give him but at least I was trying. I was told it would go away on it's own but that didn't sit well with me. I was a girl who liked action not reaction. But my parents did what they did and I had to take their word for it so I hadn't brooded over it before launching one of my adventures into Iromar once more. Anyways, that was another day and today I wasn't too concerned with it. I wanted that Muskrat and I needed my daddy's help to do it.

I had heard brother tell momma that he had met my grandpa and I had felt intensely jealous of that, but I hadn't said it to my dad yet. Mom had no parents left, she had made that exhaustively clear, but why hadn't my grandpa come to see me? Rest assured, I WOULD find out, maybe after I got over my desire to hunt. There is no doubt in me that my dad would help. He had never told me no before, at least not for some foolish reason, and what better reason to help than to make sure I turned into the best Empress out there? Aside from my momma, that was.

"Oh," I say, tilting my head comically to the side as I mulled over this thought. "I guess you are right." Moving meant more options for things to do so I decided my dad had a very valid point. Maybe that is why I liked moving so much and didn't care to sit still too long unless I was being taught something. If my mind wasn't occupied then my body had to be, although I preferred both. A muskrat, he asks me, and I nod rapidly, my body practically bouncing in spot as I bare my teeth in my eagerness to get a hold of something. I abruptly erupt into squeals of delight when he nibbles at my paw and I jump up so that one paw smacks him between the eyes. "Daddy stop!!" It is one of those feigned refusals because clearly I was enjoying this. He licks my muzzle and I close my eyes, leaning into it for half a second before jerking away and glancing left and right. You know, just to check things out. Not at all because I didn't want my friends seeing this.

"This way!" I shout frantically, my happiness so pronounced that I almost stumble over my paws once more as I spin around and race forward a few hundred yards before stopping and glancing. "Faster dad! It might know we are coming!" The thought spurs me into a panic and I race haphazardly across Iromar, leaping over small holes in the ground with reckless abandon, and make a beeline straight for the swampy area. I slide into a stop, breath heaving, a short distance away from where I had often seen the Muskrat and search excitedly for it. "THERE!" My voice is a pronounced whisper as I look up at my dad, my eyes shining with my determination. "He is fat, isn't he!" I feel so PROUD for having located it before anyone else.