The one thing I have begun to learn is that my mother took teaching me and my siblings seriously. Every day was a new lesson and while my open brain soaked it all in, sometimes even I grew irksome in the twitch of my stout limbs, the need to move too consuming to stay put. It was odd, though, because whenever I finally just checked out mentally during a lecture, mother simply frowned then told me to go play; I could sense a sort of reluctance to do so and yet she never complained. Never called us lazy or gave us mean looks. I was rather intimidated by her friend, Eclipse, who we visited at her heels sometimes, but I had taken to the other pups rather swiftly.

I was robust and Aster sometimes told me I looked so much like my grandmother that it was painful. I don't know how LOOKING like someone could be painful but I took it in stride, nodding calmly whenever she said it, as if that was the most natural thing in the world. Out of my family, I couldn't say I was the quietest, although there is a sort of calm and weighty energy about me. I observed the world with keen eyes and soaked it in, a watcher. My sister Idrisa was rife with energy while Archana seemed wide-eyed and confused most of the time. She couldn't hear and I found myself watching her mutely often, wondering what kind of world she saw since she couldn't hear anything.

We were growing fast, but I was shooting up at a rate that was somewhat alarming. My chest was broad, my muzzle stout, but my legs seemed too long for my buxom body, and my feet were enormous. It was difficult not to trip over everything and I had an almost permanent scowl on my face at times when I tried to run and kept tripping. My tail seemed a bit too short as of yet, my ears a bit too small for my big head, but none of these things mattered to me for now. Mom said we would grow into our bodies, even if she cackled whenever I tripped, much to my annoyance.

Our den was only a short distance from that of Eclipse's and I knew the path rather by heart since having traipsed it a bunch with my mother. If we asked to go with her, she never turned us away, but today I decided I would go by myself while she took whoever wanted to go on a trip around Asteraia. I trot towards the den, tripping frequently and cursing the ground with words like, "SHOOT! GOSH! UGH!"

When I see a head poking from the den I grin, smaller ears lifted as I bark to get the attention of Prometheus. Truth be told, I was a bit confused on his name too, so I just remember him as Prometh. Then I see the shadowed silhouette of his brother, Saros. "Well, are ya'll gonna come out and play or sleep all day?" My voice is deep, almsot raspy, and there is a slow drawl to it that defines me as I wait, legs splayed and tail wagging with a brazen air. Yeah, I get THAT from my mom.