The thought occurred to her that he must be rather strong for his age! After all, he was not so big as her daddy, still a pup in his own right - though a big one at that. But it was easy for her mom and dad to lift her up by the scruff of the next. For him to lift her up to the top of the log must mean he was as strong as her parents! Pretty cool - she wanted to be strong as well. Maybe there was even more she could learn from this boy.

Turning to face him, her excitement manifested in a lick upon the boy's nose, to which he responded with a lick of his own that landed on her cheek. Melee giggled happily, thinking this was a friendly greeting indeed. Surely it was a sign of friendship - her parents always greeted each other with some variation of touching their noses. It must be a nice thing to do, she figured. He asked if she'd ever been that high before, and her head tilted to the side in a moment of consideration. She'd played on the top of the hill their den was built into, where she could stand level with her mother's head. But this was different! There wasn't ground to run around on to get up here. "Not like this!" She resolved as an answer.

Following the pointing of his nose, she looked up at the tree that wasn't too far away. The little golden girl danced back and forth on her forepaws, excited by the possibility. Jumping up in a tree! Now that would be cool. Then the squirrels wouldn't be able to get away from her and Eldrax so easily. Finally she settled into a standing position, smiling down at the black and creamy white face of her new friend. "That sounds awesome, I bet you'll be able to jump up in that tree in no time." He'd already successfully jumped this high, and he was strong enough to lift her up on top of it, so surely before long he'd be able to jump way up in a tree.

It was only when he gestured towards the break in the trees where you could see the highest peaks of the range that Melee realized just how far she'd managed to roam from her den. Her family lived in one of the highest dens on the mountain, a spot they'd inherited from grandparents she hadn't met yet. "Oh, crap," she mumbled to herself - a phrase she'd surely picked up from her father. And just like when he used it, she was probably going to be in big trouble with her mom for wandering so far from home. Trying not to look too guilty, she looked back to Ashur with a smile as he introduced himself. "Mine is Mêlée. Umm, do you wanna see higher up on the mountains today?" The pieces of an idea quickly began to fall into place in her mind and her tail started to wag behind her happily - a trait she'd must assuredly inherited from her parents. "I live up there! I can show you." In reality she was a little nervous she might not be able to find her way back on her own, but surely her new friend Ashur could point them in the right direction until things started to look familiar...right?