Gash? Badar could not help herself – she gave a soundless laugh, her grin toothy and broad as she shook her head and nodded when he said moon instead. Gash was not entirely a name she wanted to take on, but she supposed he’d gotten Moon right at least – and if she had to be Gash to Iromar, then so be it. Did all little lordlings think of gashes and scratches before they thought of moons and stars? She’d ask her brothers, though she had a feeling they likely thought of neither first. Zion would think of himself first, she thought, whereas Erebos would likely think of something stranger than both. She’d never tried to show Erebos things in the sand before, she thought with a glance to the sky. Maybe she ought to! Perhaps even the little lordling could come play too.
Despite her initial impressions, she had quickly begun to like Apollyon. He tried to learn, and she appreciated that, but he was just as eager to get into the midst of things as she had always been. He ploughed through the sand and took his time to fail – she watched from above, soundlessly laughing once more. Her tail waved above her back as she waited above him in a playful bow, giving silent yips of approval when he finally started diagonally. See, she thought, you don’t need words to learn! Wolves, Badar thought, often forgot to listen to their bodies, and they often forgot how to learn from the world around them too. Even the long-legged birds that strut about Glorall knew to take to the sand in a way, and they had been her teachers in that regard.
When he finally made it to the top, she ignored his scowl and his paws for the most part, though she could not help but roll her eyes in amusement. His awe at the ocean was enough to make her forgive him for it, though she still gave him a nudge with her shoulder. It was her way of saying knock it off. Badar was far more accustomed to being more...pysical, but she knew to hold back. But with Eva? Well, holding back was useless. The two of them needed to speak physically.
Then, she wasted no time. She gave him a challenging grin again, sunk into a play bow and then began to slide her way down the dune. This time, she took it at less of an angle, using the sliding sand to hasten her pace down the slopes. When she reached the bottom, she waited for him again, her eyes on him closely lest she need to intervene to stop him from tumbling. She was, thankfully, large enough for now to stop that. Had he come in a year or two? Well, she had a suspicion the little lordling wouldn’t be so little for long.
As she waited, she wondered if they ought to tell his mother where they had gone – their pawprints would lead the way, but a strong gust could conceal even then. So when he arrived, she gave him a furrowed brow and motioned back towards where they had originally met. She mouthed words she knew, emphasizing each movement to make it clearer. Mother. Need. Call? Then she tilted her head, to emphasize the question in her words. She chewed her lip, anxious to see if the message had been clear. That was the hardest thing, she thought. Having to chew through the formalities. Words did make that easier but only because others insisted that borders and packs and all those things existed. In a world of Badar’s making, they’d be able to run about and all of that without worrying if others knew where they were. Her paws itched to show him the water and all the unusual rocks and shells that lined the shore, but the part of her that was a wolf of Glorall knew she had to be sure she wasn’t stepping on toes that weren’t even there.
Badar