Aether paced around the clearing, casting glances at the four sleeping huddles near him. His entire being just radiated impatience, normally, he wasn't like this; but today was different, and he wanted to get on with everything. Tail lashing and ears set back, he paused briefly and tilted his light head skyward; looking at the light peeking through the leaves of the trees. Closing his eyes, the male took a deep breath in, held it, then exhaled slowly. Trying to calm himself down. It didn't really work, it did help him manage to wrangle the impatient side of him down enough so that his entire being was giving off the feeling. A tad bit calmer now, he took a pace toward the sleeping dogs.

"Alright you four, get up!" He barked sharply, loud enough to wake them all up, surely. The sight that greeted him was three of them jerking their heads up, floppy ears as pricked as they could be, bodies tense from the sudden loud sound.

"Alright then, as you all know, I'm to be your mentor. Take a moment to wake up properly, then we'll be off to take a look around the pack territory." The adult male delievered this in a crisp, firm tone. Making it clear that he would not be argued with on this manner. In his opinion, the pups had slept long enough to get proper rest. And they had better get a move on the day. Sitting down, he kept his gaze on the four, making sure nobody would get it in their head to try and go back to sleep.



Charlie didn't say anything in response to her mentor's reply. Verbal, that is. She simply gave a nod and turned her attention to the forest as they exited the camp. The scents of the forest being drawn to her nose as she breathed, tilting her white furred head upwards, toward the sky, towards the trees. The sight of those amazingly tall trees was always something to see. Always something. She longed to burst out into a run, truly stretch her legs and go until she tired. But she refrained from doing so. It wouldn't do for her to do that.

She raised her head in interest as they neared Donovan and the others, her orange-amber eyes being drawn to the two pups tussling on the ground. She let her tongue loll out in a grin as the smaller one, Cambree if she remembered right, managed to pin Dalton and won. Once her mentor spoke, she silently agreed; that little black and white pup definitely had the makings of a fighter. That would be one fearsome wolf when she was full grown and trained, she had to admit.

"I'll be glad to!" Was the young female's response to her mentor. She had a good sense of smell, and would do well scenting for patrols. She gave herself a shake, and trotted a few paces forward eagerly; the previous doubts and feelings about the three new apprentices put away for now. She knew it was a silly thing to linger on, yet she couldn't have helped it, most probably would not have been happy to have their teacher suddenly have several new students to take care of. But the promise of going off and patrolling took the forefront of importance in her mind.

Shane blinked. Disoriented at the sudden wake-up call. And one of his sisters jumping to her paws excitedly.

Then the wolf's words sunk in.

With that same excitement now building within him, he got to his paws, listing to the left a little until he stumbled and regained his balance. Giving a yawn, and stretching out his front and back, he then gave a brief shake. As if to slough the daze of sleep from him. The anticipation of taking a look a the pack's territory soon burned the left-over sleepiness from his mind and body; leaving only energy and excitement coursing through every fiber of his body. Despite himself, he found himself bristling with excitement, and it seemed hard to keep still.

Then the other two broke from the fog of sleep.

The young dog watched as Cassidy's head practically swiveled to face the tan and gray wolf, her dark eyes bright with eagerness. With a involuntary yip, amusingly high in pitch and excitement threading through the brief sound. She scrambled to her paws, kicking Asteria hard enough to jerk her the other way slightly; whether the action was intentional or accidental, neither Shane nor Aether could discern. She stood, nearly vibrating with energy now that she was more awake. Ready to start.

Asteria, for her part, snapped her head and snapped her slender jaws at her sister's retreating leg. Clearly not appreciating being kicked like that. The more slender female rose in a more dignified manner than the other three, smoothly and gracefully. But even she was blatantly ready to start the day, start their training.

All of them were.

With an amused huff, their assigned mentor, Aether, flicked the tip of his tail. The dog watched as the light colored wolf paced in front of them, his predictably wolfish yellow eyes on them. And at that moment, before the older male began to speak, Shane felt a stab of doubt. Would he and his siblings be able to keep up? He was painfully aware of the differences between the wolves of the Mistfall Pack, and themselves. Could they keep up with what was expected of them? The worries were shoved to the back of his mind when said mentor started speaking.

"As is normal for new apprentices, we will venture to the border of our territory, so you all will know where it ends. As we go, I want you four to do your best to move as lightly and quietly as possible. I do not expect any of you to reach the level me nor the others have reached, but it is something I want to see at the end of training." The male had stopped pacing in front of them when he was speaking, instead he stopped, head held high and ears erect; tilting his head down to properly look at them. Then he started walking again.

"Now, I trust you all have seen other apprentices training in the way of movement that our pack has a reptuation for. And of course, have seen the others of this pack moving around." A glance by the wolf upwards, then around the thick foliage of the camp, "That should be all. Do as I say, and do your best, that's all I ask of you four. Now let's go!" With that, the taller and larger male moved off, into the forest. Knowing that the four will follow gladly.

Springing ahead before the others could move, Shane indeed followed the older male, with excitement running through him.



Charlie resisted a laugh when the pups' attention went immediately to Donovan. And the male jerked his head back in a movement that was nearly imperceptible; he probably was not expecting that. And while she knew stalking, she still listened a little to Donovan's response.

"Technically, the best stalkers would the Mistfall pack. But the basics are all the same-"

Her attention went from the gray male to the white mentor, and she turned her head to her. At Riven's words, she felt a bright glow of pride in her chest; and she stood just a little taller at the praise.

"I would love to!" The words burst out a little louder than normal, and she was aware of the quick glance Donovan gave her before returning to his original thread of how it was important to step lightly and everything. "I would love to, I'll be looking forward for tomorrow." Charlie lowered her voice, but the excitement in her tone was no less apparent.

Looking over his shoulder fairly often, sometimes circling around to view the four from the side, he was honestly impressed with how they all were doing. Kinley in particular was doing exellent; he had expected that, she was smaller and lighter than the other two and didn't make as much noise moving around. Shane seemed to have a little bit of trouble with how he placed his paws, but Aether had seen worse in new apprentices; and this was only their first day in training. Asteria was better than the two more broad pups, but not as good as Kinley. And Cassidy was about on the same level as Shane, perhaps just a touch more careful and lighter on her paws. All in all, not bad.

He truly hoped they all did well in training. Any mentor would.

As the small group went on, they got closer to the border. Aether stopped, and sniffed the air; yes, they were definitely getting closer. Time to be careful; the wolves of the Mistfall Pack had had a few...run-ins with the Shadowcrest wolves. Not always did confrontations go smoothly, and it was always unsure which was an interaction between the neighboring packs would go.

"Everybody," Aether spoke, his voice again firm, letting them know that it was a more serious matter. "we are nearing the border of our pack territory. As you know, this territory borders the Shadowcrest Pack's. Stay close." that being said, he continued on, more carefully than before; aware that they were not in the safety of the deep dark forests of their primary territory anymore.



They were getting close to the border.

Charlie noticed this, instinctively, she began to get a bit more tense; more alert for trouble. A run-in wouldn't be ideal at the moment; and her gaze briefly went to the three pups. Definitely not. Especially when half of your patrol group were untrained in combat, which could very well hinder the more experienced fighters in a true confrontation.

At Riven's words, Charlie was glad to see the three react well. They gave each other worried looks, and that was good; any wolf with sense in them would be naturally more cautious when around the end of their territory, or near a border where a rival pack could attack.

A scent blew to her on the breeze, a bare wisp of a scent, but it was enough. She caught it, and stopped for a moment, unsure what exactly the scent was; almost like a wolf's, but not. She didn't remember ever running into one like that before. It made her worried. But had the others noticed it?

The fur along the back of his spine stood on end, the rest of the pelt bristled.

Aether shook himself harshly, forcefully enough that he actually lost his balance briefly. Regaining it, he took a deep, calming breath; made himself relax enough so that his fur didn't bristle in the instinctive reaction to the scent of a rival patrol. Once regaining his composure, he continued to the border. Both packs had reptuations, in a sense.

The Shadowcrest wolves were often spoke of as a vicious and ruthless pack.

The Mistfall wolves were the stealthiest, and probably had a little bit of a reputation as cowards, due to their tendency to stay in their forest.

With even, confident steps, Aether came upon the border. As he drew closer, he took note that there were six wolves in the patrol. Three very young ones, newly made apprentices, most likely; one that looked around the age of a slightly older apprentice; and two adults. Holding his head high, he came closer, being careful not to get too close.

-

Shane felt nervous, he took his cue off their mentor and made himself be calm. Or at least, seem calm and confident on the outside. He paced up, stopping just behind Aether, his dark, almost black eyes regarding the others curiously. His long somewhat thin tail swished slightly before it stilled. Floppy ears pricked up. Square-ish shaped head held high, supported by a thick, powerful neck; apparent even at his young age. He was nervous for a bunch of reasons, one being that he didn't know how wolves outside the pack would react to him and his littermates, he had been told most wolves wouldn't have allowed dogs to join the pack. And also, because of a potiental confrontation, a hostile one. He was protective of those he cared about, and it made him hesitant to walk into a dangerous situation with his littermates; even though there was no other group he would have trusted more to have his back.

-

The noticeably sleeker and refined female stood as tall as she could. Asteria's black body was tense, lean muscles twitching as she moved up beside her brother. Her floppy, triangular ears were set back slightly, not in fear or uncertainty, but barely concealed aggression. The more whippy tail stayed still by her ankles. Her slender face was tensed backward in preparation to bare her teeth and snarl. A low growl wanted to rumble in her throat, but she managed to swallow it, for now.

-

Cassidy held her thick head low. Short fur along her spine up, her body tense. She kept her dark brown eyes on the other pack's wolves, almost in a challenging manner, defiant. Her broad, powerful body was ready to move, despite her mentor putting on a calmer act. She, in this case, wasn't going to act like she was all calm and unruffled by this; she would look like she was ready to fight. And despite not being trained for combat, she reckoned that she could be pretty good in a real fight. With her siblings, of course.

-

As the Mistfall patrol came into view, Charlie realized why there had been the slight scent of something off. She first saw the tan and gray wolf at the front, he looked quite confident and in control of himself. As the four jet black figures came into view, she couldn't stop the small gasp of surprise. They looked like...like dogs. They were not wolves, that was for sure. Taking a small step forward, her amber gaze fixed on the other group, ears pricked in curiosity.

-

Donovan sensed the tenseness in the air, he was adding to it as well. He took a quick glance at the pups, making sure they were acting appropriately. His light gaze lingered on Cambree for a longer moment than her siblings, she seemed to be more bolder in personality than the other two; but he doubted that she would disobey Riven on her first day as an apprentice. Then his eyes went back to the Mistfall wolves, well, wolf and four...dogs..? He surpressed a frown, why would a pack take in dog pups? He supposed it wasn't any of his business, though; he wasn't part of their pack, and that was decidedly pack business.

"I was taking my apprentices out, same as you, it seems."

Aether replied to the female wolf, his eyes narrowed slightly, she looked familiar to him. Perhaps he had seen her while on a patrol. His wandered to the three apprentices on their side. The three looked to be around the age of his own. A pure black male with amazingly vivid green eyes; a female with dark gray fur and violet eyes; and the last one, the smallest of the younger ones, that one had perhaps the strangest fur colors he had ever seen on a wolf, black and white with light blue eyes. What an interesting bunch, he thought, flicking his ears back.

The other members of the patrol were less remarkable in appearance; a younger white wolf with amber eyes, another apprentice; and an adult male with light gray and darker gray fur, his eyes a more uncommon light brown shade. He could tell that the others were sizing up himself and the four apprentices, same as he was doing to them; even the three youngest of the party.

A quick glance at his own apprentices proved they were acting admirably for their first encounter with rivals, Cassidy by far looked like the one who would attack if given a chance though; not surprising. While Asteria was the more aggressive one, she oftentimes put on a more regal air. He trusted that Cassidy wouldn't do anything foolish though, she was smarter than that.

-

Shane noticed how mostly the other apprentices looked at him and his siblings, making him feel a little self-conscious of the physical differences between them. But he returned their gazes, looking at them in return. He felt curious about them, first off, all three around his age had eye colors he had never seen on a wolf; one gaze colored violet of all things; the second a luminious green; and the third a strange pale blue. The violet eyes belonged to a dark gray female, who he sensed was not as confident as she was trying to seem like. The green went to a lean black male, who seemed to have the air of a troublemaker, like the feeling his sisters got when one of them got playful, but also had a cautious look to him that he liked. And the smallest had strange fur, black and white both present on her coat.

-

Asteria couldn't help but bristle at the way she and her littermates were being looked at by the Shadowcrest wolves. Her lip curled back to reveal a white fang, her dark eyes flashed with a ferocity and protectiveness that said that she could gladly do something....unwise if anything bad was said about them. And a low but still audible growl slipped between her teeth and out into the tense air. But she shifted from standing to sitting, her head still held high proudly; her gaze sweeping over the other wolves who looked around the age herself was, and by extension, her siblings. At the black and white one, she had an errant thought that that one may have some dog in her, though it was disregarded quickly.

-

Cassidy raised her head from its lowered position, glanced quickly at her sister, who had just sat down, and returned her focus to the other wolves in front of her. The pups looked weird, not quite in a bad way, just in a different way. She couldn't remember seeing a wolf in her pack that looked like the three. But they were still undeniably wolves. She was aware of the way they were being looked at, and her skin twitched, her coat being short enough for the motion to be visible. Her eyes slowly took the three in, stopping for a brief moment on the third, the smallest of them; she looked confident and curious, which she kind of liked. But unable to surpress the urge to flash her sharp teeth, her lips curled back for a moment, then slid over the white formations, concealing her teeth and threatening gesture.