ORIGIN

The young child that toddled along through the undergrowth had a determined look on her little face. She was the equivalent of maybe a six- or seven-year-old, with the chubby cheeks and firm frown of youth. Thickly-furred fawn legs supported her weight, and a loose tunic had been draped over her violet-hued upper torso.

The stubby fingers of her left hand raised to brush a few tangled strands of black hair from her forehead, back behind one backswept, pointed ear, and with eyes like starlight she surveyed her surroundings.

Dad had been very nice. He'd talked to her, sang to her, and told her about staying safe. And so she'd immediately snuck away, at the first opportunity, one of the smallest hunting spears clutched in her hand. She had no idea how to use the thing; she could barely even talk. But damn it, Thalia would have an adventure.

It wasn't that she was petulant--she'd giggled and sang along with Dad's words--but she was stubborn, and when he'd told her she shouldn't explore on her own yet, she'd immediately decided that she would. So now here she was--pushing aside another front of greenery, and stepping out to look over the cold, silver pools of water just ahead.

"WATER!" she told it, eyes springing wide with excitement as she recognized a word. Then she hushed, blinking and looking around, realizing how loud she'd been.

Whoops.

She stopped nearer the water's edge, turning wide-eyed toward the sudden voice.

"Oh!" she squeaked, more a sound of surprise than an actual word. But what emerged was not scary-looking; it was sort of cute, actually. Small, fluffy, white, with one ear a pretty, if oversized, pale blue gemstone.

Thalia thought this over, briefly. It definitely wasn't prey--it could talk, and she didn't know how to hunt anyway. So--that made it a friend! She was a little nervous, so she squared her shoulders and marched with baby-fawn steps toward Comet. "Hi," she offered, a little shyly, and then--embarrassed by her shyness--immediately steeled herself to talk at it a lot more.

So she wouldn't seem scared!

"My name's Thalia," she said, the child's words a little awkward in her inexperience, "and I live here with Dad. Are you a dog?" she asked, silver eyes wide.

She'd heard the word but, somehow, it didn't seem quite right. Her mind wandered toward 'fox,' instead, but... no, that wasn't quite it, either...

The girl seemed to think, the pudgy fingers of one hand coming up to tap her chin in a vague imitation of a gesture she'd seen her father make.

"Ummm... I think Da says my other-Da's a deer. So. HALF deer!" she exclaimed, tiny fists balling up (spear still clutched in one) with the excitement of it all. "Da's not a deer." Each word was still clumsily-said, tumbling over one another in a young child's uncertainly-formed speech. Thalia tottered toward Comet, but it was hardly threatening: her fawn-hoofed steps were somewhat awkward, too, with oversized joints.

"Your white looks soft," she observed, quietly, silver eyes wide as she took in the wolf pup's pelt. "Can I touch it?"

Tiny, pudgy fingers reached out, running lightly over the surface of the white fur.

Thalia's face lit up, a bright smile creasing the dark freckles that speckled across her nose and cheekbones. "You're soft!" she told Comet, delightedly. Certainly an adult wolf's fur would be coarser, but for now the fluff of youth was delightful to run a palm across.

Curious, she then reached out, briefly, to attempt to touch the crystalline gemstone that made up the wolf cub's ear. "Is that your stone-?" she asked, curiously. "Da says we've all got a rock. Why is it, um. Your... ear?" she asked, struggling for a moment to remember the word 'ear.' But her face was still delighted, lit up with a smile.

Friends were cool!

"Oh! Yeah! I wanna explore. Where do we go?" she asked, looking around. She stepped back, hooves lightly crunching on the dead leaves, brushing down the fur-touched hand absently across her own, also-fluffy black leg. She searched the forest with her eyes, her imagination already running wild. "Think there's. Monsters? Or-... or um. -Birds?" she asked, said imagination immediately running out of ideas, thanks to inexperience.

The child studied Comet's gemstone ear solemnly for a moment. She couldn't use it-? That was said, but she didn't say as much; partly because she had no real reason to comment on the obvious and partly due to some half-developed social instinct that warned her it might hurt the wolf cub's feelings, somehow. And partly, too, because Comet was asking her a question, in turn.

Thalia brightened, and looked down, pulling down the rough, plain tunic enough to bare her gemstone. It sat between and a bit below her collarbones: a round, glimmering piece of diamond. She had to adjust the spear to do so, briefly holding it beneath one arm.

"That's mine," she told Comet, cheerfully. "Da says it's a Die-mon." And as for the wolf cub's suggestion, she nodded--letting the shirt bob back up, and shifting the little spear back into one hand. Her silver eyes glowed with excitement.

"Yeah-! We can... we can hunt monsters!" she suggested excitedly, turning for the underbrush ringing the clearing around the Eyes. Thalia half-crouched, as if stalking something--immediately half-lost in her own idea of a game. She pushed through the leaves, and turned to whisper (in a child's too-loud whisper) to Comet.

"We can just go until we find something, and then stalk it-! I bet we'll be a good team. We can sneak and-... and hunt and find stuff!" Her little nose scrunched up. "Maybe we'll find--birds, or... pretty rocks! Or sharp rocks!" she suggested, unsure which possibility she liked better.