Are you alone, there in the valley?

Whenever she and her three sisters ventured out into the open, Dalmatia always hung back. She was a naturally fearful child, delayed in stepping foot beyond the safety of her family's den despite her parents' encouragement. Instead she would linger at the mouth of the den and watch for a long time, bright eyes alert for any signs of danger. @Tiberii and the others went about their business, playing or exploring within the boundaries their mother and father had set for them, and eventually little Dalmatia would take a hesitant step forward.

She didn't like how vast the world felt, and much preferred the enclosed space of the cave in which they spent most of their time. Tail tucked close to her rear, the spotted child made to close the distance between herself and her siblings. She immersed herself into the space between them, keen to keep each of them within her sights and herself within her sire's.

Very gently, after looking around her for the hundredth time for any sign of danger, the speckled youngster poked her nose to a very uninteresting stalk of grass that stood taller than the others within its cluster.


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The mother stopped, blinking, gazing at her second-born child. It was a true sight to behold, a child that came from one's own body and lineage. There had been a time that Olive had once believed herself only fit to bear witness to birth, never to actually experience it herself; but the worthwhileness of the effort was evident in the faces of each of her four wriggling puppies. She loved each, individual more than she had ever loved anything before. All together, wrapped along with the adoration of father — it was more sweetness and purpose than the Priestess ever thought she'd have to bear.

She watched the young Dalmatia creep tenderly forward, as afraid of the world as it should be of her. Olive wished for her cub to feel as safe as she felt in the vale, but the goddess-sense within Olive told her that perhaps it was more resulting from the rupture of their previous life to this one; the sheer frustration of simply being born, to finding yourself once again at the mercy of an ever-cruel world. Whatever carry-over Dalmatia was carrying from another life, or if it nothing more that the justified woes of a sensitive pup, Olive would be there to help her navigate it.

Striding forward, the mother made sure to shuffle her feet in the grass, so the young girl was aware of her coming. She sat down, abreast of the spotted one, and gazed down her nose at the spot on the ground that seemed to have her transfixed. "What're you looking at, sunbeam?” she asked softly, sweetly.

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Dalmatia prodded at the blade of grass with her nose and stretched out her neck, pushing it as far from her as she could. When she withdrew, she watched with intrigue as it sprung back into its original position. With a curious little coo, the spotted child reached to repeat her actions then shift to better investigate the base of the stalk, sniffing and testing with gentle nudges.

When her mother stepped forward to enquire after what had captured her interest, the speckled puppy rose her head to blink up at the Priestess' lovely face with wide, bright eyes. “Mama,” Her scruffy little tail twitched at her backside and she beamed a content smile, before returning her attention to the longest blade of grass that stood before her - only to be surprised by what she found.

A dragonfly, as blue as her eyes were destined to be, clung to the stalk. Dalmatia leaned in close, with a funny little, “ooooh?”.


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Olive saw the dragonfly long before her sweet daughter did, looking up at her with big, baleful eyes and a round face that was full of pure, resplendent wonder for nothing more than a blade of grass. She uttered those two lovely syllables, mama, and an eternal smile oozed across her maw, feeling rightfully placed upon her lips, staring at her spotted daughter's little face. For a moment, they beamed at one another, basking in the other's presence.

As Dalmatia turned back to the grass, the sylph was thrilled to hear the small gasp that heralded Dalmatia's discovery of the hovering insect. Olive, not wanting to insert herself into such a tiny and beautiful discovery, held back any movement or motion or words. All she did she gentle purse her lips and blow a small gust of air towards the winged thing, wondering if it might take flight and further dazzle her daughter with a show of aerial acrobatics.

Dalmatia deserved to see the beauty of the world, and she was only just beginning to open up to it.

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Dalmatia observed quietly, eyes bright with interest. The dragonfly seemed to be completely still, resting perhaps, and she was glad that there were no sudden movements as she hovered closer. She was prepared, however, to duck should the insect take flight and dive at her.

The priestess did not direct her away from it, but instead smiled and watched with her. The speckled girl's tail began to sway and she studied the dragonfly's several tiny limbs and its beautiful, iridescent wings. It was fascinating, and she let herself admire the brilliant azure of its body until she felt a soft gust of warm breath breeze past her ear. The stalk swayed gently and the little creature flew off in the opposite direction from the mother wolf and her cub.

Dalmatia blinked, following it with her gaze until it vanished. She looked up into Olive's lovely face then, and smiled sweetly. “I like,” the babe announced, half expecting her mother to conjure up something else just as wonderful for her to see.


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Olive was quite taken with the repslendant beauty of her daughter, who in turn marveled at the beauty of the dragonfly, but there were nothing that matched the feeling of when Dalmatia turned to her with a gleeful expression, verbalizing how much she had liked the little winged dance.

The mother returned her wondrous expression, attempting to beam her love straight into the child's being. After a moment, she pressed a kiss to the young pup's ashen crown, and turned to look after the meandering route the dragonfly had taken when it departed. "The world is an incredibly beautiful place," her words were quiet, simple notes upon her breath.

"and so too are you, little one." The sylph allowed her black nose to drift closer to Dalmatia's, giving it a momentary boop before her ears perked, followed by the lift of her head, and the playful loll of her tongue out the side of her mouth.

"Shall we try to follow it?"

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Gonna fade this one <3

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Olive beamed down at her, and Dalmatia assumed that she too had been enraptured by the beauty of the tiny winged creature she'd found. She was not to know how her mother felt when her children looked her way, eager to share their joy at new discoveries with her. She simply smiled brightly up into the priestess' soft features, and nodded enthusiastically at her suggestion that they follow the dragonfly.

The speckled girl toddled forward on clumsy paws, eager to find the vibrant blue of the flying insect and better inspect the unusual pattern of its iridescent wings. She located it swiftly among the next patch of long grass and paused, watching as it clung to a stalk like before, and wished the moment would last forever.


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