The young girl carefully sunk her claws into the bark of the old oak tree. Her eyes flickered around, searching for the best way to climb up. Slowly she lifted up her left hand, reaching out of a branch close to her. As soon as her hand closed around it, she quickly began to climb up. Her claws on her hands and feet left small dents were they had sunk into the dark to hold herself up. She quickly leapt from branch to branch, being as quiet as she could. With practice she had managed to be able to climb trees quietly without slipping.
Silently she crouch among the branches, her green-blue eyes watching the ground below. She watched some of the pups she was training with run by, searching for the others. Fire-Flower had made sure to roll around in pine needles at the beginning of the training exercise to hide her scent. It seemed to of worked as her pack-mates ran by her and the tree she was in. She grinned, revealing sharp teeth that had a red hue that was likely from the blood and flesh of the animals her and the wolves ate. Her body had grown to be able to digest raw meat, which was good, as she would need to in order to eat. It would be dangerous for her to attempt to light a fire, as she was still young and could easily cause a forest fire, which neither her nor the wolves would be able to put out. So, in the end, all the wolves had been thankful when her stomach aches from eating raw meat had ceased.
She shifted her body from one angle to another, looking around the other side of the tree for anyone else. The pups at her level and her were all participating in a training exercise that day. All of them were to run out into the forests and hide. One pup had been chosen to find everyone. If you were found, then you joined the seeker and together searched for the others. It looked to Fire-Flower that she was one of the few left unfound. She felt proud at the fact that she remained unfound. It told her that she was high in her level and wound likely soon be moving up a level in training. Lionheart had said she was doing well in training. She froze at the sound of another group of wolf pups running by. Her breathing nearly ceased and her body was fastened in place. She watched as they dashed by, not taking a notice to her. They probably had not seen her up in the tree, as she was the only one who could climb trees, and had also probably smelt pine and figured it was just the forest scents.
More time passed. Perhaps an hour by now. She figured she was one of the last ones left. Maybe even the only one remaining unfound. By this point she had moved from her hiding place, climbing up different trees and hiding in bushes a few times too. Fire-Flower had also made sure to coat herself in the scents of the forest again, as the pine needle scent had seemed to be wearing off.
Currently she was sitting up on a high branch of a elm tree, her eyes watching the ground below her. Occasionally she heard someone call out a "found you" or someone would call out a name. Those who called out the names of who they were searching for told Fire-Flower who was still in the game. There were not many left, and she happened to be one of them.
She smiled, happy about how well she was doing at the game, and turned her head back to face the land in front of her. She was close to the edge of the forest itself. Only about two miles away lay the human kingdom. A place she had been forbidden to go, just like every other pup. They were warned that humans were dangerous creatures that would kill a wolf the second they got a chance to. Humans were not to be trusted.
Her body froze and her ears would of perked if she was a wolf. An unfamiliar scent crossed her nose. Faintly she heard paw steps, but they were different than the paw steps of a wolf or deer. They were heavier and had only one beat instead of two. She quickly leapt to a tree close to her, curious to what the scent and new creature or creatures were. She had completely forgotten about the training exercise by now. Fire-Flower heard voices as well, but they were not speaking in the native tongue of the wolves. They spoke in a different langue, and even though she had never learned it, she managed to recognize the meaning of many of the words. "Les loups chassent dans les forêts ici. Ils sont des créatures dangereuses Jack, souvenez-vous que." She recognized words such as loups, which meant 'wolves' and les forêts, which meant "forests.' Fire-Flower managed to piece together that the man was speaking about the wolves in the forests, but she was unsure of what exactly he was saying.
"Je ne vais pas aller loin dans le père de la forêt. Puis-je explorer un peu?" Another voice spoke, it sounded younger. She heard something about the forest again, and exploring. The tone of the speak made it sound like a question.
"Très bien Jack. Ne pas entrer dans aucun problème, et bientôt à la maison." She heard the paw-steps again and they soon faded, telling Fire-Flower that one of them had left. She crept down from the tree she was perched in, curious of what had been speaking. She also wondered how she had managed to understand most of the words spoken, or at least manage to figure out what they spoke about. Her eyes soon found what she was looking for. A young boy with dark hair stood admiring the forest. His back was to her, so she could not see his face. Fire-Flower soon found herself on the ground. Studying him, she realized that he was similar to her. There were others like her? A few moments passed and he soon turned around. A expression of surprise appeared on his face, but was soon replaced by curiosity. "Hello there. Who are you?" Standing closer to them, she realized she could actually understand their language quite well. It in fact no longer sounded strange. Her head tilted, Fire-Flower had no idea how to answer. It seemed her brain could translate his words to the wolf's native tongue, but she could not reverse the process. She had no idea how to speak his language. Confusion crossed the boy's face as she did not reply.
"Can you not speak then?" Jack watched the girl, unsure. She had messy red hair and the strangest eyes he had ever seen. They appeared to be blue, but then the forest green was noticed. Her eyes seemed to be swirls of green and blue surrounding her black pupil, it was quite pretty. Moments passed and she still did not speak.
"W-w-wo-w-wol-w-w-wolve-wolves. Wolves!" She stuttered as she attempted to speak as he had. Her eyes lit up with joy as she managed to say something.
"Wolves? What about them? Are they hunting you down? Did you see one?" Curiosity now rushed through Jack. Could the girl of seen an actual wolf?
"L-l-l-l-li-li-li-livvvv-livvvvve. Livvve Wolves." She drew out the 'v' sound when she said live. Jack figured she definably did not speak French. "You live with wolves? Cool! It is fun? Do you get to hunt with them and stuff?" Jack could not help but to start asking questions. This girl was obviously not from the kingdom, she had said she lived with wolves. At least, Jack figured that was what she meant. Jack watched as she nodded her head, then shook it. "You can understand me, right?" She nodded her head again.
"Okay. Well, my name is Jack. I live in the kingdom over there." Jack pointed in the direction of where he had come from. Fire-Flower nodded, showing she understood. Could he be a human? He did not seem dangerous. He had chances to kill her already, yet shown no signs of planning to murder her. Maybe she could trust him, until he showed signs of hostility that is.
"Well, do you think you could manage to tell me your name? Or is it a wolf name that cannot be pronounced in French?" A grin formed on Fire-Flower's face at the sight of Jack's curiosity. He did not seem dangerous at all. She quickly looked around, trying to find something to represent fire. Nothing but tall trees with green leaves and flowers of all different colors surrounded her. She shook her head, looking back at Jack.
"Well, that's okay. I'll think of something to call you then! How about--" he paused, racking his brain for a good nick name for the wolfish girl.
"How about Little Wolf?" Fire-Flower nodded, liking the name. Jack smiled.
"Okay Little Wolf it is then!" Jack continued to talk to Fire-Flower, asking her yes or no questions about living with wolves.
"How about I teach you to speak French. Then you can do more than nod or shake your head." Fire-Flower nodded, her eyes lighting up at the idea of learning to speak French.
"Okay, now--" Jack was cut off by the distant barks of a wolf.
"Fire-Flower! Where are you? You won the training exercise and the hunters will be returning with prey soon!" The loud voice of Lionheart rang out through the woods. He sounded a bit worried. Fire-Flower turned back to Jack, who had stood up from the ground.
"I should get home, I'll come back as soon as I can Little Wolf! Bye!" Jack turned and ran off, heading back towards the kingdom where his father would be waiting. Fire-Flower quickly ran in the direction of Lionheart's voice. She soon returned to the pack camp and skidded to a halt at his feet.
"Nice job Little Flame. I will have you bumped up to the next training level starting tomorrow. Now go eat." Joy filled Fire-Flower as she bounded towards her mother, who was waiting with her three pups. Fire-Flower sat happily next to her mother, waiting for the pack hunter's to return with prey for the night. Fire-Flower did not realize the mistake she had made that day though. The fact the interacting with humans was forbidden for all the pack wolves had not crossed her mind once that day. Talking with Jack had not seemed bad, he did not seem dangerous either. She did not realize the trouble it could cause her, if she was to allow their friendship to bloom and grow.