The world beyond the berry bush didn't scare Firethorn, neither did he seem terribly excited by it. It was as if he accepted it, and did the most with it that he could at his tiny size and utter absence of experience. he had to run a little to keep up with Vasili's longer steps, but never dared step even a claw's length ahead of the pharaoh. That was his limit, and he seemed to be making a point of always holding his pawtoes right where he drew the line. Sometimes he could dare make a step ahead, already wondering what was his place in this new pack he was joining.

Firethorn entered the nest after Vasili, standing as tall as he can next to the wolf who found and brought him. His yellow eyes scanned the den, and finally settled on a white wolf deep within. He wasn't surprised at her appearance or size. Just curious about what she was going to do. He could feel it was another authority figure whose rule he was going to have to follow until he could bend them, and bend them until they broke and he was free. But...it was going to take a while until then.

She heard his paw steps before he boofed, from her place in the back of the den sorting herbs while the pups slumbered. A future spy?

The white mountain of a woman turned, eyes lit up expectantly as she looked at her husband and then past him. Expecting a wolf, or another pup like Idalie.

Not.

That rat.

That? She asked. What use is a fox, beloved she sounded annoyed, as she approached, staring down the tiny thing. You know as well as I how small and pathetic they are, how little they can fight she had more fox skulls from her childhood than she knew what to do with, most of them left back in The Spine given they had been used as practice. The pups are too young for their first kill, if that's what you brought it for

A spy, what a thought.

Skill:

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Firethorn Vasili Nephthys

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Cai had followed behind the pair, making sure the thing couldn't sneak away at a given notice and kept her eyes trained on it as if she were planning to eat it next chance she got. Her tongue fell from her mouth as they neared the den, smiling as they approached mother. She listened to what the dame said and nodded in understanding, she knew that she easily could take it as her own if she was instructed.

Honestly though, Daddy had said we weren't killing it, I won't kill it.

She narrowed her eyes at the words, confused as to how she should currently feel and plopped her ass heavily down on the ground behind her as she waited for more to be said.

---

The woman growled low, an annoyed rumble of protest. You think our own children wouldn't be fitting spies? Even as she said it, she knew it would be true, if their first trio were anything to say about their...subtlety. Already, the newest litter was starting to show their sparks as well, their teeth. Her face showed her thought process, her tail lashed, and she even bared her teeth for good measure as she thought it over, before her body settled.

I'll allow it to try Nephthys spoke, her lip twitching as if she wanted to just kill it and be done with it. If it survives training, it will become an Ouroboros. But hear me, my love, it will face the same training our children do, when they do. At weaning, when the pups are the size of full grown foxes, this kit will be won't even be the size of a rabbit by then.

The same training that leaves wolf pups battered and bruised, bitten, would surely kill a fox. The way Nephthys trains them, at least.

Firethorn listened to the white wolf's cold words. He couldn't literally understand them, but he could feel their meaning. This is no wolf, this is a fox, he imagined her speaking, It's not welcome in our den. It can't be one of us.

Firethorn felt trapped in this nest now, even more than under the berry bush. Ahead of him was the disapproving mother of this pack, who would throw him to her pups to get killed. Behind him was one of those pups, only restrained by the orders of her father, who already expected plenty from the fox. Firethorn started to wonder if he stood a chance among these wolves, if he was ever going to be free of their rule and control.

He stepped back a few steps, then returned a few steps forward and straightened up. Vasili was talking, and Firethorn could feel he was talking about him. About what he could do. He listened, some words coming to him from somewhere far away, from a different world where he used to be. Sneaky, suspicion, target, it all made him more sure of himself. He knew it. He just needed to grow up, grow stronger, become who he used to be, not that he was sure who that was yet.

He could feel Nephthys' words again. They sounded similar to the last time, but she was giving ground. She wasn't aiming to kill him, not just yet. And that was all Firethorn needed. In due time, he was going to make sure all wolves of this den loved, respected, maybe even feared him. For now, he just stood still, and tried the hardest he ever will to be a good foxkit.