Training - Alignak and Siqiniq

“Ooh, look at them,” an unknown vayron cooed at the two small vayrons, “You must be so proud.”

The mothers smiled at the stranger, hoping they would carry on. Their two pups crawled on the ground, their large paws patting the soft ground, oblivious to the attention they gathered from passers-by. When the stranger didn’t carry on, the mothers stood up gently, bidding goodbye as they picked up their pups and moved on. 

The older sister, a large puller, gently put her pup on the ground once they were far enough away from the small Vitalus village. 

“Ali,” She called, “you can walk on your own.”

The pup looked at his mother with bright green eyes and whined. She chuckled but ignored him as she took small steps forward.

“You’re being too harsh, sister.” The younger sister admonished.

“And you’re being too gentle,” The older sister countered, glancing at the small dark blue runner sleeping peacefully on her mother’s back. 

   Alignak stomped around his mother’s feet once he realized his whining wouldn’t work. He liked the sounds of the leaves crunching under his feet. Ali giggled to himself with each stomp and jump. Soon, he started to look around for his cousin. He noticed her sleeping on his aunt, but that didn’t deter him. 

Alignak ran and jumped at his aunt’s legs, but this time whining for his cousin, Siqiniq. 

“See, let them play.” Ali’s mother chimed in. 

Siqiniq’s mother gently woke her pup up and then placed her on the ground without any argument. The sleepy runner didn’t see her cousin barrelling down on her as he knocked her over. Siqiniq gasped as she tumbled through the leaves. She tumbled so far that her mother glared at Ali’s mother and chased after her. 

“Oh, she’s fine.” Ali’s mother rolled her eyes at her dramatic younger sister. 

Shortly, Siqiniq’s mother returned with Siqiniq. The group walked further into a lush forest of Vitalus before the mothers lounged behind some bushes. Alignak had walked the whole way, so he was tired. He curled up next to his mother to sleep. Siqiniq had slept most of the way, so she was up and excitedly looking around to explore. 

“There’s a reason I made Ali walk,” Alignak's mother eyed her sister. The sister snapped her teeth and growled at the older sister’s attitude. The older sister shrugged her shoulders and then settled to nap herself. Unbeknownst to either mother, Siqiniq's adventurous nature got the better of her, and she wandered off with the only one to notice being Alignak. 

By the time Siqiniq wandered off, her mother had accidentally fallen asleep, and Alignak had woken up to spot the runner. He carefully stood up and crept away from the sleeping mothers. 

“Si,” He called, “wait!”

“Look over there.” Siqiniq gasped in wonder. 

They stood on the edge of a small embankment, and at the bottom was a cluster of large glowing crystals. The light from the crystals bounced off every surface, creating a colourful wonderland sort of look for the pups. 

“We have to go down!” Siqiniq shifted side to side in her excitement, and Alignak didn’t stop her. He leaped off the edge and slid down the steep slope. Siqiniq followed behind him shortly after. 

At the bottom of the embankment, the pups had an eye-opening experience. They realized how big the crystals were compared to how they appeared at the top of the steep cliff. With the towering, colourful crystals looking as sparkly and magical as they were, the pups were still overcome with fear as their tails tucked behind their legs. They moved closer to each other as they looked around with darting eyes. 

They looked back up the embankment and realized they wouldn’t have a way to go back up; they were stuck. Alignak was confident their mothers would notice and come find them, but Siqiniq let the fear take hold as she cowered close to Alignak. 

“W-What do we do?” Siqiniq started whispering, fearful something might hear them. 

“We explore, of course!” Alignak exclaimed excitedly, only briefly letting the fear affect him. 

“N-no, m-my mother said to s-stay in one place… i-if we were ever l-l-lost.” Siqiniq stuttered as her eyes flicked to look at anything that moved. 

“Si, this was your idea, it’ll be okay!” Alignak tried to comfort his cousin, “I’ll protect you.”

He stood proudly, and confident he could protect his cousin. Siqiniq relaxed ever so slightly and followed close to Alignak as they walked about the large crystals. After a few minutes of walking without anything bad happening, Siqiniq relaxed completely and started to drift a little further from Alignak. 

They passed a large purple crystal, and Siqiniq giggled as the light turned Alignak’s coat purple. 

“Ali, look!” She laughed as she bounced in front of a yellow crystal that changed her coat to a greener colour. She laughed some more as she jumped near an orange crystal and watched the light affect her coat colour. 

Alignak caught on to what she was doing and then tried it himself. He was mostly white, and any crystal made it look like he was the same colour as the crystal. In front of blue crystal, he was blue; in front of pink crystal, he was pink. They both jumped from crystal to crystal, enjoying the illusions the light created on their coats. 

They were being loud, but they were happy and unaware of anything that might be watching them. They didn’t realize that with each crystal, they were getting further and further away from their parents. 

After several minutes, the number of crystals dwindled, and that’s when Siqiniq came back to reality. She looked around, and the fear slowly crept back to her. 

“Uuh, Ali?” She whimpered as she stepped closer to her cousin. He looked at her with happy and excited eyes. 

“Where are we?” She gulped and looked around. She noticed that not only were the crystals few and far between in this area, but they had wandered into a cave. She saw dirt on all sides, and the only light came from the crystals. 

Alignak looked around, making the same conclusions as Siqiniq, but he was excited to explore the new space. He tried to console his cousin and make the experience fun, but quickly realized she was so scared it wasn’t making her feel better. 

“We can at least head back the way we came,” Alignak reasoned with her. 

Siqiniq’s fearful eyes turned to her cousin before she responded with, “We don’t know what direction that is?!”

Siqiniq wasn’t in a state to understand the reasoning behind his phrase, but he patiently gathered her attention. 

“We go back to the lights of the crystals.” He replied to her fear with logic, and for a moment, he thought he had seen it click in. She gulped and nodded. Alignak led them back into the section where the crystal maze was. The sparkling crystals were the same, but to Siqiniq, they were distorted through her fear. 

Alignak tried to cheer her up by jumping near the crystals again or leaping into leaves, but nothing seemed to break Siqiniq out of her fear. So, instead, Alignak laid down with her by a bright purple crystal. At this moment, both pups realized that they had slid into a cave; even the crystal maze was covered with dirt. For a moment, Alignak felt fear for himself, but he tried to remain calm for his cousin. 

Unknown to the pups, their mothers had woken up and were beginning to look for them. Luckily, Alignak’s steps were easy to follow. Siqiniq’s mother was wild with anxiety and angry with herself for falling asleep. She expected her sister to admonish her, but instead, she was very supportive.

“Sister, we’ll find them,” Alignak’s mother tried to calm her sister. It would be easier to find the pups if they searched calmly. 

“I-I can’t believe I fell asleep!” Siqiniq’s mother cried as they followed Alignak’s footprints. 

“It happens; we’ll find them, and they’ll be okay.” Ali’s mother reassured. 

Siqiniq’s mother looked at her sister with distressed eyes; her anxiety only worsened when they found the edge of the embankment the pups slid down. Alignak’s mother saw her sister spiraling. 

“Listen to me, sister, listen.” Ali’s mother roughly called for her sister’s attention, “look at the marks. They didn’t fall; they slid down.”

Siqiniq’s mother took a deep breath, understanding what her sister was telling her. 

Alignak could hear voices, but he couldn’t make out the words; he nudged his cousin and encouraged her to walk with him. They gingerly walked closer to the voices. They were both being very careful in case the voices belonged to dangerous reoseans. 

Much to everyone’s relief, when Alignak looked around one of the crystals, he spotted his mother’s tail. 

“Mom!” he called, but he didn’t race to her; he knew his cousin was too scared to follow. 

At the sound of his voice, his mother whipped around and ran to him, followed closely by Siqiniq’s mother. 

“Oh, Si!” Her mother sobbed with relief and apologized profusely. 

Once they were all reunited, the mothers looked around, spotting a section on the cliff that could be used as steps. The mothers looked at their pups with a relaxed smile, “Let’s get out of here.”

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