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Harley is seven, and he and Elspeth are hanging out in the Québec capital (because the rest of the Golden Coven is doing so), and as is usual in capitals with major wolf villages, she, he, and Jacob stay in village quarters during this time.
The capital as a whole moves less often than it once did, now that people can readily teleport to other sites to handle things there; this is the first time in Harley's life that they've been to Québec for anything other than a brief visit, so it's the first time he's seen the Imperial Alpha house in which Jacob, his imprint, and her fosterling are entitled to live.
They have neighbors. One of these is a seven-year-old puppy boy, who is currently making a snowfort.
her_imperial_radiance
Zeus grins at him, then disengages from hug and runs off to grab some snow, form a snowball, and hurl it directly at Harley's face.
Zeus has soon invented an elaborate backstory for their two-person war; apparently they are a marooned pirate (Harley) and a shipwrecked navy captain (Zeus) who are fighting for the limited supply of food on their desert island, with coconut projectiles.
Zeus has a colorful arsenal of suitable insults for naval captains to aim at pirates, and employs them all gleefully once Harley has adopted piraticality as a character trait.
Eventually Zeus's father comes home.
Zeus's father does this in wolf form (white with some faint gray markings), so it's a little more notable than it might otherwise be. In perfect accord with wolf village social norms, he unfloofs in the front yard to greet his son.
"Hi, Dad! This is Harley! He lives with the Princess! He's not her kid though! But she takes care of him and she does magic when he asks her and stuff! He's a human!"
Zeus's father does this in wolf form (white with some faint gray markings), so it's a little more notable than it might otherwise be. In perfect accord with wolf village social norms, he unfloofs in the front yard to greet his son.
"Hi, Dad! This is Harley! He lives with the Princess! He's not her kid though! But she takes care of him and she does magic when he asks her and stuff! He's a human!"
"Bartholomew," says Zeus's dad. "Or Barry if that's too much of a mouthful." He picks up Zeus. "You kids having fun?"
"He's a low-down filthy pirate and I have to throw coconuts at him, put me down!"
Bartholomew snorts, kisses his son's scalp, and sets him down to make and throw more snowballs. "You have a good time." And in he goes to the deceased dragon that is his house.
"He's a low-down filthy pirate and I have to throw coconuts at him, put me down!"
Bartholomew snorts, kisses his son's scalp, and sets him down to make and throw more snowballs. "You have a good time." And in he goes to the deceased dragon that is his house.
"You live in a dead dragon!" Harley yells after him, and goes back to merrily pelting Zeus with snowballs.
"We killed it for you you're welcome!" Zeus adds at the top of his lungs. Snowballs! An apocalypse of snowballs! Zeus eventually has the clever idea of seeking cover in his fort, where he manufactures a small stockpile and then peeps his head out of the skylight to throw from high ground.
Harley, who has climbed the snowfort in the interim, dumps an armload of snow over his head the moment it is visible.
"Pah!" Zeus is distracted by brushing snow out of his face, but then he escapes through one of the tunnels, his arsenal rolling out after him.
Harley triumphantly smashes the top of the fort so that parts of it crumble onto Zeus as he emerges.
"My KINGDOOOOM," howls Zeus theatrically, and he pelts Harley with his accumulated snowballs ever more fiercely.
Eventually the fort is snowy rubble, the snow houses have been trampled, and Zeus is exhausted.
"Let's go have cocoa!" he suggests brightly.
"Let's go have cocoa!" he suggests brightly.
Into the dead dragon they go. "Dad, Dad," says Zeus, wrestling his boots off, "Dad we want cocoa!"
"Do you really!"
"Please!"
"All right. Cocoa coming right up," says Bartholomew.
"Do you really!"
"Please!"
"All right. Cocoa coming right up," says Bartholomew.
Harley beams and follows him inside, getting snow all over the entryway as he divests himself of his winter gear but mostly managing not to spread it through the rest of the house.
When they are in the kitchen they are presented with large mugs of cocoa, each with large marshmallows slowly dissolving.
Zeus drinks his too fast at first and says "ow" and then sips more slowly.
Zeus drinks his too fast at first and says "ow" and then sips more slowly.