She doesn't really know exactly why she's decided to take on this challenge. Maven had awoken early, as she seemed so wont to do, and after a short while spent squirming around in an attempt to find a comfortable position around the stray limbs poking her stomach within a den that had grown smaller with the passage of time, the abyss girl had dragged herself out into the cold morning air with a resigned huff. She'd sat at the threshold for a moment, blinking the sleep from her mismatched ruby eyes as they slowly adjusted to the first streaks of light beginning to illuminate the far horizon. A stray spark of light had caught upon the Summit's peak, lighting it up with a beautiful glow of orange, and it was in that moment that Maven suddenly decided.

She wanted to see what everything would look like, if she were to stand at the mountain's highest point.

She wanted to prove to herself that she could make it there.

Of course, if it had been Alastor or Merveille or even @Nero who had decided to make the climb, the watchful girl would've fretted endlessly. But since it's just her, well...she knows how to be careful. Obviously! Hence why she is now 'carefully' draped across a ledge barely a third of the way up the steep, winding trail she had sniffed out, her small chest heaving with the exertion of her panting breaths. Even after so many months spent unconsciously toughening her paws on the cold, mountain stone and building her resistance to the cold, this whole mountain-climbing business is still far, far harder than it looks.

She's sprawled out on her back, dark legs sticking straight up in the air while her red eyes idly studied the horizon, watching as the first sliver of the sun began to rise above it, bathing the clearing below in all sorts of pretty colors and shadows. She's not quite high enough yet to see her family's den from here, though she knows precisely where it is, just like she knows the back of her own paw.

The thought of returning to its warm comfort is very tempting. But that too, would require her to get back onto her tired feet.

Ugh.

+5 Study the natural world
+5 Practice the skills of another trade (Map out a trail)
+5 Exercise to gain endurance_{BG — ART — CODE}

His children are almost a year old now. They have been reunited with their mother for as long as she had been missing, and he felt a bit foolish for thinking things were falling into place. Nero himself has never been happier and does his best to dote on his wife, picking her flowers and spending quality time and overall just.. being his authentic self around her. He hasn't seen Nazonal in a week or so and has made every effort to lavish Ghyslaine with love, but he doesn't know if it's working at all. The only thing that's truly changed is that Nero has finally stopped pretending he doesn't love someone else, too, but sometimes it feels like there's miles between him and his mate. He doesn't know how to fix it beyond how he's already trying, so he feels.. satisfied, for now. It's just a matter of time before things blow up in his face again, he's sure, but for now things are okay. He thinks. Nero is hot on the trail of his daughter for now, though. Well, 'hot on the trail' isn't exactly accurate considering he's staying entirely out of sight. He has every confidence his daughter will successfully scale the mountainside but also every confidence his paternal instincts will not allow her to go unwatched. He hangs back, trying to make himself nearly invisible and simply guards her from afar. Even when she flops onto the ground, exhausted, Nero hangs back for a while just to see how she'll handle things. When it's obvious she needs some encouragement, he backtracks down the path a ways before mussing up his mane and acting a bit winded - you know, like he was just casually at the same place at the same time. He huffs and puffs as he comes around the bend and startles at the sight of her: "Ava! Are you alright?" Nero trots to her side, panting, and cocks his head as he studies her. Super casual. @Maven

Perhaps Maven's growing tolerance and curiosity in such stressful things like 'challenge' and 'adventure' could be attributed to her mother's return, and the perceived security that a family reunited (One certain albino sister aside) brought to the youth's state of mind. The worry lingering in the back of her mind no longer casts that subtle pall over everything, allowing her more energy to pour into little novelties.

...Like climbing up a mountain peak, apparently.

A long breath whooshes past Maven's lips as she exasperatedly lets the dark crown of her head drop all the way to the cold ground with a 'thunk' that sends a jolt up her spine and pulls a muttered "ow," from her lips. Real encouraging, that.

However, the shadow is not often without a shadow of her own, as it turns out. The young girl had been far too preoccupied to notice @Nero tailing her, not until the exaggerated sound of his huffing and puffing reached her ears. She's quick to roll onto her belly as he emerges around the bend, crisscrossing her front paws in an aggressively casual pose while clamping her jaws to quiet her heavy breathing, a dramatic shiver rolling through her abyssal pelt in an attempt to flick away the stray flecks of snow.

When she registers precisely who was approaching, however, the stiff and, frankly unnatural, attempt at elegance would relax.

At least they'd both been startled?

I'm alright, Dad. She tilts her chin upwards with a reassuring smile, though her brows are quick to furrow as she considers his panting. But are you okay? She reaches over to tug a tuft of his mane lightly between her teeth, encouraging him to take a seat too. Y'know. Before he keeled off the cliff and flattened the Queen's den or something. She's tired of injured parents. Er, I was curious to see what the sunrise would look like from higher up. Pretty, right? She offers eventually with a vague gesture, hesitant to admit that she hadn't yet fulfilled her real goal. ...What do you think it looks like from the very top?

But maybe not hesitant enough._{BG — ART — CODE}