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Although Murtagh’s first reaction about warmer weather had been hesitant at best, he quickly learned that a world without snow provided him with plenty of new opportunities for fun. SO much had been uncovered when the snow melted, and now he was delighted to watch how they were covered back again. Only, this time, the underbrush was concealed by bright green leaves. He had been given some lessons on what to avoid, special emphasis put on the important task of asking one of his parents before eating a new plant or berry.

The temptation was certainly there, however, to see how dangerous those bright red berries were.

He didn’t, though. At least not yet.

Mama, the funny grizzly bodyguard that doubled as his Papa’s companion, was his company once more as he set out to explore. He was wary about going too far but this place didn’t seem so bad. He wasn’t being pushed and prodded somewhere else by the bear which was a sure sign that Eytan approved of the location.

Only a moment of hesitation was given before he dived right in: speed-exploring in his excitement. There was too much to see to keep at a slower pace! He quickly learned that much of the meadow was covered in prickly plants that he should avoid and so he spent more time around the oaks, sniffing about and chasing whatever small animals he could find - occasionally reporting his discoveries in rushed, breathless tales to the bear before zooming off again.

He was exploring in the shallows of a stream when he looked down and noticed that on one of his legs there was a mass of, brown, prickly-looking balls. “Mama!!” He shouted, more out of astonishment than pain. The burs did not hurt by they were an aggravation. He reached his muzzle down to try and knock them off of his leg but they just transferred to his muzzle instead - so that when he raised his head there was a mass of burs right at the tip of his nose. Now it did hurt the tender flesh there and he shook his head violently to get rid of them - the mass whipping off to the side.

Only then did he look back down and see that his legs were covered - even his small tail was matted with the sticky burs. He frowned angrily at them, spinning in a circle to survey the damage, but quite at a loss on how to get them off.

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Maybe the bear had been coming over to help but whatever the intentions were they were interrupted by a mare. Murtagh was surprised to see that she seemed to recognize Mama and that he recognized her - running right at her and doing all the affectionate stuff that he normally did with Murtagh. Who was this girl? Why was she stealing his Mama??

The burs were completely forgotten as he watched with a dumb expression as bear and mare rolled around and greeted one another like old friends. He was going to interrupt but she seemed to remember that he was standing there because this complete stranger asked him the most ridiculous question. As if he had stolen the bear off someone! Without his Papa here, though, Murtagh was going to have to fight this battle on his own.

“Your momma?” He repeated, not really believing it, and he stared at Eytan with foal-sized fury. He felt betrayed, that his first friend showed such obvious affection for someone else, while he stood in the stream - bur-covered and lost. He climbed out of the water now to at least remove one of those sad states from the equation, confusing turning his expression into a scowl. “That’s my Papa’s bear.” He corrected, no real force behind his anger because he was powerfully curious too. As soon as he said it he remembered that Papa wasn’t really a papa the way everyone else seemed used the term. So his Papa was this mare’s Momma? But Eytan was his Mama.

Family sure was confusing. The frown was deepening in Murtagh’s lavender eyes as he tried to sort it all out, expertly missing the simple truth - that he was standing before his sister.

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Okay so what, this random mare just happened to have a mama with a bear with the same name as one of his parents? This seemed a little fishy to Murtagh, who continued to frown at her - this pretender with his bear. That was definitely Eytan, it was the first face that he had seen when he had been born - though the memory was fuzzy, it was a story that his mothers found to be worthy of bringing up every now and then. He had a bond with that bear, certainly not as strong as it would be if it was his own companion, but he was a trusted member of the family! Why else would he be allowed out of the Falls with him?

Nothing that she was saying was making any sort of sense and he didn’t like it. He had other problems to deal with, like the burs that were still covering his legs and that were probably matted into his tail. Bigger problems than whatever was going on right now with the bear.

But before he could argue further, Eytan was doing what he should have done all along and came over to the colt - but it was to… push him? He almost lost his balance, not expecting the shove, but stumbled forward. “What?? Gosh, Mama, why are you being so weird?” Murtagh resisted at first, or tried to, but the grizzly was more than strong enough to get him moving, burs and all, toward the mare.

And then Eytan was sitting there, motioning at this stranger to… do what? Murtagh’s frown deepened and he stared alternately at the two of them until finally one of them actually spoke to him. Asking who his Papa was. “Ktulu.” Murtagh stated proudly… and as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. As if anyone else could ever be his Papa!

“Who's your mama?” He retorted, wondering just how long they were going to argue about this.

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So the mare started acting real funny, as though Murtagh had said something shocking. At first he just thought she was overcome by awe - his Papa was a pretty impressive warrior, so Murtagh wasn’t surprise. Maybe knowledge of her feats had spread right across Helovia so that this mare, who had been trying to steal Eytan, finally realized who she was messing with!

He wasn’t connecting the dots on his own, you see, so it wasn’t until what the mare actually sputtered it out that he caught on. “A SISTER?!” Rather than shock, his exclaim was sheer delight - he even spun around in a quick circle, bucking a little before settling down again. Murtagh wanted a sibling ever since he discovered that siblings were a thing, how great would that be? Not that he didn’t mind being followed around by a bear, of course, but siblings were something holy, something special, and he envied those that had them. He eagerly accepted this new knowledge as undisputable fact and from this moment onward, Ranjiri would always be ‘sis’ even if it turned out that this was all a mix up. He still called Eytan ‘Mama’ after all, didn’t he?

Now he’s being asked about who his other parent was but that question didn’t make any sense. Who else would have made a baby with Ktulu? No one else. To him, his mothers had been mates ever since he was born so it made sense that they had always been mates. “Lakota’s my mammina. Isn’t she yours too?” Surely Lakota would have told him that he had a sister but where did those wings come from. It was a question that he ended up speaking out loud right in the same moment that he was thinking it. “How come if you’re my sister you’ve got wings?” That didn’t seem entirely fair, he thought, and he grew a little pout at the thought. But then another question chased that one right out of his head. “Do you have a bear too?! Everyone has a bear, I’ve been looking for my own cub but Papa says I gotta be patient.” Like that was ever going to happen.