Number of the Pup: 1
Name: Nairi Gender: Female
Nairi is an ancient Armenian name meaning land of canyon or rivers. She is so named for the serpentine blue marking that runs down her sides which reminds me of a river dividing two planes of color.
Why would you like to adopt it?
I just recently stumbled upon WOI when the new RP opened up. I happened to see the thread and clicked on it and was immediately impressed and wanted to join. But lo and behold, only people who own an WOI can join! Thus, when I saw this thread and that there were puppies for adoption, I just had to have one. Puppy #1 or Nairi as I would like to call her, just speaks to me for some reason. The blend of colors and her gentle warm eyes are absolutely beautiful! I am also quite fond of the ideas of yin and yang and the marking on her shoulder reminds me of that as well.
Art:Nairi With Armor

Nairi Without Armor

I must admit, replicating her beautiful markings was quite the challenge!
Write a short story for it:
Nairi awoke, warm and comfortable, snuggled between her still sleeping brothers. She yawns and gets up, struggling her way out of the puppy pile so that she can stretch her legs. Squinting in the dimness of her red-rock den, her tiny nose twitches as she scents the air.
Humm, where's mum? Did I sleep that late? Nairi thinks, not seeing Tira anywhere in their comfortable little home. Her orange eyes glitter with worry for a moment, before she remembers what day it is. Now bubbling with excitement, she bounds over to her brothers, nipping at a tan-furred ear and rolling the other one over exposing a sable colored belly. "Wake up! Wake up!" She barks, her voice dripping with anticipation, but her brothers are slow to get up and her patience runs out.
Ug, how can they sleep like that when today is the first day we get to go down to the falls? Mum even said that if we get up early enough, she would take us to see the canyon! She thinks, pausing for a moment to scratch behind one ebon ear with her back paw.
Whatever that is anyway... Seeing that neither of her lazy brothers have gotten up yet, she lets out a little wuff of frustration and then yips over to them. "Well, you guys can sleep all 'ya want, I'm going out to find Mom!" With that, Nairi leaps up the red earthen entrance to their den and out into the early morning sunlight that has just begun to wink past the snow capped mountain tops.
There are other Warriors here, going about their business or just sitting and chatting, waiting for the coming sun. Behind her, the redish mountains rise up into the sky, still shading the dens and the plains of cool blue grass waving beyond. Nairi takes in a deep breath, smelling the mist of morning that will soon give way to a nice sunny summer day. Tira is nowhere to be seen and the little pup takes a few more tentative steps away from the den before she spots Odisseu. "Father!" Nairi calls out, happy to see him. It is not often that she has the pleasure of being with Dad, as he is often out hunting and helping to provide for their pack. None the less though, Odisseu is by far Nairi's favorite wolf. In her young eyes, he is the strongest, fastest, smartest and kindest wolf who ever lived. The one that Nairi hopes above all else to be like when she grows up. Tail wagging like a leaf caught in a thunderstorm, Nairi bounds over to Odisseu and looks up at him, beaming. He smiles back and reaches down, giving her a lick on the top of the head. "Good morning Nairi. Are you ready to go? Your mom has gone ahead to find a good path down the rocks, so I'll lead us all down to the falls today." Odisseu says in his lovely baritone voice, then looks behind her, back at the den. "What have you done with your brothers?" He asks with a little chuckle. Just as Nairi opens her mouth to answer, she is suddenly bowled over by her little tan brother. The pups roll between their father's legs and tussle for a moment before Odisseu sticks his nose between them, breaking up their play. "Alright now, save your strength." He says, smiling again. "You'll need it on the way back. It's always harder climbing back up than it is getting down." With that, Odisseu scoops up the sable pup who has only just emerged, giving him a free ride for a few moments as the little family sets of down the trail towards the waterfall.
Nairi follows, running full speed to keep up with her father's gentle loping gate. She is completely content to be going anywhere with Odisseu, no matter how fast her little legs have to move to keep up. It is not long before they pass out of the familiar hollow that makes up their pack's camp and out into the unknown world. Tira had told her many things about what lays beyond camp, especially the waterfall.
I can't wait to see it! Nairi thought as she scrambled over yet another red boulder and through a bush whose blue leaves left her fur scented with mint.
Mom says it is more water than I have ever seen, all crashing down into the earth and out to the plains. It is not long before Odisseu stops, his nose to the ground. Curious, Nairi runs up with her brothers and they all imitate him, sniffing the ground. Odisseu looks down at his children, letting them work at it for a moment before asking: "So, can you tell which way mother went? We need to follow her." Excited by the test, Nairi puts her nose back down to the ground and spins in a circle, trying to get her bearings, but her sable brother already has the scent and pips up. "This way! She went down between the standing stones!" He says, and Odisseu nods, "That's right! Now you three lead the way, and I'll follow. Just be careful!"
Only a little bit disappointed that she wasn't the first to pick up the trail, Nairi hops down the rocks with her brothers, looking back occasionally to see that her father is still following. It is a difficult trail with many rocks and difficult jumps from one side to the other. Especially for pups with short little legs, but when you have endless amounts of energy and the excitement of something new to drive you onward, the trip seems much shorter. Suddenly, Nairi comes up short, a sound has begun to fill the air, a roar like a wolf the size of a mountain snarling just beyond the next bend. Her ears wilt back to the sides of her head and she stares wide eyed at the next turn as her brothers eagerly continue on and disappear. A short little whine of indecision and fear escapes her lips just as Odisseu catches up to her. "Come on Nairi, it's not far now. Do you hear that? That noise is the falling water!" He says as Nairi stares up at him in wonder before scrambling after her siblings. She hops up and over one last rock and climbs out of the little boulder field they had traveled down and nearly walks into the backside of her tan sibling. She looks up, the noise is deafening now but she hardly even notices as her mouth goes slack. Just ahead of her is an enormous wall of water, crashing down from the mountains, foaming and frothing with flotsam and smashing itself to mist on merciless red rocks. It is only after several minutes of staring that she notices her mother, standing over by the water and dwarfed by the enormous falls. Smiling at her pup's amazement, her tail wags in welcome.
After finally overcoming their amazement, the pups look at each other, grinning, then bolt off into the valley. They play for what seems like hours, tussling in the soft moss that grows where the mists fall to the earth at the base of the waterfall. They bound through the cold waters and wade into the surprisingly calm backwaters only a few hundred feet from the crashing falls. Nairi soon discovers a slimy green creature that would hop away from her nose every time she tried to sniff it. It's peculiar movement perked up her hunter's instinct and she had only just begun to stalk it, slinking low into the reeds near the river's edge, when her mother padded up silently next to her. "Nairi, your father told me that you were the first one up today." She says, in a soft voice. Nairi looks up to her and nods, her prey splashing into the water in escape. "Good." Tira says, a little smile forming on her face. "Come with me then, I have something special to show my pups and I want you to be the first to see it." Nairi nods and follows as her mother leads her away, her fine hunters paws only making a whisper of noise as they walk out of the reeds and follow the river down stream.
Tira leads Nairi downstream for quite a ways and soon the rocks from the mountain begin to recede and are instead replaced with blue grass, that ripples with silver as the wind blows it flat. Nairi pauses to nibble some soft blue-green shoots, savoring the strange bitter-sweet taste of it, before running off to catch up with her mother. As they travel, the grass becomes thicker and the land flatter and flatter until they pass out of the little valley and out into the open plains. For quite awhile, Nairi just stands and stares at the sights around her, the huge vastness of sky above her and the never ending ocean of grass makes the little black pup feel very small indeed. Tiria presses onwards, leaving the pup to catch up once again after her amazement passes. She eventually stops at a point where it seems the river disappears behind a little hill, Tiria stands on top of it, silhouetted against the sky and looking down the other side. When Nairi finally catches up, she can hardly believe the vista that awaits her. At his place, the river disappears over the edge of another vertical cliff and crashes down into an enormous gouge in the earth. Growing up on the mountainside, Nairi is thankfully saved from the vertigo that claims many who look into such a sudden impossibly vertical landscape but is wonder-struck none the less. The rocks walls of the canyon fall down out of the plains, their striped vastness narrowing as they descend until there is room only for the river and it's winding course at the bottom. Looking into the distance, she can see spires and strange arches of rock rising up from the river, some large enough to nearly bridge the gorge's walls.
The awestruck pup looks up at her mother and asks "Momma, who made this? Is it to keep the river from escaping?" Tiria chuckles and lays down in the grass to be closer to her pup. "No Nairi, the river made this canyon." Nairi blinks, confused at how the water that is falling into this hole could possibly be the one who created it. "But... How can that be? How could water dig such a deep hole? Isn't the rock stronger than the water?" She asks, full of questions. Tiria looks down at her child and gives her a nudge with her nose. "Persistence, my dear Nairi." She says, looking at the pup who now sits looking back at her expectantly, her head tilted slightly to the left. "Water may not seem like much, but over time it wears away at the rocks, breaking them down to sand that it can wash away. Through its constant flow, it was able to carve all of this out of the rock." She pauses for a moment to look back at the gorge before continuing. "Nairi, do you remember how I told you that your name means river?" "Yes!" Nairi barks, "You said you named me that because of the blue lines on my sides." Tiria nods, "That's right. Now Nairi, I want you to remember, that you can be like this river. That there is nothing you can't do or overcome with persistence. No matter how strong your enemy is, Nairi, you can always overcome them as long as you stay true to yourself." She finishes, and licks Nairi on the face. Nairi blinks, not quite certain what to think of all this yet, but feeling pretty proud to be named after something so strong as the river that cut the canyon before her. When Tiria stands up, looking back the way they had come, Nairi looks back over her shoulder to see Odisseu and her brothers heading towards them through the tall grass. She jumps up and runs towards them, thinking:
Lookout boys! Here I come and there's nothing you can do to stop me!