"You're still sleeping?" Dad woke me up.
Everyone had regrouped already and joined us where Mom, Lyara, and I ate. The sun was already high up, it really was late to be sleeping.
"We can, we're the closest to the den." Mom stretched and licked Dad's face, mischievously wagging her tail.
"Yeah, yeah..." He grunted, "You three." He turned to me, Janym, and Xerio, "You're coming with me. I need to remark the territory so I will show you the whole thing."
"Try to be back by the evening." Mom said.
"You think they can keep that pace? We'll try but tomorrow evening is more likely."
"They can try, it doesn't hurt to learn your limits." Mom said and after giving each of us one more kiss turned around and led my older siblings back to the densite.
"You heard your Mom, follow me and keep up the pace. Make sure you learn the surroundings while we're moving." Dad ordered and broke into a trot. All three of us followed.
***
Dad led us through the forest at a high pace, only occasionally slowing down to show us some intricacies in the landscape; deep narrow stream, large boulders rising from the ground, sudden and steep slopes. All that can be used to make hunting easier in some way.
Soon we arrived at the northwestern edge of Mom and Dad's territory situated in wetlands, there was a lot of moss on the ground, ponds dotting the land with trees far apart, and streams running between the ponds. There were weird structures made of logs and twigs in a few of the ponds and cutting off the streams. When asked Dad told me it was made by the beavers.
Dad remarked a tree, the old mark was still there, although faint.
"On the other side is the territory of a nice family. Don't worry if you make it into their territory by accident, as long as you are polite about it they won't fight you or chase you out. Neither I nor Anaji really care if they wander into our territory to hunt since they don't cause trouble. They settled there three winters ago." He explained.
"Why are they like that?" I asked.
"No idea, but it does work for them. Both Anaji and Dad offered to help them if someone caused them trouble. It's hard to get nice neighbors. The rest... Well, there's almost always a fight when we meet, not everyone is willing to settle for what they were able to get, having small territory does make it harder on your family." Dad grunted.
"Did you and Mom have issues with that?" Janym asked.
"No. With the location and the size, I think even if thirty people lived in our territory they could find enough food. And at worst, there is the river." Dad let out an amused grunt, but the sense of pride was clear in his speech. "Let's go."
***
Following the edge of the territory south Dad occasionally stopped to remark the trees or boulders that had his mark while answering all our questions. He was almost carefree for once. The wetlands were soon replaced by an old forest dominated by massive trees with a lot of space between them. The ground was covered in short grass and small flowers with the occasional bush in spots where the tree crowns didn't block out all the light. The tree bark was covered in lichen and the air didn't move here at all even though the treetops were swaying in the wind, filling the air with constant rustling which even overpowered the bird songs. It almost felt eerie to me.
"Dad? Whose territory is on the other side?" I asked.
"My parents', you don't need to worry, we won't be going to the more dangerous parts this time. Anaji will go there with us just in case. We share the edge from the edge of the wetlands to the southernmost part of the territory, that's all I need to remark today."
"Why do you..."
"Because it's the right thing. Even if neither side really cares about the other intruding, it's good to have the edge marked so everyone knows. It's for the people outside our families too, especially the wanderers."
"Wanderers?"
"People who don't live in a territory. Iala and Swerix are wanderers right now too."
"I understand, thanks."
"What? You're worried because of this place?" He asked.
"It feels very different from our densite," I admitted.
"You get used to it. A lot of deer like to stay here, it's open enough that they can spot us from far away and they have enough to graze on here. Look." He said and pointed at a pile of deer shit with his snout, I could smell it from a distance so it was still fresh. "Boars don't like it here though because all the roots are big and there's fruit here, nor are there nuts. If you get good at hunting, here is where you will have the most success."
***
The rest of the way was more comfortable, the old trees were soon replaced by young trees, and frequent clearings no larger than our densite. Dad always told us what prey we will find around the places he stopped and how to use the environment to sneak up on the prey or how to lead it to a more favorable position.
By the evening we finally arrived at the southernmost part of the territory. Behind us was a wall of bushes, and in front of us a large meadow. To the east the forest curved more south and looking straight I could make out the tips of the forest. All of that was still Fertam.
"The meadow is somewhat neutral." Dad yawned. "Everyone whose territory leads to the edge of the forest hunts there from time to time but there's rarely fighting there. All you have to do is run back to your territory and they will leave you alone, very few are stupid enough to intrude on someone else's territory in that situation."
"What's on the west side?" Xerio asked, looking over the endless waves of grass.
"Never been there, so I don't know. More grass probably, and if you go far enough then another forest most likely. Let's go sleep, I'll show you the rest of this side in the morning."