A gentle breeze was blowing, sending the fallen leaves, in swirls of color, through the grassy meadow. The breeze was still warm, summer not yet ready to let go of its' hold on the season. A leaf fell from a tree and slowly glided too the ground, only to be stopped short of its' goal by a blurry ball of blonde fur, snatching it from the air.
The puppy carried the leaf in his mouth, proudly displaying his prize to his playmate and brother. Nisas was a replica of his brother but was a deep, rich brown and slighty smaller in stature. Dion pranced teasingly close to Nisas, only to pull away when he got to close to snatch the leaf for himself. The names they had been given fit them perfectly. When they got into trouble, which was more often than not, the names ran together with Dion being the usual instigator, and Nisas following. It was no coincidence that the blending of the names was Dionisas, a close spelling to that of the god of chaos. It seemed to be their middle name. Chaos was a constant whenever they were around.
The two puppies were enjoying a day in the meadow with their masters. It was not good to coop the puppies up inside for too long. Alexander and Hephaestion had found this out several times the past few days and hoped the fresh air and exersize would wear them out a little. They were still very young and their training seemed, at times, to be going painfully slow, but the puppies were also very bright and very eager to learn. Their memories were short, but they would pick it up soon. That they were absoluetly adorable didn't help when they needed to be scolded. Big brown eyes and drooping ears made it very hard to stay angry for long, but they did tend to try the most patient of souls.
Hephaestion had given the pair to Alexander for his birthday the week before. It was one of the finest gifts Alexander had ever received, not counting his best gift of Hephaestion himself. In his mind, Hephaestion was a gift the gods had given him and nothing he received, after having Hephaestion come into his life, would ever compare.
Alexander and Hephaestion sat on the furs spread out on the ground and talked quietly, keeping a close eye on the puppies to keep them in sight and out of harms way. Dion and Nisas joined them and playfuly started playing tug of war with the furs. Hephaestion tried to distract them by throwing a small stick for them to chase. They immmediately took off running to see who could get to it first, tripping each other a long the way.
The two men laughed at the antics of their little charges, as they watched the chase ensue. Dion and Nisas arrived at the stick at about the same time, overrunning it because they could not stop in time. They rolled around in a big ball of blonde, then brown, then blonde, several times, before coming to a halt. They wrestled with each other for a while, forgetting all about the stick, pouncing and jumping on each other in mock combat. Finally, they rememered the stick and Nisas grabbed it and started back towards the men, with Dion in close pursuit. Nisas, running sideways, tripped over his own paws and went tumbling. He dropped the stick and it was promptly stolen away by Dion. They then continued their journey to the furs with Dion in the lead and Nisas giving chase.
All the while this was going on, the King and his Beloved General were laughing so hard they had tears streaming down their checks. It was such a joy to watch the pups, their sides and jaws began to hurt after a while.
Arriving back at the furs, finally, the pups stopped a few feet from Hephaestion, just out of reach. When Hephaestion would move closer, Dion would back away and squat down on his front paws with his little backside high in the air, tail wagging excitedly, never lessening his hold on the stick. It seemed the fetch part was being learned but the giving still needed work. Distracting the puppies with another stick, Alexander threw it out for them to chase and Dion dropped, the suddenly forgotten stick he had been guarding so closely, and raced Nisas to the next prize.
This game of fetch and not return continued for most of an hour, the men wondered if they would ever run out of energy. Finally they began to yawn, and on one last trip to fetch, they laid down where the stick had landed and feel asleep, their prize between them.
Smiling to each other, as proud parents with newborns finally down for a nap, Alexander and Hephaestion lay down on the furs to enjoy the quiet and peacefulness. Alexander thanked Hephaestion again, for the hundredth time, for his amazing gifts. He truly loved the puppies and was hopelessly charmed by them. The 'thanking' and 'your welcoming' continued to escalate to more intimiate mutterings and soon they were lost in their own world. Taking one last glance at the napping puppies, Alexander turned to devote all his attention to Hephaestion. Hephaestion didn't seem to mind.
The afternnon breeze lightly tickling their bodies, the two lovers were so caught up in each other that they didn't notice that chaos had awakened from their naps. The puppies glanced at their now naked masters, looked at each other, then both spotted the stick between them at the same time. Nisas was quicker and grabbed it in his mouth, running as fast his little legs would carry him away from Dion.
Not paying any attention to which direction they were headed, the puppies scampered towards the trees, away from their masters. A big log lay in their path and Nisas tried to get over it only to find himself caught dangling over the center with neither his front or hind paws touching the ground. Dion took this opportunity and stole the stick away from him and ran deeper into the trees. Nisas finally fell forward and dislogged himself, giving chase.
A squirrel started to scold them for intruding into his territory and the puppies stopped and sat down to listen to him for a while. They turned their heads to the right, and then the left, but could not make sense of what the squirrel was saying and finally lost interest in him altogether. A bird then appeared and flew close to them, but just out of reach. They jumped at her several times but she was too quick for them and they moved on with their stick.
A movement in the brush ahead of them caught their interested and suddenly a furry creature appeared. This black furry thing didn't seem to mind that they were there, she was ignoring them completely. The puppies decided that they needed to investigate this potential new friend more closely and dropped the stick and went to introduce themselves.
Try as they might, the puppies couldn't seem to get their new friends attention, so they got closer to her, both with their front paws on the ground and bottoms in the air, tags waggling wildly. Not only did she ignore them she turned her back on them. She lifted her tail and...
Suddenly both puppies felt the spray of something watery. The smell hit their noses and they pulled back and started to swipe at their noses and faces. The little black furry creature, with the white stiped on her back, strolled off back under the bush, leaving the two wondering what had just happened. They decided the odor wasn't all that bad and started to wrestle with each other again.
After a few minutes of this, the match being called even, they stopped to rest and catch their breath. Dion looked at the stick he had dropped and suddenly he remembered what he was supposed to do with it. Picking it up, he headed back out of the trees towards his two masters, still on the furs very close to one another.
Nisas followed closely, also eager to show his master that he too remembered not only to fetch, but this time they were going to give them the stick. They were going to be so proud that they finally recalled how it was supposed to be done.
The smell reached Alexander and Hephaestions' noses about the same time the puppies did. They had just enough time to jump up and start running, murruring a few choice oaths as they got to their feet, and continuing as they tried to outrun the puppies.
The puppies thought this was a new game and were very glad they had just taken a nice long nap, so they could play this game for a long time.