Success! Beorn hauled the little fish out of the water. Its flopping was distressing so with a panicked squeal he fell on it and did his best to kill it quickly. It was icky, sad work but it needed to be done. After the fish was dead he breathed a sigh of relief. That was the worst part. But now he could celebrate! He had a fish!

Beorn looked down at it proudly. He couldn't wait to show Pop! Oh, and dad. The hooks belonged to him anyway. They'd both be so proud. The little fish wasn't exactly dinner material, but it was something! A light snack, maybe. Anyway, whatever it was, he was super proud of it.

A squeaking off to the side pulled Beorn's attention away from the fish. The creature peeping up at him was short, brown and fluffy, and had the biggest, saddest puppy eyes Beorn had ever seen. "Oh hello there!" It snuffed at the air, its attention on the fish, and Beorn's heart went out to it. "I'm sorry, I can't share, I have to show my Pop- hey!" In talking to the one otter Beorn had motioned to the fish at just the right moment - just in time to catch two other otters stealing it. One held the little prize in its jaws while the other finished chewing through the line. "Give it back, I need it!"


"Speech"

She didn’t want to say they were stuck, if she said they were stuck pops would come out of nowhere and correct her, telling her they were not stuck. They’d been here for a good long while now and Ao was beginning to think they were actually stuck. The girl was not fussed by the development, she didn’t have anywhere to be.

Aoede had seen her biggest brother go off on his own, naturally drawn to his sweeter nature Ao followed after him curiously. She was always up for an adventure. Midnight paws carried her through the long grass to reveal the bank of the river where Beorn was fishing..? Well he had been fishing now it looked like he was about to tango with a pair of otters. No, there were three! A crowd of otters!

While the otters were occupied she snuck in closer, somehow avoiding being seen by the decoy otter. The girl reached down, with her sharpened baby fangs, and grabbed the offending otter’s tail. With a surprised squeak it dropped the fish out of its mouth, but this was still two against three.

"Aoede Regni"

Aoede jumped in to save the day; successfully sneaking up on the fish-holding otter and startling the fish out of its mouth. A frantic Beorn fell on the still flopping fish only to have it squeak out of his paws and into the jaws of the line-chewing otter, who turned and began to take bounding, weasel-y leaps away. "No, no, no!" Beorn cried as he started after it only to nearly leap out of his skin as the decoy otter grabbed him by the tail. He yelped and spun fast enough to catch the decoy otter off guard. Before the little thief could let go he was yanked off his feet and slung halfway around Beorn. Beorn, more or less chasing his tail now, found himself face to butt with a flat-footed otter. He didn't want to hurt it but fair was fair so he grabbed it by the tail and drug it backwards.

The otter with the fish was right there but getting away, and in Beorn's little brain the loss of the fish was worse than getting chewed to pieces by the otter at his paws. So in a panic he clamored over the otter he was grappling and leaped for the one with the fish. "Ao he has the fish!" The same scenario played out again almost blow for blow as the once decoy, now trampled-upon, otter grabbed Beorn by the tail to stop him from chasing the fish-carrying otter. Beorn, startled again, slung the beast around, grabbed him by the tail, and then stumbled over him in pursuit of the fish. "We can't let him get away!"

"Speech"

Ao pounced and her brother’s fish was dropped in surprise. She smirked at her success, but it was short lived. As Beorn leapt towards his well earned price another of the group of otters snatched the fish right out of his grasp. Beorn lamented loudly and cried out as the third otter mirrored the pups action and took her brother’s tail to frighten the fish away from him. Aoede was quite taken aback with the intelligence of the river creatures.

The girl was forced to stillness as she watched, captivated, as Beorn circled himself with the otter firmly attached to its tail. Had she been a less serious pup, or perhaps not of Ballad’s blood, the girl would have laughed at such a sight. As it was her brows furrowed and she felt a renewed sense of determination. No one, especially not a stupid otter, had the right to make her brother look like a fool.

Her stunned stance was broken when Beorn called out her name and sicked her on the otter with the fish, the same one that was about to escape out of sight into the brush. Golden eyes widened in surprise but Ao took only a second to leap into action. Delicate black paws carried her past her brother and onto the otter’s trail. Which could move just as fast as a young puppy, well a young puppy that wasn’t Aoede. Who may have been the smallest of Jupiter’s offspring but she was the fastest.

"I’ve got him!” She assured her brother as her starlight form raced through the tall grasses after the perpetrator. Ao tried to stay between it and the river, so at least it couldn’t make off into the water where they would never get the fish back.

"Aoede Regni"