Zephyr's days were becoming repetitive in the best of ways. They were centered mainly around the newest members of his family, interspersed with the occasional flying patrol of the borders, the rare slaughter of a predator who'd snuck too close, and then back home for sleep and another early morning rise to tumble and play with the puppies.

On this morning he'd thought up a grand 'ol plan, one to help prepare the young minds and bodies for their paths forward as Knights should they choose to, or simply to assist them in being strong enough to learn some level of self defense when they were bigger. He'd not worry about sparring with any young wolf so soon nor putting a sword into their maw (that was dad's job) but Zephyr had been strength training on his own time since he was a hatchling. Such lessons had allowed him to learn stronger flight and to build endurance and speed - something any wolf could make the best of.

In the autumn-turned courtyard, he'd begun preparations early in the day. He had built a course that any pup could utilize, focusing on age-friendly aspects of training intermingled with a bit of fun, too. Now it was time to find a victim sibling, and Zephyr stood prepared outside the grand double doorway with the perfect lure - a fake mouse on a string, that he could pull to entice a puppy to chase, and steal the puppy for his plans and fun once they'd stepped out onto the patio.

"Zephyr"

There was so much to explore! His life had gone from the little room his parents had raised them in, to the whole castle! With so many winding places to explore. He wanted to see and do and stick his nose in anything. He wasn’t one to let anything like a little telling off put him off having fun.

As the scent of fresh air drew him towards the big entrance, something caught his eye. Kea frowned, looking out the door at the funny fluffy thing waving around on some sort of stick. Was it supposed to be some sort of rodent? Dad had brought something similar home for them to eat before. But the resemblance was so far off, that he wasn;t sure he had the right idea.

Curiosity piqued, he stepped right out the door and sniffed the mouse. Accidentally allowing himself to be caught in Zeph’s ‘clever’ trap.


"Speech"

His trap had been strung and out poked the head of a very confused and not very enthralled puppy. He did not seem to have much interest in enthusiastically propelling after the string-fed mouse toy, but he'd breached the threshold all the same. Sighing heavy, Zephyr put down the stick and gave the pup a short frown. "Well that was anticlimactic." However, that didn't mean the rest of his plan would fall as flat.

With a shrug of his oversized shoulders the bird carried onward, reaching one wing forward and scooping the young pup up beneath it's tip. He curved the wing and brought the puppy against his chest, holding him there and chattering to him excitedly while he walked. "I made something for you, I think you're gonna like it! How do you feel about becoming a great Knight and warrior? Or the future Aegis, like our Dad?" It was foolproof, what puppy didn't want to be a big strong fighter one day, especially with a sword-wielding warrior like Artorias to look up to? "Stick with me and you'll be the strongest pup of the litter, just you wait!"

Once they reached the obstacle course he placed the pup gently down, ending his ceaseless excited babbling and turning bright aqua eyes onto his little brother to judge his reaction. Scattered throughout the gardens were various stages of an obstacle course talon-crafted for the little one, and two 'lanes' for each competitor to race through it. It began with a long stretch of empty ground for sprinting - cardio was important - leading into a portion of thick brush and interspersed trunks, requiring the pup to duck under or climb over and around to pass through. Just past the brush were paving stones he'd stolen from the courtyard, placed strategically in fair puppy lengths apart to jump across without touching the ground. Around the paving stones he'd scattered bright orange leaves scavenged from the bases of the autumn-touched trees, signifying lava. Once past the agility portions, the pup (and bird) would need to push things across another open space. On Zephyr's side he'd found a large log, on Kea's the soccer ball he'd made from hide and compacted straw. Finally, the competitors would need to climb. Wooden boards had been leant against the solid garden barriers leading up and over, with pawholds of clay hardened every few inches up it's height. "What'dya think?" He chirped, clearly excited for the morning's activities.

"Zephyr"

Kea perked up when he realised the very familiar form of his weirdly-proportioned brother was on the other side of the string. He grinned at Zeph, though there was a little frown between his eyes. “What’s a climb-attack? And why is it anti?” he asked, looking up at the huge feathered wolf.

Kea let out an eep of surprise as he was suddenly scooped and carried. He took a breath and then started giggling. It was hard not to with Zeph. “that’s what I’m gonna be, that's me, that's me!” he agreed readily as his brother spoke of becoming a great knight/warrior/Aegis. “i’m sticking!” he promised, flattening himself against Zeph as much as he could.

When Zeph put him down, revealing what he’d ‘made’ Kea started in silence for a long, long moment. “...What is it?” he asked at last. Looking at the haphazardly placed stuff

"Speech"

At the pups question he laughed, but did not give in return a clear answer. In truth, Zephyr didn't know how to describe the word. Anticlimactic described itself! It was without climactic-ness! He'd need to remember to be more careful with his wording around puppies, and accept that they did not yet have the language skills they soon would.

Kea agreed with Zeph's assumption that he wanted to grow to be at least one of those mighty things and Zeph nodded his large head, proud. The new generation of Carpathius's would be many things and of them all, he was sure any pup who wished to learn combat would learn it and learn it well. That was the promise you were born into when you were gifted such an exceptionally capable family. Kea would grow to be whatever he chose to, and Zephyr as his big brother would support him forever in his goals. The compassionate avian would give his whole self to any of his little siblings in the same way, eager to see them meet their dreams.

Kea seemed awed, but confused by Zeph's contraptions. He looked to the course and then back at the boy, blinking. Was it not clear? Ah, then, he'd need to lead him through it. "It's a training course!" He emphasized, as if the pup should have already known (forgetting again that puppies did not know things, as a general rule.) "We're going to compete, you and me." Hopping forward, he gestured to the first leg of the race. "This part you'll run through as fast as you can, until you get to those bushes."

Shifting his gesturing wing further on, he motioned to the bushes in question. "There are sticks and logs hidden in the thicket there, so go carefully and make sure you don't hurt yourself. At that part you gotta climb or crawl or scurry, whatever gets you through." Hopping forward further (and dragging the pup along with one cupped wing) he showed the boy the next rung. "Then you see these stones, you can't touch the red leaves underneath, we're pretending that's lava." Catching the pup's likely confused expression, he elaborated. "That's really hot fire-like water, it'll eat you if you touch it in real life. So you gotta hop from stone to stone."

Moving on (and eager to get on with it) the bird continued. "Then you get to this ball, you have to push it and I have to push the log. You push it all the way to the barrier here, where there is wood up against the fence. Then you can stop pushing it and climb. First one to the other side of the fence wins!"

"Zephyr"

Kea wasn’t left puzzled for long. Zeph seemed happy to walk him through it. Explaining that it was a training course. Zeph had mentioned it would help him get stronger. Looking at it, Kea thought he could see how. There was so much to work into it. It would help his balance and speed, right? Practice made perfect, or something.

Zeph dragged him on. He seemed to like using his wings to get the pup where he wanted him. Kea didn’t let it bother him, however. He was far too excited to see what fun stuff Zeph had worked on for them to play in together.

“Lavas like fire, right?” He clarified as he looked at the red leaves. He knew fire of course, there were lots of points of fire in the Hallows. Like the central firepit! Zeph continued on, explaining that it was fire-like water. ??? alright then.

“Wow, that's a lot to do” he commented, looking at the course, to Zeph, and back to the course again. Well. only one thing for it. “Last one to the finish line has to do what the winner says!” he yipped, turning and running full speed back to the start of the line as if the race had already begun.


"Speech"

The pup agreed to the plan and without much argument, pleasing the bird who in turn puffed up his feathers pridefully. And then his new brother broke from him and ran, declaring the winner to get the other to do whatever he said, and cheating his way through to the beginning. Already Zeph had decided not to fly during this, and running was not his strong suit. Though his legs were long and strong, they could not compare to the strength of a wolf.

Zephyr gasped a small betrayed huff and took off running, wings held out behind him like it might make him faster in turn. He chased the pup to the beginning and onward toward the brush, but Kea proved speedy even with his tiny limbs and beat him to the checkpoint by a decent length. "Okay, now in the brush!" He counselled in case the pup forgot, sounding breathy and more then a little huffy that the pup had beat him already with his cheaty head start.

"Zephyr"

Head down, and racing as fast as he could, the little pup was still surprised to realise he had finished the racing part of the course first. Zeph called out to him, reminding him of the next stage, and Kea dived into the bush fearlessly. He could already feel things pulling at his fur as he zipped through as fast as he could. Bounding and ducking and weaving as needed. He was so little that he didn’t need to expend much energy evading the tricky parts of the bush, and before he knew it he was out the other side. Ahead, he was still ahead!

“Lava!” He yelled to Zeph helpfully, since the bird had reminded him what section was next earlier. He went hopping, hopping, hopping as he raced across this part of the section. Doing his best to avoid the red parts.


"Speech"

Once they'd reached the bush, Zeph was forced to slow. He was much larger than the pup was and not as thinly built to weave his way through the obstacles. He worked with his wings spread overhead, chest sucked in to make himself slimmer, and still his younger brother had come out ahead. Zeph was still stuck in the brush when he heard the boy call out a helpful yell of 'lava!'. He was going to catch that little black and blue butt! Wriggling hard to displace himself from the branches, Zeph broke free and half-climbed, half-fell out from the brush. Already the pup was scampering across the stones.

Zephyr had a benefit here that the little pup lacked - long legs and wings. His leaping across the stones (spread out for fair bird-lengths, not infant puppy lengths) were practically long strides, and with his wings outspread for balance it was his moment to catch up and peel slightly ahead. Victory! Zeph crossed the checkpoint with a grin on his beak, moving into the next - where each would push something across the spacious courtyard field. "Ball!" The bird called out 'helpfully', though it may have come across as slightly jeering, given the circumstances. Laughing joyously at his own retort along with the fun of the race, he shoved his shoulder against his log and began to heave it forward.

"Zephyr"

Kea was grinning like a mad man as he raced across the ‘lava’ course. His balance wasn’t the best and he had to slow a couple times and catch himself. It was here, out in the open that Zeph got ahead of him. He watched enviously as his feathered brother spread his wings and used them to help his balance.

He huffed and puffed as he raced to the last course, a few strides behind his brother. Zeph called out this course, and Kea grinned. Not hearing any of the jeering in the tone. He was having far too much fine. He shoved the ball with his shoulder and started to race, throwing it across the course with him as fast as he could


"Speech"