Naiche had taken Pan to a tree the pangolin had pointed up to and then left him for his own entertainment.  The idea had been for Pan and him to practice Pan’s current best form of attack then let him eat.  However, Naiche had gotten the scent of someone he hadn’t expected to find on the path.  Asla had passed through the area.   Naiche had been thinking of asking her for a favor but he hated the idea of asking Asla for a favor.  Truly though they had worked well as a team against the lion, despite the fact they nearly got themselves killed.  It made sense she might be a good instructor then in learning how to hunt with another wolf in sync.   “Enjoy your meal Pan.  I’ll be back later.”  Naiche left his little friend and would make his way to find Asla.  For how little he knew of hunting in groups Naiche was quite good at tracking a scent down.  The tree’s made an interesting map of seeing at a distance in one spot yet areas you could see very little and even easier to miss seeing someone who hid within the willow tree’s curtain. On spotting Asla he would slow his approach, dipping a nod and stopping once conversation would require calling out.  His lack of surprise and clear intent to reach her that he had actually been searching for her.  “I hadn’t expected to see you here until I caught your scent.”  A neutral greeting to see what tone the conversation would take, with Asla and after their last meeting, he imagined it could go many ways. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

There had been a lot on Aslas mind as of late. Her parents replacing her with a new litter. Her split with Indigo. The competition. The fact that she didn't really hate Naiche anymore. For now, at least. She didn't remember much of her drunken night, but she did remember that he had carried her. Then she woke up beside him in the morning . Asla had crept back to her den before the yellow wolf woke to save them both embarrassment.

Funny how the object of her thoughts happened to appear. Naiches golden form approached and his words were civil. Hmm. Their conversation must have gone better than she'd remembered. Asla had been laying at the edge of one of the many streams. Her toes dangled in the water as it swept gently past. There was nothing on her agenda for today, so she simply planned to relax and soak up some sun. The warm, golden light filtered down through the leaves, dappling Aslas striped pelt with its glow.

"I do frequent this place." She motioned to one of the larger, more sprawling trees behind them. "There's a spot in that tree where I nap sometimes." Mindless talk. Niceties. What did he want with her? If he was going to bring up the other night... well she didn't want to talk about that. Ugh, what if he'd fallen in love with her? Not that she could blame him, but he said he didn't even like her as a friend. How could he possibly like her enough to fall in love with her? Purple eyes blinked and she refused to let her thoughts bleed into her features. Instead she just stared at him, waiting to see what he wanted.

Asking Asla for help was painful, like a splinter in the paw.  He still didn’t particularly care for spending time around her much less asking her for anything.  She was being polite back for now so maybe things would remain civil.   So maybe there was that 5 or so extra seconds of silence before he spoke, “I wanted help in learning better how to hunt prey with others.  When I hunt I’ve kept to alone with smaller prey.  I’ve only ever been in one successful group hunt, and a separate that went – bad.” Short summary of the last one, ok very short. Naiche did and didn’t want to do this.  He wanted to improve more of his skills to be of use in any way the pack might need him.  Naiche didn’t want to be some ignorant idiot of normal pack functions.  Like a scared pup he didn’t want to face the fear of another death happening in a hunting trip.  Naiche was growing older and he needed to get past such fears.  His sister has screwed up, that didn’t mean he would and if Asla and him had managed a lion together then how much harder could a prey animal be? Speech:"Live to fight" Think

Relief spread through her as he made his request. Thank the gods that he wasn't confessing his love for her. She couldn't take that today. No doubt it would come eventually, but not today. He was asking for her help though and that was rather surprising. Asla couldn't help but rib him a bit. "Couldn't wait to spend more time with me, eh?" A sweet little grin formed and she tilted her head ever so slightly.

"So you want to learn to hunt? You came to the right place. I'm a pro." She really was good at stealth and at killing. Aslatiel had been practicing stealth since she was a young pup. Her first kill had happened when she was barely old enough to leave the den. Granted, it had been a chicken, but still. It had spurred her love for taking lives.

Rising from her place and shaking off her damp toes, Asla turned into all business. "There are some wild pigs that keep stinking up the place. Makes it hard to sleep in the trees with so many pigs around. Magnus and I killed one. You and I should kill some more." She didn't ask if he agreed. He had asked for help and this was the plan. All of the pigs so far had been small. Smaller then she was. There shouldn't be a problem.

The ribbing scored the mark as she got the classic dirty look he of irritation ears pulled slightly back and a sort of glower in those eyes.  He opened his mouth to make some biting comments but snapped it shut.  He had just asked her for help so now wasn’t the best time to snap at her.  She was bound to rib him more in between kills and he would get plenty of time at the end to share his opinion.  For now, the glower would suffice.  Unless she kept it up. Naiche had been imagining deer and other things but while he could catch small game it frequently took several chances and the smarter game was good at getting away.  Perhaps also it was start on smaller then build his way up?  Oh crap more lessons with her.  He never had tried hunting wild pigs anyway. “Alright,”  Naiche’s nose sniffed at the air for them.  It was the one thing he could do well for a hunt already, tracking.  “So, princess, where do we start?”  She never said it before but apparently she didn’t care for the title, that much he could toss in as a return for her earlier comment.  He also assumed step one was just finding them but he'd wait to see if there was more she wanted to add on the what-to-do list. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

His annoyance was just what she wanted. It pleased her and the young lady couldn't help but smile sweetly. This was their relationship together. He annoyed her. She annoyed him. Usually she annoyed him more, but that was beside the point. It was an easy relationship, to say the least. Whereas Naiche was terrible with fighting in groups, Asla was pretty good at it. She had killed very, very large prey in groups. Most recently, she had worked in a group of four to kill elk and moose. Teaching cooperative hunting was definitely right up her alley. Teaching Naiche would be terribly amusing to boot. She liked that he admitted to his faults. It made her superiority all the more obvious. When asked where they would start, Asla beamed, teeth flashing. "We have to find them first, Golden Boy." That was one thing that she remembered from her drunken night. She had given him a new nickname. His 'Princess' didn't even make an impact. Instead she turned and began to move away from the stream. "Pigs are smarter than you might think. Their sense of smell is keen. We have to stay downwind, which is... rather unpleasant for us." Pigs stank horribly. There was no disputing that. Nose to the air, Aslatiel began their hunt. "Speech"

Naiche ignored her smile, he would work at ignoring her game of attempting to annoy him and not taking the bait.  It was an irritation in itself to play nice but the request for help was his idea.  It was going to be a useful lesson but one he’d pay for with Asla entertaining herself most likely. Golden boy?  She was going to keep to that?  Being Asla there were many worse things she could call him.  It would be irritating for another to call him that, but with Asla it was about as nice as she’d get and he’d already learned some tolerance was just required when near her. Naiche was fine with smelling things but as he had been more interested in exploring and learning the area he hadn’t bothered trying to hide his presence much.  Nodding to her he followed along, focusing on paying attention to where he walked more in position to the wind. “got it. How many are there normally in a group?”   As they moved and he started picking up their scent he found himself resisting an impulse to move forward at his normal pace and pay attention.  Naiche was all about rushing into fights and apparently, he wanted hunts to be the same.  His muscles twitched but regardless of what his body might want Naiche was focused and staying in control of himself.  Apparently focusing only on the job would be easy enough, it would take all of his focus so no time to worry about minor details.  As the smell got stronger his tail would slowly sweep behind him.  This meat would taste better than any he’d had in a while.  Hard gained food was always the best food. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

The closer that they got to the pigs, the more serious and business-like Asla became. This was work. Hunting was something that she was serious about and so it would take all of her concentration. Naiche's question brought an ear flicking towards him. "You never can tell. I've seen lone pigs. I've seen groups of five. I've seen groups of twenty. There are quite a few big batches in the mangroves." The place was moist and they liked their rooting. Pigs were capable of putting out a lot of destruction. As the cream and grey girl tested the air, she motioned for Naiche to stop. With a look that told him to be quiet, she gave a small pull of her head and motioned for him to follow slowly and look. With one paw, she pulled a few vine-like branches aside, parting the natural curtain that they made. Up ahead beside one of the many streams, six pigs rooted in the muck and rough housed with one another. They were on the smaller side, but looked as though they were old enough to be on their own. Bringing her maw close to Naiche's ear, she spoke softly. "Pigs don't all run in the same direction like herd animals. They scatter. You have to pick your target and push the others from your mind. They are fast and low to the ground so they can fit in places that you might not be able to." Hunting pigs was almost an art form, it felt like. "Choose your prey. Which one?" She would let him choose which pig they went after. "When hunting in a group, it's important to have the same target in mind. You will run from one side and I'll run from the other. We'll hem it in and run it into the ground. Wolves have much more stamina. Pigs peter out quickly." Grey ears pricked, swiveling towards the yellow wolf as she waited for him to choose. "Speech"

Numbers of five to twenty? It would indeed be completely different than fighting a single predator when it was a matter of killing or chasing it away.  Trying to run down and kill one animal with others that might choose to attack instead of run.  Naiche’s only response was a quiet nod.  Like Asla, he acknowledged this was work.  This was where Asla wasn’t ‘princess’ but another pack member to work with, and right now as his mentor. Naiche stopped at her warning and looked through the branches when moved.  Naiche nodded once more at her words, searching gaze looking between the different pigs, searching for any sign of weakness but nothing specifically stuck out in that regard. With that he looked at the surrounding and nodded to one that was currently pointing a way that wouldn’t mean running through too overly deep mud. “That one,” his words were kept soft as hers to not allow the pigs to notice them. Naiche didn’t mind getting muddy but he imagined getting in the mud would slow them down when speed was so important.  Was it the best? He didn’t see a huge difference but they had to choose one, so why not? Speech:"Live to fight" Think

Naiche chose his pig and Asla nodded. Again, she put her maw close to his ear, whispering into it. "When you and your hunting party have chosen a target, then it's time to lay out what the purpose of each member is. In this case, we're both chasers. The best course of action is for you to run in from one side and I'll take the other. We'll hem the pig in so that it can't veer off the path. It will tire and we'll be able to grab it." It should be an easy hunt. Very straight forward. Good for a beginner. "When hunting larger prey, it's best to go in groups of four or more. Two runners, two to ambush at least." Asla bumped shoulders with the brute beside her. "Are you ready? You take left flank and I'll take right. Watch for my eyes through the foliage. We'll go when we're both in place." It was important to have the proper timing. If one wasn't in place by the time the other was, you ran the risk of prey escaping. Leaving Naiche where he was, Aslatiel moved quietly around the area where the pigs wallowed. Once on the other side, she peered through the flora, watching to see when Naiche would be in place. Once he was, they could begin. She would let him charge first. "Speech"

Naiche was clearly focused, and while watching the pig he had chosen he made a small sharp nod. The last bit about another type of hunt would have to be thought on later.  He was curious about hunting larger game with more wolves but it was foolish to focus on anything other than this hunt for now. When Asla moved off Naiche also stalked quietly along to a spot left, finding a perfect position that didn’t alert the pigs but got him a solid position.  His gaze flicked in the direction Asla had gone, once he spotted her giving that tight nod. His gaze went back to the pig, tensing his muscles in anticipation he gave it that one second longer before springing into a run.  As directed he kept towards the left to drive the pig, trusting Asla to do her job on the right. Admittedly he wanted to look at the other pigs, he could see their movement but refused to be distracted.  As long as nothing was going to attack him or Asla his only job was hunting this one pig. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

Naiche dove from the brush and the sounder scattered. Asla leaped from her place a breath later and hedged the pig in on the other side. This would show him what it wad like to work in tandem with another. When the pig edged to the right, Asla was there to push it back. When it edged to the left, Naiche was there to do the same. Being of a similar size, they were pretty evenly matched. When they were done with this, maybe she would take him on a large group hunt with Star and Halla.

Asla neared the pig and swept her claws out, scraping along its haunch and leaving furrows of blood in their wake. The small pig squealed in pain and leaped away, putting itself right in Naiches path. This was just what Asla wanted. She wanted him to be the one to make the kill. Or at least be the one to take the pig down. This was a lesson for him, after all. If he failed, she would be there to bring it down, but she had faith that the golden boy would follow through.

It wasn’t as good as fighting but hunting could still be fun.  Running fast, with a goal and a pack mate close by.  His only reason for such wariness had been a bad experience on his last group hunt.  This was something more reasonable though and he had full faith in Asla when it came to working matters. When the pig was in his path Naiche lunged in low, biting for its leg and clenching down hard.  The pig of course hadn’t stood still but trying to jump away with a scream squeal sound. Naiche couldn’t keep the leg in his mouth but didn’t need to as it stagged for one stride, and Naiche only needed the one stride to get even with and biting its front leg, backing up when the creature turned to face him.  Two legs damaged, Naiche’s tail was wagging as he would lunge at it again.   The pig seemed a bit bulky to try for some fast fatal death blow so Naiche was going with the assumption this was best to do first.   Speech:"Live to fight" Think

He was doing well for his first hunt with her. He had listened to direction and they were both exactly where they were supposed to be. Asla rushed the pig back towards him and Naiche dove, taking out a hind leg. With the inflicted wounds to the limbs as well as the slices that she'd left on the opposite haunch and heel, Asla was confident that they could take the pig down easily. "The rest of this should be a piece of cake." Head lowered, Aslatiel tensed her muscles in preparation to spring. She would knock the pig down and would let Naiche kill it as a reward for being a good student.  The pig spun and Naiche snapped at a front leg. The young pig squealed loudly in pain. That's when it all went to hell. Her focus was broken by the cracking of brush and the snapping of vines. Aslatiel did what she told Naiche to not do. She broke her gaze from the pig and looked elsewhere. Good thing she did, too. Standing straight and looking in the direction of the sound, Aslatiel saw the entire situation unfold. Time seemed to slow down considerably as a massive board, the biggest she'd ever seen, came rocketing from the willows. Its beady eyes were on the golden wolf and it began to make a beeline for him. The boar lowered its head, tusks ready to thrust upwards and into Naiche's gut. Asla broke a second rule then. Never meet a prey animal head on; especially a boar. Really though, what choice did she have? "Naiche!" The girl screamed his name as she dove straight for the boars face. Claws pushed forward, sinking into the thick, hairy flesh right behind its eyes. The beast squealed and lost its momentum as it tried to shake her free. Asla clung on for dear life, but in the end it would be to no avail. With one bucking thrust, the boar would send her flying, but not before her claws raked across both beady eyes, puncturing them both with the razorlike, hooked tips. If time had gone slowly before, it seemed to be creeping along now. Aslatiel flew through the air. This wasn't so bad, she thought. Naiche is fine. I'm fine. No big deal. Then she landed. The sickening crack of a bone snapping in half echoed throughout the willows and at first Aslatiel didn't know what had happened. She had landed, right? The boar had already run off, thrashing blindly through the curtains of willow branches. Hmm. Her leg was warm. It was only when she looked down that she realized what had happened. Asla had landed on her hind legs first. The right leg had slipped somewhat upon landing she remembered. The momentum and the force of her landing had snapped her leg in half. Pristine white bone jutted from a wound in her thigh. The scream was pulling from her throat before she even realized that she was screaming. Pain unlike anything she'd ever felt consumed the small wolf's body. She buckled and went down onto her left side, leaving the exposed wound to the air. After the initial scream, she simply sobbed. Tears streamed from her eyes and she spoke between labored, sucking sobs. "Do," Big inhale. Sob. "Something." Inhale. Sob. Sob. Inhale. "N-Naiche!" "Speech"

Naiche didn’t respond to Asla’s comment about the rest of it being easy, but he agreed.  Naiche would most definitely reply about the boar going down but, he refused to make a mistake when they were so close to the easy win.  In the back of his mind, he had been concerned about some problems happening, but this was going well. So much for everything going well.  Hell opened up its gate and threw a giant boar charging at him.  Naiche looked up with horror at Asla hurtling between him and a giant boar.  NO!  The cry out to Asla got no time to be spoken, left echoing in Naiche’s head. The gold wolf understood fighting better than hunting and charged towards the boar intending to help Asla kill the monster or at least chase it off.  She was directly in front of it, both a great position to blind it but a horrible position for risk. As Naiche had gone to assist he had to pivot to aside as it bucked.  Even as Naiche moved in he had the sickening view of Asla flying.  No! Naiche swung his head from the flying Asla to the boar but saw it was fleeing. This couldn’t be real.  No, not again.  Oh crap.  Naiche rushed to where Asla was.  He could smell the blood before he saw the damage. Naiche clenched his eyes shut for a second to pull himself together.  Naiche lifted up his head, a howl for aid.  Asla was hurt and needed a healer right away, and their location. Naiche could have carried her again of course, but he was worried about doing even more damage if he did so.  “They’ll come.” Naiche felt his own amount of panic then shoved it down in his gut.  His panic wouldn’t help Asla so Naiche would have to wait and deal with his own emotions later. “Better they come to us right now Asla,” Naiche forced his voice to be calm, relieved to hear it come out that way. What else could he do? “I don’t know anything about healing, but I’ll protect you until they get here.  You blinded it, once you are back in the pack land resting I can make sure it dies slowly.”Asla would want it to suffer wouldn't she? For once so did Naiche.  The gold wolf sat down so his leg was pressed up against her shoulder.  Leaning down the wolf licked her forehead gently. “I’ll make sure you're fine, then the healer will get her and take care of it,” his words coming out soft.  The more he assured her, the more he calmed himself.  Later he could be as scared as he wanted. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

Shock was setting in. This was so, so much worse than the lion scratches. Asla's purple eyes were wide and the tears continued to flow. Her teeth began to chatter as her body lapsed into shivers. Naiche called for help, but it barely registered. She couldn't stop staring at the bone jutting from her thigh. Blood was still pumping from the wound and she could feel the hot throbbing of swelling. Golden Boy leaned against her and Asla instantly buried her face in his chest, not only for comfort, but to try to get warm. She was suddenly freezing. "N-N-Naiche... I want my D-daadd." She knew that her father would be able to help her. In this moment of pain and panic, all the girl wanted was her daddy. Once Sirius was here, he would take care of everything. Looking again to her wound, Aslatiel began to feel a little faint. "Have to s-stop the b-bleeding." She looked around for something to press into her wound, but in her panic, she couldn't find a damn thing. "Speech"

The howl from his golden warrior told him that his little girl was injured. The moment he heard the very first traces of that call in the air, he was gone. Dropping the knives and bits he was crafting in a shamble at his feet. Punting one part into the grasses as he threw himself forward. Marshal was already falling from the tree a short distance above him, wings snapping in the air as he soared off in the direction of Io’s den. He knew well what Sirius would want and need. The Warlord was running out of the territory, the slightly smaller form of the brown wolf that called himself Asla’s guard falling in beside him. A part of him wanted to snarl at the man for not being at Asla’s side, and protecting her from whatever befall her. He saved his breath. He arrived as quickly as his paws could carry him. Kicking dirt and grass in the air as the steam engine of a wolf dragged himself to a stop beside her. He lowered his head, sniffing at the wound, pressing his body close to his girl. “I’m here little Star.” he said. Then Basilisk was pushing him away from his girl's wound, he almost snapped at the man, but the words “Healer” stopped him. It was true that he had caught the man's scent at Io’s den more than once. He let the man see to her wound, curling his body about her, inadvertently pushing Naiche out of the way to do so. “Report.” he told the man. He needed words, something to concentrate on besides the terrible rage building in his chest. "Speech"

Basilisk had begun the bones of his own garden. Just something small, modest, near Asla’s den. A few basic things to help him progress his learning, and her comfort. He was setting rich soil in place when a howl sprang loose. He recognised the caller as a wolf he had sparred with in the past. His head sprang upwards as he realised the meaning behind the call. He grabbed the pack Io had lent him in his teeth. Suddenly grateful for its presence and vowing to never let it out of his sight. Carrying it in his maw was faster then slinging it over his shoulder. As he ran, the thundering steps of the giant Warlord caught his attention. He angled his direction, assuming Sirius knew more than he did, and followed the alpha to Asla’s location. Sirius bet him to her, if only just. Placing himself against her, and sticking his face in the way of her wound. He gently moved the Warlord out of the way, and received a snarl for his efforts. He paused a moment, not budging or backing down. Going against every grain of his training as he stood down the warlord. Past his lips he managed to utter the world. “Healer.” and keep it from being a growl. It was enough, Sirius gave him room to move. “I need to set the bone” this was already well out of his area of expertise. The bone had broken the skin in its snapping, and it was a nasty wound. His Mistress was going to feel this for a long time coming. Grabbing a stick used for mixing herbs from his pack, he placed it beside her leg. It would become a makeshift splint. He had cloths, used for bathing, but they were fresh and clean. They would not give her an infection. “Sir Naiche, help me straighten her leg, Sir Warlord, you may need to hold her down.” He could only hope the wolves would do the bidding of a slave, the world had to be upside down on a day like today. “Bite down on this, Mistress” His voice as gentle as he laced a cloth with wintergreen and placed it before her lips. It would double as pain relief, and keep her from biting her tongue. As he waited to see what the three wolves would do with his instructions, he grabbed a paste of yarrow. "Aslatiel""Basilisk"

Naiche was concerned actually, he was terrified and but he wouldn’t show it, at least for the state Asla was in, she shouldn’t see it.  He kept his voice neutral, his actions were carefully made and she was unlikely to see his tense muscles or how his jaw was clamped, forcing himself to remain calm. When had Asla ever shown him a weak side of herself where she would want her father?  Naiche would have curled up to her right then but she pointed out the bleeding needed to be stopped.  With what? Naiche looked about struggling to imagine what would work.  Leaves could be pressed against it but wouldn’t likely do much good, just quickly get soaked over. Naiche got up, finding a thick piece of bark that was on the ground.  Who knew, maybe Pan had torn it open at some point.  He was putting a bunch of leaves onto it when the most welcome of sights showed up.  Sirius and the other wolf with a bag for hopefully healing supplies. The young wolf felt his own body wanting to shake in relief, but Naiche just tightened his muscles to keep the stress inside, dropping the materials he had been trying to collect and going where directed.  “Alright Asla, your dad’s here.” She knew that already, his presence and his words, but the desire to comfort her was still strong, especially as he had to cause her pain.  He pressed his paws gently next to her leg, looking up to Bas to make sure he was going to press on it only when the wolf was ready so the extra pain would be short-lived. Sirius had asked for a report, ok demanded a report.  “We were hunting boar.  While doing so a giant one surprised us.” His voice started to take on a thick town, narrowing his eyes he swallowed and forced a calmer tone once more for Asla, “It was charging at me and Asla jumped in.   She didn’t hesitate, right at its face.  She blinded it but it threw her.  I’ll kill it later.” Later was clearly when this was dealt with.  His eyes watched Bas, and would push to straighten the moment he gave a signal. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

"Aslatiel Fatalis" The moments seemed to blur. She couldn't really focus well, she only knew that Naiche was there with her and she was not alone. Her vision began to get a little spotty from the loss of blood, but thankfully she wouldn't lose much more. A moment later the hulking, familiar form of her father arrived. That made the waterworks start again. As Sirius pressed himself against her, she practically melted into his comforting presence. "P-p-papaaaa..." Her teeth were still chattering as she buried her face into her father's thick fur. She knew that everything would be alright now. A moment later Basilisk arrived and he quickly set to work. It was hard to focus on what he was doing, but she did hear him say 'set the bone.' Asla panicked a bit, but tried her hardest to stay still. She didn't mind pain, but she'd never felt something like this before. He wanted them to hold her down? Suddenly Bas was putting something in her face and telling her to bite down. She did as she was asked, tear filled eyes open wide. She wasn't ready for this. Not one bit.