"Eska"

The Bear came out of nowhere. Hungry after the long winter, it had been gorging itself on the fresh berries in the grove. Eska just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She'd come to collect berries herself, trying to take something back to Ulric and his pack to thank them for caring for her mother. The basket that she'd been filling was between them and thankfully the bear wasn't going for that. All of her effort would have been wasted. The grizzly was simply trying to push the other predator out of its feeding territory. Well, Eska wasn't leaving without her basket of berries.

A low growl reverberated in the woman's chest as she squared away with the bear. If she could just lead it away enough to circle back and retrieve her basket, that would be enough. There was no reason to try and kill a bear. Eska rushed forward, skirting around the side of the big brown beast. She nipped at its hip as she did so and the lumbering ursine swung around, one massive paw flying through the air to try and strike her. Thankfully, she managed to avoid it.

Lukina napped blissfully in the grove, nestled down in a small clearing behind a clump of raspberry brambles. Rœkia was out hunting once again and though the young girl had begged to go with she was denied the opportunity. Rœkia said it was hard enough hunting solo without having to teach a child. Lukina thought this was terribly unfair. If Rœkia would just take the time to teach her then she could help and they could get a lot more food. A growl jerked her out of her sleep. Her heart beat rapidly as she realized there was a bear not too far off from where she'd been sleeping. Her eyes rested on the woman that was fighting the bear and immediately she felt compelled to help. Lukina sprang past the brambles and dove forward, nipping at the bears rear. It turned toward her and she swiftly danced out the way.

Rœkia headed swiftly back to where she'd stashed Lukina. She hadn't had much luck with hunting but she had managed to find a kill. She'd eaten her fill before a group of larger, more aggressive loners pushed her off the kill. She'd managed to snag a nice chunk of meat to bring back but as she arrived she saw the bear, a stranger and of course Lukina getting involved in the fight. Shit. She was going to need to do something about the girls habit of springing into battle to help others, especially at her age. Rœkia toss the meat into the brambles, hoping to retrieve them later before leaping forward with a growl. She bit fiercely into the back of the bear's right arm. Thrashing her head as it twisted around to try and bite her. She saw the fangs heading for her and she quickly rolled out of the way.

"Eska"

As she was dancing with the bear, a pup came out of nowhere and drew the ursine's attention away. Shit. The bear turned and started after the child, but Eska was on it. With its body curled, she felt safe enough to sink her teeth into its face. The bear roared and shook its head, ready to slash and bite, but a second wolf appeared, sinking her teeth into its elbow. This was becoming a lot more complicated, but if the woman was just protecting the child, Eska could understand. Still, they would have to go about this carefully so that the bear would run off rather than after one of them. With the child there, both women would have to be on their toes. A child was an easy target and a bear as large and as old as that one would surely know it.

Lukina scrambled near the berry brambles again, just in case she needed to take sudden cover. She glanced behind her to see that Rœkia had returned and the other stranger connected with the bears face. Lukina watched carefully for a moment before darting forward. Her claws unsheathed as she leapt up onto the bear's backside. Her claws stuck deep in the top of the bear's hips while her hind claws dug into the back of the bear's thigh. She quickly bit down on the flesh in front of her, trying to hang on as the bear thrashed. Crap, what should she do now?

Rœkia scrambled to her feet as the other woman latched onto the bear's face. She prepped to go in again when she saw Lukina leap onto the back of the bear. "Dangit Lukina, get off of there and run!" They couldn't go chasing the bear off when the pup was clinging to its back. With a frustrated snarl Rœkia launched forward, snagging the side of the grizzly's face, her fangs ripped through flesh and she sprang away just barely managing to avoid getting claws in her back. It was too risky to go for a full hold, she'd have to cause as much damage in glancing blows as she could and hope that it would be enough to get the bear to give up.

"Eska"

With two canines going for its face, the bear was unnerved. No berries were worth losing an eye over. The wounds in its face seeped and bled and the beast gave its head a shake. It was bleeding some from its back as well. It didn't seem worth it. Eska noted the hesitancy in the bears next movements and took the advantage. Rushing her muscled form around the edge of the bear, she bit into its haunch, teeth slamming down hard to pinch, pull and puncture. The ursine lowed in pain and confusion and something clicked. It was too much. The bear began to run from the trio of canines, hind end low and looking rather defeated.

Eska panted and watched the predator run off. Once it was out of sight, she turned her attention to the other wolves. "I appreciate the help." Closing her vibrant golden eyes, she gave the pair a nod before fetching her basket full of berries and heading back towards The Hallows.

Lukina heard her cousin calling on her to get off the bear and run. If she hadn't had her mouth full of fur and flesh she'd have been inclined to yell at her cousin about just how exactly she was supposed to do that. She'd seen a bobcat leap onto the back of a deer to kill it in this manner and the animal eventually went down. That would clearly not be the case here. So how did she get off this ride? The bear suddenly twisted in again and something instinctive kicked in. Lukina released her grip and allowed the moment to help her launch herself from the bears back. She hit the ground and stumbled, falling onto belly. She flailed and quickly got to her feet. Thankfully it looked like the bear was running off.

Rœkia sized up the bear, preparing her next attack. She raced forward toward the arm she'd injured earlier, this time seizing the bear's elbow. It reached around, fangs nearly snagging her scruff as she scrambled out from under it. She was grateful to see Lukina fly off the bear's back and then a moment later the bear took off, deciding that the fight was not worth the hassle from the wolves. She let out a relieved sigh before turning to the stranger and nodding, too tired to speak. The woman grabbed a basket of berries and headed south while Rœkia padded over to her cousin to make sure the girl was alright.