Having spent some one-on-one time with Satira, Aslatiel decided to take the following day to spend with Arcturus. She led the boy out to the very same orchard where she and her daughter had sort of fought a bear the day prior. Really, they bullied a sleep bear into leaving, but they made up for it later by fighting an actual, grumpy bear. Either way, the girl had gotten her time with mom, now it was the boys turn.

While at the orchard yesterday, Asla had caught the scent of horses. Horse meat could go a long way and as she had been keeping their own separate food stores, one good kill could get the three of them through the winter. Today she returned, Arc in tow, with a long stretch of rope looped around her neck. No doubt she looked kind of silly with such a large amount of rope, but there was a point to it.

"We need to find two strong trees that aren't too far apart, but have a wide opening on the other side for prey to run through. We want them to want to run through here." Asla explained to the golden boy as she chose two trees. Uncoiling the rope from around her neck, Asla showed Arc how to cut the rope into three long, equal pieces with a small knife that she'd brought with her. "They need to all be the same length. Here, you do this one." Turning the knife in her paw, she offered the hilt to the boy, allowing him to take it and cut through the last bit of rope. Hopefully he had been watching her work so he would know what to do.

"Aslatiel"

Arcturus trotted along next to his mother, grinning with eager excitement as he followed her out on a hunt. They hadn't gotten to go out just the two of them in a little while, but they were going to make up for that today! He had loved their first hunt together and still thought about it a lot. He had always had a draw to hunting and clearly took after his mother in that way, but that day had really sparked his desire to get better and better at it. As soon as she suggested that they go trap and hunt some horses nearby he was on his feet and ready to go. Not that he'd really respond any differently to any suggestion she had made, but it was an animal he had never seen before and it was a new technique he hadn't tried yet so he was even more excited.

He listened dutifully as the plan was explained to him, nodding as she explained why she was picking the trees she picked to set up their trap, making sure to pay close attention. This seemed like the thing that could be really helpful for hunting larger animals. He had started to accept that he wasn't ever going to be as big as some wolves in their family and that he was going to more likely be closer to his parent's heights so it wasn't like he could really lean on being big to help hunt things. He looked at the rope that his mother brought with her, watching as she showed him how to cut it into pieces. "Okay!" he replied as she turned the knife she had been using toward him and he took it carefully before doing his best to replicate her motions. He wasn't quite as effortless with it like she was, but he managed and he cut it in the right spot so over all a win. He handed it back and grinned, asking, "What's next?"

"Arcturus Fatalis"

Asla watched as the boy carefully sliced through the long stretch of rope. He then looked to her for more guidance. Taking the knife from him, Asla stabbed it into the ground, forgetting about it for now. "Now we do this," the woman began showing him how to crisscross the pieces of rope. "If we braid the rope, it becomes stronger and there's less chance of the rope snapping when the horses run into it." After showing him a few more circuits of the braid, she handed the three pieces over to the boy. With her paws on his, she slowly guided him through the motions of the braid. After a few passes, she released his paws and let him try it on his own. "Left over middle, right over middle, repeat," she instructed.

"Aslatiel"

Arc turned his attention to the rope again when his mother started showing him how to criss cross and braid the pieces together to make them stronger, nodding attentively to her explanation. He could feel his eyes crossing trying to follow the motions and figure out what she was doing, but when she handed it over to him and guided his paws through the motions then it began to make more sense. When she let go of his paws so he could do it on his own it took him a couple of tries to do it without missing a step somewhere, but he got it down eventually. Left over middle, right over middle, repeat. He kept repeating that in his head until it became more of a habit and he didn't have to think about it so hard. After a couple minutes he got to the end of the length of rope. When he looked back up the length of the braid there was noticeable points where he had taken over after her where the braid wasn't quite as neat, but it definitely got better toward the end. Either way, he hoped it would be good enough for what they were doing with it. "I guess we tie it between the trees now?" He asked, looking up at the trees his mother had lead them to.

"Arcturus Fatalis"