It seemed that with them away from Abaven, Azzurra was more willing to go out. Maybe it was just to be with him, or maybe she didn't feel as sick and weak anymore. Balthier hadn't always treated her as such though. She was still as delicate as a flower, she wasn't like him. Balthier had grown stronger than even their own father, but that was because he felt like he had to grow strong and protect the rest of his family even before Allegro's leaving. But it seemed Solo and Psalm were less on his mind these days. It was all Azzurra, she was all he needed.

With his sister still working on her own strength and learning more of the ways Balthier had learned from their father or some members of the pack, it seemed more proficient to set a trap before going on their hunt. It would teach her how to hunt for herself too if she ever had to.

He directed her to a side of the pit they would start digging before they started digging down and towards each other. He would pick up the slack if she needed him to. He offered her back out of the pit over his back before crawling out himself to look down at the width and depth of the pit they dug. Grabbing the net that he brought along that he also supplied on the raft for fishing, he gave a side to Azzurra before stretching it across the hole in the ground. "We need to cover it up a bit with some leaves and brush." He suggested though it was probably more of common sense. He ripped up some of the bushes around the willows, breaking them down and throwing them around the corners of the net. He was more careful about pacing sticks and branches across the middle to not let the weight pull the net into their trap.

He helped Azzurra finish up before poking at her hip and suggesting that she follow him out into the forests away from the trap they had made. Looking around at their surroundings, he looked around for tracks or scents to follow. But he was here to teach Azzurra, not just pull all the work as much as he didn't mind doing it for her. "What do you see?" He questioned her, his own nose rising to pick up a nearby scent of the closest prey.

Hunting Seasonal Prompt
Total Word Count: 407 words
Word Count Goal: 1500 words

"Balthier"

Azzurra dug away at the pit with Balthier for the trap they were constructing, her small, pale paws working at the dirt as well as she could. While the worst of her illness had passed, there were still days where she felt weaker than others and she didn't know if she'd ever be able to match Balthier in his strength or stamina. She tried to not be too hard on herself when she couldn't keep up with him on certain things or when she had to take breaks more frequently, but it was difficult sometimes to not feel hopeless. Balth always had a way of making her feel as if her effort was more than enough and that was all the encouragement she needed to keep trying. She hadn't really considered trying to be a hunter like him until after they left Abaven, but since it was just the two of them now she really wanted to have something that could be more helpful to Balthier than just weaving ropes and keeping him company. She felt bad whenever he came home with meals for them and she hadn't been able to contribute to them. She was just grateful that her brother was so incredibly patient with her and so willing to show her how to do these things even if she had to struggle through certain parts of it.

Once their pit was dug, she climbed out of the hole with his help and gave herself a quick shake to get off some of the dirt that had clung to her pale fur and then turned to face him again, waiting for him to climb out as well. She took the edge of the net that he offered and helped him pull it across the top of the hole they had dug. She made sure to pay close attention to everything he was doing and how they were setting this all up since she imagined that if she was ever to hunt on her own she'd have to do it with a trap like this. The only things she could think of hunting on her own were things like rabbits or squirrels—something that wouldn't take a lot of muscle or heft to bring down. Anything larger than those she'd probably have to utilize something like this to make it possible for her to do. She nodded in agreement when he mentioned how they would need to cover it with some leaves and brush. That was fairly obvious given the very open, holed nature of the net, but she didn't mind the direction. She was enjoying learning from Balthier and it just felt like part of the lesson.

She followed his lead, pulling some branches and leaves from the near by bushes as well, but mostly gathering up the ones he pulled off and placing them around the net they had set up. She noticed how he didn't put any of the larger branches across the middle so she did the same, keeping those around the edges to camouflage their trap and only tossing a scattering of leaves over the middle. When he poked her hip she lifted her gaze to look at him, a little smile pulling across her lips and nodding as she turned to follow him. She would happily follow him to the ends of the earth and learn whatever he wanted to show her. If it hadn't been hunting and he wanted to show her some kind of fighting move or navigation technique or whatever it was that he wanted to teach her she would have happily soaked it up like a sponge simply because he was teaching it and she just enjoyed spending time with him.

Azzurra did her best to mimic what he was doing, trying to find scents on the air and keeping an eye out for any tracks or signs of other wildlife that they could direct toward their trap. He looked like a natural at it all and she felt awkward attempting to be like him, but she tried none of the less. When he asked what she saw she struggled to give an answer at first, but then her sapphire gaze landed on some tracks that some animal left in a patch of mud near one of the many streams that wound through the willow tree forest. She pointed them out with a nod, saying quietly, "There's some tracks!" She couldn't immediately identify what kind of animal it was, but it definitely wasn't a paw print from a wolf or some other predator so she knew it had to be something along the lines of what they were looking for. She looked to her brother for more direction, her short tail wiggling happily.

WC: 792
Total: 1199/1500

"Azzurra"

Balthier had also had his own struggles as Azzie did, though maybe not as severe while he had been healthy his whole life and she had been so sick. For a long while, he just observed and took lessons from their father on hunting. He crafted knives, learned to set traps, he had helped their pack mates in Abaven best he could while he was still young and unable to do the brunt of the work. He didn't realize just how far behind he was from the adults as a pup until he sparred in the Ashen tournament. And after that, he tested his stamina for the first time alongside Corvus in a hunt. He trained hard afterwards and had certainly gotten better at hunting on his own. Fighting not so much, he didn't like to engage in even spars and he tended to steer clear of dangerous predators if he was able. That didn't mean though that he wasn't willing to sacrifice himself for Azzie, it was almost his first instinct to do so for him.

Baltheir didn't notice where Azzurra came up short, he expected her to have trip ups and fails as she learned but wasn't going to scold her or make fun of her because if it. After all, you learned more when you failed than when you succeeded. Balthier too had learned better that way.

As Azzurra pointed out the tracks while he scented the prey nearby, he looked down at exactly what he found himself. He joined her closely before sniffing the tracks and then pulled his head to gesture they move further forward. He lifted his paw up to her chest when they were close enough to get her to halt in her steps, his nose pointed outward in the direction of the tiny little deer creatures in front of them. He noticed that one of the two of them had some kind of glowing substance lingering around it's eyes and nose. He didn't take it off their meal list just yet though.

He moved him and Azzurra around quietly so they could run the little deer towards their trap, and with enough direction to his learning sister he moved forward for the hunt. As they drew closer, the deer who was obviously physically sick had barely even went to run away from the way it was feeling. Balthier called out to his sister, "Leave that one, it's too sick." He didn't know what the weird glowing would have done to them if they had eaten it and he didn't want to take the chance. Running past the ill one, he moved forward and started to drive the other little deer towards their trap.

Hunting Seasonal Prompt
Total Word Count: 1650 words
Word Count Goal: 1500 words (Met)

"Balthier"