Bane stared up at the greying clouds anxiously. Winter was coming. Just a few more days until the first snowfalls. Mixed feelings were felt about the incoming weather, the bite of cold was already here up in Ebony territory, but this time it was different. Not in the weather but what it meant to Bane. It would be the tenth winter he'd seen and with it he would feel a certain increase of frailness with his new age. A little weaker, less spring in his step, a more pale pelt. So focused was Bane at the sky that he missed what his son had asked. His attention turned to Jakart. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"You asked what to do when facing a force of similar size, I said spread your warriors out but wait for the enemy to make a move, divide his forces and await a mistake of his part." Jakart titled his head to the side and shuffled his paws anxiously. The yearling was nervous. That was good, he could use it against him. His half brother sat with attention and drank in every word, Nako's head skewed to the side with his one good ear angled right at Bane.

The three male wolves were situated by the lakeside amidst the packlands. Bane wouldn't mind onlookers as he fought his sons, but he would have no other participants. Both of his pups had play fought when they were younger, which was nothing like the real thing. The fangs ripping at your pelt, the hot blood running down your neck and the impact of legs beating against your own forelegs as you strangled your opponent to death. This would still be a spar but it would also be a learning experience as they marred one another.

"When we do this I'm going to be using a style. A style of fighting I remember being implemented at a young age when we fought with reckless abandon against our opponents. None of this new fancy and fair stuff that takes too long to get to the point." Bane gave them a stern gaze and stood up to get ready. "Remember. You don't stop until I'm unconscious with your fangs around my neck. Same goes for me."

Nako looked back up at the clouds while his father quizzed his half brother, a certain dryness in his maw. He and Jakart had been mock fighting when his father had strode up to them and requested they follow. The nature of his command had been revealed when the trio arrived at the lake. They were to spar. It wasn't that Nako was against learning to be a warrior, only that he wished it was somebody else. A wolf who wasn't so old. He could break his father in half the way his sire looked, pale pelt all scarred up. Pretty much a duel to the "death," the bastard pup looking at his brother upon hearing the victory conditions.

Nako immediately went right, Jakart going left, and Bane stood his ground, loose gravel spraying into the air at the eldest yearling charged. His father made a snapping motion at Jakart and that caused the young male to give uneasy pause. Nako took his eyes of Bane to stare at his half-brother when he stopped. Both pups hesitation was capitalized on, Bane's attention leaving Jakart as he twirled around to assault Nako. The move taking the bastard yearling by surprise. The eldest male went on the inside of Nako to ram his sons side. Nako felt fangs scrap his pelt as he dodged just in time. His father bounded forward, using the momentum for a follow up attack, and wrapped his jaws around the side of Nako's neck.

Jakart fidgeted where he sat, a nervous glance given towards Nako. To the death in a sense. That would be the only way the lesson would conclude. Fight till you couldn't fight no more. That's how he saw it. That's how it would be in the real thing. Jakart didn't want to place his fangs against anyone in his family, but Bane's word was to be obeyed as a father, and that meant sucking it up and doing things you didn't want to do. It would all be over in a moment, his sire telling them to begin. And Jakart obeyed, Nako dashing off to the right in a wide sweep around Bane's side. Jakart side stepped along the left, eyes never leaving his father. He was on Bane's blind side.

His father however reacted to the weakness in vision with a snapping of his jaws in his direction. It made Jakart pause at the unexpected gesture. Sure he had perceived a movement of sorts to feint him or his brother. Bodily aggression. Not a threat display. But Bane was dealing with Nako now, and Jakart leapt to his brothers aid. His fangs bit into his fathers side, the elder snarling and whirling around. The quick twirl given by Bane in response?to the yearling caused his muzzle to be thrown to the side making Jakart lose his grip. Nako staggered away as he was hit by Bane's flank, the elder completing his turn and grabbing?Jakart's reeling muzzle. But the yearlings bloodlust was up, twisting his muzzle and shoving his head forward as his jaws wrapped around the sides of his father's maw. Jakart let out a warning growl and narrowed his mismatched eyes. The calculating gold of his mother, and the furious sapphire of his father.