Oh, she was a joy to teach. Her bright eyes looked up at him, expectant and eager, there was no doubt, no boredom, no loss of attention. She was focused on him, and their hunt. She never hesitated to follow his lead, and her little perplexed frowns where the cutest thing he had ever seen on the face of this planet. He wanted to scoop her off her feet and tickle her belly, he wanted to show her the entire world. He wanted to tuck her into bed and tell her stories at night, or to lie awake and watch the stars for hours. She was growing too fast, too fast! Soon she would be a woman, interested in boys, would she still have time for her silly father then? A flutter of fear in his gut made him doubt. The flicker of worry was echoed with the fear of boys as well. How many ears – or more important male parts - would he have to rip off to ensure they knew to treat with the respect of a goddess?
There was a delay as his little wonder stood there with her paw outstretched before he came back to himself, shaking off the worries that came with the idea of his baby girl growing up, he would continue their lesson. “Like this” he soothed. He would repeat the slow cup-and-flip motion with her, pausing with his paw and her both cupped, before the flipping motion, he reached out his other paw and he gently pressed both of his paws over hers, pushing her paws down slightly, and her claws up, pausing to demonstrate a slight flick motion, both how it would look with her lesser curved paws, and then how it would look with her paws as he had corrected them, a more effective cup and grab. He then started again, returning one paw to balance himself he started the motion again of cupping and flipping, expecting her to repeat it beside him.
“That's right!” he cooed as he watched her mimic the movements beside him, he beamed at her, his tail swishing at her side with the motion of his pleasure and encouragement as he congratulated her. He then pulled his paws back, indicating for her to do so too. “Now we wait” he explained, and they would have to pause on their rocky seats for a while before the fish came out to play again. It wasn't until he saw their shadows in the water that he nudged his daughter, his face encouragement as he nodded for her to try again.
"Speech"
