Willows

He’d won. He wasn’t certain, but he was pretty sure this was the first time he’d won anything one on one before. When she pushed his shoulder, he rolled with a great, playful flop to the ground, belly up with that big, tongue-lolling grin parting his jaws, tail wig-wagging through the grass.

One paw stiffened, pointing straight up as he chuckled, “Alas! That may well be the first spar I’ve ever won in a one versus one situation. Aurielle is a master of sending my nose into the dirt.”

His eyes sparkled with his amused rueful laughter as he rolled abruptly to his paws. He was thrilled to see that little boost to the girl’s spirits. Even more thrilled when she asked if he wanted to hunt. He wasn’t sure there’d ever actually been a deer, but he had little doubt they could sniff one out.

“I am always up for a good hunt. If we find and catch something, we can share it out between our packs. I’ve got a long walk home, so the majority of the meat should go with you. We could piece out the hide, too. I’d take half just for something to carry my share of the kill in.”

He chatted easily as his head lowered toward the ground, nose going to work as he finished his suggestion. He ranged in a circular pattern, finding and discarding various scents and traces—too stale, too old of a deer to be tender, although it would be good to weed out the elderly and leave the strong young stock to repopulate… Beaver, muskrat… Bunny…

“Ah! I think this trail should have a decent young deer at the end… Maybe several. Hopefully one’s injured or ill.”

He gave a light flick of his tail in a friendly invitation to follow as he began following his nose, eyes flicking and scanning ahead as his paws fell into a stealthy, graceful stride. He’d been practicing between hunts with Domari and Nolan. He wasn’t quite to the point of being able to sneak up on an experienced older deer, but a young, inexperienced yearling buck or doe? Yup.

The trail grew warmer and warmer, until he dropped to his belly, creeping forward until he spotted the quarry through the willow fronds and pond grass. He carefully tipped his head to Malalia, nodding to the spot beside him as he scanned the trio of deer, looking for one that was weaker or further from the group where they browsed at the lusher undergrowth.

Finally, he spotted a good target and smiled slightly. It was a young deer, one of this year’s fawns most likely. The spots were gone, and it was wandered to the far edge of the clearing the trio had chosen to browse in. Really, the scene was quite picturesque. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all contentedly nibbling on leaves in a glistening forest scene, beside a stream-fed pond, veiled by weeping willows with the sunlight dappling through in shifting, kaleidoscopic patterns on the ground.

His eyes shifted from the target to the surroundings, taking note of the wind direction—toward the two wolves, luckily. Finally, he leaned his head toward Malalia, murmuring softly, but not whispering, “That young one off to himself. If I circle around to the left, the wind should still be in our favor. Wait until I bark, then charge out and scare them. Ideally, scare the young one to my location. Its attention should be on you and not what’s in the bushes ahead of it.”

He tipped his head enough to lock an eye on her with one of those easy smiles as he waited for her confirmation or suggestions.

Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think