Prove you can keep up!

“I followed a scent yesterday of some deer.  It led me towards the hot springs.  It was getting later in the day though so I didn’t follow through to see precisely where.  Their pellets were still reasonably fresh though so they couldn’t have been too far.”  Kotori hadn’t spent a lot of time at the hot springs so it would be a nice place to check out that was neither overly far away and he already knew a meal was waiting for them.

Kotori glanced at his dad as they traveled with a grin.  His dad was going to spend the entire day with him?  With all of Kotori’s roamings only to return to the sickness and then wolves healing up it had been ages since he got to spend so much time with his dad.  “I guess when we are eating that deer meat I’ll have to figure out what else we should do with our day then.” Kotori was an adult or close enough so he had no intention to admit it but the idea of dad taking out that much time for him made the younger wolf feel pretty good about himself.  Dad was clearly proud of him and what son doesn’t like knowing that?

Kotori would keep up a steady lope across the ground, neither running full speed to tire them out overly fast nor a slower speed that would waste time.  Once they got to where he’d started tracking the deer last time Kotori would slow down, scenting for the deer then moving along the path.  No more second-guessing and glancing at dad for what to do next.  Kotori might not have the mastery some wolves did by experience but he did know how the game worked now.

He’d slow down, working his way through bushes until he heard the click of hooves quietly against a stone.  The water pools would be an odd thing to work around.  Would they help or hinder a deer’s escape?  Either way, it would be best to get as close as possible for a short and quick hunt he imagined.  

Kotori Fatalis