Surprise! More than one!

Well dang it!  Rudy had it planned out well.  The chance of catching Art in the position of partially on and partially off stares would have been great for getting his brother to topple over despite his good balance and the stairs offered shadows.  Unfortunately, it came with the side effect of only being mostly hidden instead of completely.  Art was still observant, well clearly by Rudy’s training.

“Only reason it didn’t work is that I taught you to be so observant,” came the witty response.  Rudyard had to try and get the last word in on it even if that wasn’t why he’d showed up.  Rudy had even woken up early for this!

“I actually came to see you before you got all busy and distracted,” or when Art was in a spot he expected to try and attack.  Whichever.  Rudy smirked smugly at Art at the shoulder pat, that look of having that secret to share.  His brother wasn’t going to see this coming. “So, you know that wolf I brought home? Fern.”  Obviously, Art knew her, he wasn’t that dim.  It was just preparing Art for the surprise, or maybe preparing himself to share it with someone.  Of Course, Rudy would never take a moment to collect his words.

“She said she loved me, Art!” Yup, smug went to cheery excitement.  “She’s staying in my room now with me.”  Rudy’s puff of a tail was wagging, something it hadn’t done much of since it went from a full tail to this fuzzy nub.  “Anyway, I’m teaching her to hunt and going to help her learn to fight.  She wants to go on adventures so I’ll find some places to take her.” As surely as sharing the life-altering news of how he’d someday be leader of the pack he now talked about his new relationship with Fern.  “Anyway,” the voice slowing down a bit to a more normal level of cheer, big secret now spilled. “She’s really wonderful Art,” that second of hesitation before adding on, “I think I love her to, ya know.”  There it was, giving out the more serious admittal.

"Rudyard"