The Woods Are Lovely, Dark, And Deep...

Rudy is letting Fern take the lead once again.  Watching her now she was a different wolf than the one he’d met back in the endless night.  She had dreamed of exploring, fighting and hunting.  She had been alone and uncertain as well as wary around others.  

As they came up to the clearing and she started telling Rudy the prey in front of him was a gaur and started feeding him information about it Rudy grinned at his own inner joke.  Yup, she’d grown so confident she was telling her teacher about the animal before them.  Following it up with worrying she’d accidentally hurt him.

The motley grey wolf sat down, tilting his head to scratch at the base of one of his antlers with a back leg.  They seemed to have stopped growing and didn’t really itch anymore so much as it was still weird the extra weight on his head.  It was also a thing to do while musing over the changes in Fern.

Rudy had the notion of pouncing her at her fear of accidentally injuring him but it was work time and no need to alert the food. “Fern, Art’s loved sword’s from the day we were pups.  I was getting having to avoid fake swords from the day of being a kid.  You’d find me harder to hit with one than you might imagine, accidental or intently.”  Now, if it was a real fight sure she had a chance of injuring him but if Rudy was only on the defensive he dared someone to get him with a sword.

Rudy stepped up to Fern, pushing his muzzle up under her muzzle to push it up affectionately.  “We are hunting and for a celebration.  There is no reason for anything other than excitement and fun.  You won’t hurt me and I’ve hunted these guys before, with other wolves or even with Reddy.  Dive bombing hawks are pretty impressive really.”  It was a much longer hunt or sometimes just a fight against a gaur when there wasn't another wolf but Rudy had no problem with that.

Stepping back he sat down, ears alert, “alright leader, what’s your strategy in this?”

"Rudyard"