Mountain Play

Chade grins at his brother’s taunt back to him in regards to falling, a soft chuckle, “Ya know, you’re right on two counts!  I agree it would be bad for me to fall and humiliating if I had to be carried back.” Chade looked a bit sheepish for a moment, “I’m kinda getting, well proud of my skills.  The embarrassment of falling wouldn’t be fun.  There’s another reason though.  You were right that I should talk to Manea and it would be lousy to go in with a limp when asking to raise up in rank.  So, I guess I better put on a good performance today as well.  No slipping.”

Chade watches his brother move ahead of him, his little brother that he had to look after carefully.  Sure, Ry still wasn’t a competent hunter or fighter but he was an excellent scout and clever.  It wasn’t just Chade who saw it, his brother had been given a higher rank in the pack as well.  Even Ry could tell he’d grown in his abilities, there was confidence in his brother that used to not be there.  His confident stride and the set of his body spoke of him being an entirely different wolf than the small pup he’d been.

Chade watches his brother leap the rocks as surely as the goats did.  Chade could see the path, he watched for their paths when searching for where to hunt.  However, if he could leap as nimbly as his brother did was another matter.  He neither rushes to do the path Ry makes nor does he ask for help.  The boy turns to stride a bit farther along the path, stalking the wall with a careful gaze, eyes swiveling at points to find where one rock goes, like searching for a connecting puzzle.  Ry was certainly the nimbler of the two but Chade had always been stubborn.  Where he’d lacked ability he’d made up for on hard-headedness.

Finally, he found what the boy apparently decided would suffice. The bank wasn’t quite as steep and while his leaps were not nearly as precise as Ry he was able to get away with it.  His back paws slipped and skittered for purchase as he made his way up farther but there was a fierce determination in that gaze and eventually he made it up to a smaller ledge.  He could see Ry on his ledge a short distance away.  Chade turned himself around in a slow, tight circle, muscles hunching up before he used the entire length of his perch, which was really only one stride, to leap from it and land on Ry’s larger landing.  Chade knew his limits if nothing else, most of his body was on the ice, while his back legs kicked at the air a time or two as he pulled himself up.  "No problem," said with a convincing laugh.  His brother might have found him an easier path but Chade had to challenge himself.  Always, always had to get stronger, always had to get faster.  Taking risks always seemed to pull out the best in him.  

“I have a feeling you’d win here if we had a race,” Chade mused then brightened at the idea, “that’s it, when it's time to go back we race!”  This had to be one of the most dangerous places to have a race and also the most fun.  His head followed where Ry had pointed, and a nod given, “Oh yeah, let's see what’s in there.  Never know what secrets could be in a cave, eh?  Just make sure you don’t smell anything I,” a moment's hesitation, “something we don’t need to kill before we go in deep.”

"Speech"