what's so cool about buffalo, anyways?

The admittance of her friends' attempt earned a dry chuckle from the man, who eyed the talkative yearling with faint amusement as she explained her story. She did not seem pleased by her friend's recklessness, but all Azure could think of was how likely he would have been to try the same thing as a yearling. At the risk of outing himself (and his severe... gender bias), he nodded his head in understanding and gave his reply. "Your friend is your age? I'd be lying if I said I would expect differently from a young male moving through such a transitional time in his life. It's very difficult to find the balance of what is reckless and what is brave, and certainly dozens of powerful warriors started out with stupid decisions just like his own."

He thought back to his own youth, his head craning slightly as he sought the memory. "When I was very young my father led a raid against another pack. He allowed my siblings and I to come, much to my mother's disappointment. We were not quite a year old, if I recall correctly." Azure remembered little from the event itself, aside from his sheer excitement to enthusiastically participate and how quickly the feeling had faded against his first opponent. It was something that had shaped him early, had taught him caution and the importance of hard work in building his skills. "My opponent was someone older, someone not quite as excited to see me as I was to see him. He went for my paw, sought to take one of my toes for the transgression against his pack. Sometimes it takes something real to put a very necessary type of fear into a young man's heart. We're not born with the wisdom to survive, these things need to be learned, and often the hard way. I went into my next raid very risk aware." Azure did not go on to explain how he had won that fight and landed a maiming hit of his own upon the man - the fact that he did not in fact lose a toe did not change the story nor the moral of it. "Has your friend learned his lesson? Will he attempt something so foolish again?"

"Speech"