Along the borderline

Nico lifted his head up a bit better at his grinned proudly when asked about his age, “I’m six whole months now!” Well, something like that.  When summer came he would be six months and Oscar had told him summer was just about here.  He either was six months or would be soon, depending on how hot it got apparently.

The kid says he isn’t scared of work and Nico grins right back at home, “Yeah, well that means we can work ya real hard then!  You got siblings right?  We’ll make sure you got the best skills to show off better than everyone else.  I can teach ya everything I know!”  The coyote pup mostly wanted to do stuff with his new friend and this seemed a grand idea.  More time spent teaching him meant more time they’d be together.  There was that nagging notion in the back of his head that the more time he spent here and with Jack the more likely he’d run into other wolves.  Wolves that might have demonic eyes, saliva-dripping teeth, and whatever the signs were of sheer evil as it comes to eat you.  That was for tomorrow, not now.

Nico could practically taste all this free meat he was being offered.  It wouldn’t be mice, eggs, fish, fruits, or any of the other things he found.  This could be an easy-to-get meal of meat and it sounded yummy.  Knowing it was from wolves somehow made it that much cooler.  Maybe he’d teach Jack how good bird eggs were also and where to find them.  Not all birds lived in trees after all.  Nico bet Jack didn’t know about ground birds yet!  That’d be impressive to him also.

“Hm, I’m not sure,” Nico admitted when Jack asked if they needed to go to other spots to hunt.  “Beaches are new to me but I don’t smell any of the normal things I’d hunt out here.”  Nico glanced about over the black sand that seemed to lack many hiding spots where rodents and bugs he was used to would hide in.  The boy could sniff around more and see what he could find but that could be done later.  

Taiga had shown him how to get fish from a river before but was the fish in the giant water the same as fish in the river?  This thing called a net was a new word to Nico and Nico got a look of confusion, “Net?  I never used a net before.  I wanna see it.” It was cool if Jack could really get him food but how long would that last?  The more ways Nico could learn to hunt the better.  So, best learn what a net was and how it helped catch fish.  Nico’s grin grew again as he imagined doing so much with his new friend.  It had been fun being with the herd but he’d really missed a friend that was more similar to his own kind and his own age.

His pup tail spun like spokes of a fan in wide sweeping circles as hope for a more fun future came to mind.  They continued forward and Nico’s eyes rounded as the ship came into sight.  Say, that was more than a stick in the water for sure!  That was like a, a, a ship apparently! Nico ran a single stride before skidding to a stop, a few grains of sand kicked up at the sudden stop. Right, wolves, big adult scary wolves might be on it.  “So, that’s definitely cool, almost as good as hunting.”  Actually, it looked super awesome.”

"Niko"