Tried and True

Much to her pleasant surprise she had not just one of her granddaughters around, but two beautiful young ladies wondering what she was up to. Bramble appeared first, the older girl from Artorias and Briar's first litter looking at her quizzically and asking what she was doing. Little Ember was right behind her with a similar confusion and Tamsyn chuckled lightly at their curiosity. "Only some stretches and moving through a few defensive and offensive stances. Nothing as mysterious as it might seem. These old muscles just need a little extra help warming up, that's all."

She turned to face the two of them as she spoke, admiring how much of their parents she could pick out in them. Bramble obviously took after their mother which Tamsyn was actually very pleased by. Briar was a beautiful girl and she was proud to have a daughter of her old friend be a member of their family. Ember, however, took very heavily after her dad–and herself, if she was being honest–and already was growing into quite the lovely young lady. It was wild to think just how much their family had exploded from the one surprise litter she and Resin had raised together.

"You two can join me if you'd like," she reiterated as she began to settle into a stretch once more. "Even if your muscles and joints don't ache like mine do, incorporating some stretches into your routine is still very beneficial. It helps with your flexibility and mobility and it means your muscles won't fatigue as quickly when you're training." She felt a bit like she was teleported back to when she had mentored and trained wolves back in the way and it was easy to fall back into that role of teacher.

She stepped back a bit from them to give them all plenty of space to move as she went on to say, "Plant your back paws firmly so you don't slip and then slowly walk your front paws forward till your chest almost touches the ground. Keep your butt up and your back as flat as you can. You want to really feel that stretch in your hips and through your back and shoulders. Only go as far as is comfortable though–you don't want to pull a muscle or strain a joint doing this." After she explained what to do, she demonstrated it herself, slowly crawling down into the right position and then holding that pose for a bit while she felt her muscles lengthening and stretching. It was a dull pain, but in a good, productive way.

Tamsyn Carpathius of the Valley