Alright, let's do this. Caelum had somehow wrangled him into agreeing to help host a fight training session for the wolves of Abaven. Not that he'd had the energy to really argue it - nor did he have any good points as to why it wasn't a good idea - so she'd won before the conversation even started. His only concession was that she help guide the lesson alongside him. If he had to suffer, she'd be doing so right alongside him, he'd make damn certain of it! What would he even center the lesson on? Abaven was small, but he'd noticed that there were quite a few pups roaming around, so maybe a lesson just going over the basics would be helpful. It'd been a long time since he'd really led anything, so at least with kids he wouldn't worry about making a fool of himself. Zephyr huffed quietly as he found a good clearing in the middle of the fertile plains, scoping it out for a good long while as he tried to settle on a spot. This would do, he decided finally, brows furrowing as he looked up to the horizon. Deciding that delaying any longer wouldn't make him feel any more eager to get this over with, Zephyr tipped his head to the sky and called for the youngsters of Abaven, as well as his mate - and anyone else who thought a beginner's fight lesson might be beneficial to them. "Talk" "You" Think

Zephyr is hosting some fight lessons for the beginner fighters of Abaven (particularly the puppers!) so get your butts in here! First round due by 4/4<3

Grinning when she heard the call ring out throught he territory, Caelum was quick to finish delivering the rabbit she'd caught to one of the storage dens before rushing to meet the call. He did call for her specifically along with other interested parties, so it wouldn't do to keep him waiting too long. It would be a shame to miss watching this lesson go down. Who wouldn't want to see the grumpy old man teaching the young and inexperienced? It would surely be a lesson to remember.

Swiftly she came gliding onto the scene, settling herself at his side with a playful smile and aiming to gently bump her head against his shoulder. "Glad to see you didn't chicken out. Got anything interesting planned today, or are you winging it?" she asked, beaming with obvious and wicked delight at his continuing reluctance that was written all over his face. Just cause she loved him didn't mean she wouldn't delight in his predicament just a little bit. Even if she was helping, Cae was fairly certain she'd be way more chipper about the whole thing than Zeph would.

She made it back! Her injured leg was like, basically all healed up so she didn't worry too much about her parents questioning the scrapes since they'd mostly disappeared by the time she came racing through the territory to meet her father's call. No way in heck would she miss a fight training! The girl flew through the plains at top speed, bounding through the grass until she skidded to a halt several feet away from her parents, facing them with an open-mouthed grin. Settling herself back onto her haunches, Caelestis surveyed the scene before her. So far no one aside from her parents had really showed up. Boo! "Whatchya gunna teach, huh? Is it gunna be fun? Can I fight you?" she babbled to her father, dual colored eyes shining bright with excitement. She was so stoked for this! Would her father let her spar him? That would be super cool, way cooler that sparring random strangers. Walk. "Speak!" "Think."

Her green eyes nearly doubled in size as she heard the call, lifting her head from the hole she was digging in an attempt to unearth a large flower she'd intended to bring back to her den and try to replant outside of it. Making a mental note of where her flower was, Rhea padded towards the call with ears pricked curiously. This call came from in the borders and was from a pack member, so at least she wasn't gunna make another mistake by going to meet it. Yikes, she still felt a little embarrassed about that now that she thought about it.

Entering the space, she noted the two adults who were probably in charge of this, and the older girl sitting in front of them with her tail wagging like crazy. Glancing between the three, Rhea plopped herself down near Caelestis. So, this was a fight training? Rhea wasn't sure if she was interested in fighting, but it was probably a good idea to learn the very basics at least. Being able to protect yourself was good. Hey - where were her brothers? Those crazy boys might like this more than she would.

She had been rearranging and reorganizing one of the storage dens in the pack. She had to make sure everything was in order and that she didn't need to go collecting anymore herbs for the season. She also needed to make sure the herbs were properly stored and that none of them were moldy. She had already went through the other two storage dens so this was the last one to go through. She wanted to make sure everything was in order so that hopefully the pack could survive in attack or in mere illness. She was taking some things out of the den to discard them when the howl from a fellow pack mate rang out over the territory. It was for fight training and at first she ignored it. What was the need if she didn't plan to become a fighter for the pack? She went back to what she was doing as if she had never heard the call. Then suddenly she froze as a thought rushed forth into her mind. Basic fighting would be good knowledge to have in case she ran into trouble while herb hunting. It would be ideal actually. So she dropped everything and rushed off to the call. When she arrived so far it was two adults and two of the pups. She hoped that more showed up so it could be a lesson for all. "Talk" "You" Think

What was this all about? Corvus wasn't sure, but he knew at least one of his siblings would likely respond to the call and so he'd be damned if he didn't show up, too! Stubby little legs carried him quickly across Abaven territory. The call was pretty specific, for the pups of Abaven and any other novices who wanted to learn how to find, and Corvus definitely wanted to figure it out. Just the basics, at least. Actual fighting sounded pretty scary.

Picking up his pace, he shuffled his way on to the meeting, traipsing haphazardly through the plains - as though without a care in the world. And really, he had none! He was wearing a sloppy grin by the time he arrived, and quickly went to plop down near Rhea's side with a soft bark to greet her. "So, gonna fight me or wha'?" His grin widened, amused at the thought of wrestling with her instead of Aiden, for once.

Zephyr wasn't totally sure what to expect. To say he was shy would be a vast misunderstanding, but over the years he had gotten significantly more introverted, which really wasn't helping the current situation. At least Caelum was along for the ride too, and he offered his mate a smile before she spoke, which awarded her a quick frown. "Have you ever known me to be a chicken? I'm offended!" It was more a rhetorical question than anything, and he shook his head, scoffing softly at her implication. "I always have a plan, my love. Watch the master do his work!" No, he was definitely totally winging it, but he wouldn't admit that out loud - even if it was plainly obvious. He watched as the wolves started to trickle in. Caelestis was first, and he offered her a soft chuckle. "Patience, Cae - and no, you can't fight me, because you know as well as I that you would win every time." His grin returned, twofold now, as he moved to ruffle the fur right between her ears. Might as well humor her a bit, even if in a way, it was true; he couldn't imagine even having a serious spar with Caelestis when she was fully grown. He loved her far too deeply even for practice fighting, and she would certainly win every time for that reason alone. Only two other pups arrived, two of Lark and Lillianna's newest litter - if he remembered their names correctly - as well as an older one named Corentine. Well.. he certainly couldn't pit a child against a full grown woman, now could he? He'd have to exercise some creativity here. He waited a bit longer to see if anyone else would show, but it seemed this was all they were getting. While he'd hoped for a better turnout, he knew that he was little more than a newcomer to Abaven, so his lessons likely weren't priority. Ah, well, at least some had shown up! "Alright now! Uh - thank you for coming," Zephyr started, somewhat stiffly. He was out of practice with those whole leadership thing after so long, but he realized quickly that this more formal persona he'd worked up in his head wasn't gonna fly. Especially not with his kid here. "I know you guys probably want to jump right in to the fighting part. The fun stuff, right?" He was sure Caelestis would be excitedly bouncing up and down by now in agreement. "But.. you need to know that real fighting is nothing at all like play fighting. I mean that. It's scary, not fun, and before you learn how to fight you need to learn how to defend yourself. Now, if you know an opponent is about to strike you, what do you think you should do first?" Zephyr watched as the group tried to set their defenses. Some, of course, might have an idea of what to do, but surely they'd be missing things too. "One of the most important things to remember is to protect your vital organs. Mostly your throat and underbelly. You'll want to get used to lowering your head and tucking it toward your chest, like this, and keeping your weight low to the ground," he spread his weight to all four limbs, hunkering down slightly as his head tilted toward the earth. "Anyone have any idea what else might be important to do when setting up for a fight?" "Talk" "You" Think

As soon as the older wolf started to speak, Corvus tried to focus and listen as best as he possibly could.. which was alarmingly difficult for the young boy. He fidgeted as he sat next to Rhea, eyes comically wide as he listened to Zephyr as he started speaking. What could this old dude possibly know about fighting? He didn't think much, but the way he spoke about it made it sound like he might know something..

At the mention of jumping into fighting, Corvus would nod his head eagerly. He wanted to get big and strong like his mom dad! He wanted to be able to defend his parents, as well as his brother and sister, at all costs. But Zephyr went on to explain that fighting was scary, and they needed to learn to defend themselves first. He frowned, slightly disappointed that he wouldn't get to wrestle Rhea right away. Instead he tried to focus on what the old male was demonstrating - keeping his weight low and his head tucked to protect his throat. Corvus tried to imitate him, though he did so a bit dramatically, head jutting down low against his chest. "Oh, I know!" He chirped up, head lifting. "You wanna make sure you wrinkle your nose, like this!" He scowled and let his muzzle wrinkle up as he did his best job at sneering in Zephyr's direction

Rhea's little tail wagged vigorously at the arrival of her brother, a smile forming on her normally cautious and stoic face. Corvus was fun, she was glad he was here too, though... Where was Aiden? He should come too! The girl giggled as Covus asked if she was gunna fight him and nodded dramatically, "Yeah, I'm gunna beat ya up so prepare yourself!" Normally she wasn't so enthusiastic about roughhousing, but the nervous energy she felt as the training began manifested itself in a sort of bravado meant to help her ignore her reservations. Rhea wasn't a fighter, but, that was probly the exact reason why she ought to participate in learning the basics.

The lesson started then, and the green-eyed child listened intently to everything the man said, soaking it up like a little sponge. Fighting is scary, but it's also important. Okay. Scary was definitely the easier part to digest. In real fighting, you actually got hurt. Lots more than when playing - the bites would be real and they'd hurt bad. A slight tremble ran through her little body but she shook it off when the man demonstrated part of the defense stuff.

Standing up and following her brother's lead Rhea would tuck her chin much more neatly, legs spreading out relatively evenly though her front legs were a bit too far forward. Glancing at Corvus, she copied his wrinkled muzzle, eyes narrowing a bit too to protect the shimmering orbs from harm. After thinking for a second she would shyly chirp, "Oh, uh, and pull your ears back to keep them safe from gettin' grabbed at." She demonstrated the action, tucking hers flat against her skull. That lesson she learned in one of the early scuffles with her brothers. Ears were an easy target if you left them unprotected.

Ears fell flat as the girl huffed far too loudly, "Awww, come ooon, we don't know that for sure" Half begging, half challenge, all masterfully crafted words and tones though she somehow doubted even her best begging would get him to change his mind. Sneezing at him in retaliation for the messed up fur she now sported, Caelestis spun in a circle, then began shifting her weight back and forth across her paws in eager anticipation as she waited for the others to gather.

By the time some little kids and a woman who looked a bit older than herself would arrive, Caelestis was practically bursting at the seams! "Let's get this show on the road, guys!" The kids were sorta cute though, and she grinned at the pair as her dad began to speak. At last, fight lessons!

She listened to her father and nodded. Yes, real fights and spars were different. Even just her for fun spar with that red guy ages ago had been an interesting change of pace, but knowing you could take care of yourself was the best way to make the world a little less scary, and Caelestis had spent more than enough time learning about scary stuff. The pups gave their answers to Zephyr's question which she thought were pretty good for little kids. Pausing a moment in case anybody was gunna speak up before her, the young woman would soon seize her chance to give her own thoughts. "Bend your joints slightly, to help your balance and stay prepared to move more easily," the girl would display the slight bending of her wrists and hocks, leaning slightly in several directions to show how she could more easily take off in any given direction, "N' keep your head and tail even with your spine! If your heads too far down you could get knocked on your face cause your not balanced." Her last words were said while eyeing Rhea as the girl tried to mimic Caelestis but wasn't quite aligning her head right. When the problem was fixed Caelestis grinned and nodded. Much better.

Anything else? Yes, yes there was. It would be rude to take all the answers though, right?

Chuckling at the exchange between her mate and daughter, Caelum looked on as the group formed one wolf at a time. It wasn't much of a turn-out, but, it was a start. The woman could hardly complain. Maybe if this went well it would boost Zeph's confidence and they could do more in the future.

He began the lesson, while those assembled looked on with interest. It was so fun to see the interested expressions on the younger wolves' faces. A tinge of nostalgia tickled at her mind. It was like before, training the younger pack members, just like back when she and Zephyr was so young and bright-eyed. How young had they been when they started the pack? Corentine's age? Younger? Goodness.

Caelum grinned as the pups gave their answers and Caelestis only barely managed to let them finish before adding her own contribution. Caelum would allow some time for Corentine to give her thoughts as well, all the while smiling lightly at the group of young learners.

Once they were finished, Caelum would add her thoughts before Zeph went on. "Very good, all of you! Make sure when you're setting your defenses to try and remember all of them. It never hurts to overdo it, but it'll cost you to not remember the right things. Practice is the best way to commit them to memory. Set them one at a time, from nose to tail, then do it all again." Not always the most fun way to spend an afternoon, but necessary to cement it as habit and know each action forward and backwards to make it instinctual in a real fight.

When it came down to it, Zephyr truly wanted to be sure these kids stood half a chance at defending themselves against an enemy. Especially Caelestis. He eyed her a bit longer than the others as they tried to answer, though his gaze snapped back to Corvus as the young boy spoke up. His expression was far from threatening, and he chuckled slightly - though he wasn't totally wrong. "You got it! Anything you do to tense your muscles will help brace you against an attack. Likewise, when you're wrinkling your nose - and, like Rhea said, keeping your ears pinned back - you make it harder for an enemy to grab on to those parts of your body." Caelestis had more advanced answers, as he expected, and he nodded in his daughter's direction. "Bending your joints is important. Being too relaxed is always a bad idea, but being too tensed up and keeping your limbs straight and locked will let your opponent knock you over just as easily." A slight grin pulled at his muzzle, proud of his daughter's insight. He glanced over at Caelum as she spoke up. "Like she said, set your defenses as best as you can with what has been brought up today, and we'll both judge how you're doing to help you improve." Perhaps not the most exciting lesson, but the basics were just as important as the more interesting combat lessons, and he'd rather his own daughter know how to keep herself safe and defended before teaching her how to harm another effectively. "Talk" "You" Think

The child was pleased that she'd given a good answer, and happily drank in everything the others said in hopes of learning all she could from this training. The defenses part she was enjoying, though the whole hurting others and getting hurt bit wasn't quite as exciting to the dark-faced girl. Her ears swiveled over to the older yearling who gave more advanced suggestions than those she and her brother came up with. Kinda made Rhea wonder if this girl had done real fighting before or something. Sure seemed like somebody who'd enjoy that sort of thing, with the way she was all ablaze with excitement like that.

After trying to mimic Caelestis' movement and being a bit off, Rhea felt heat rising to her cheeks as the girl pointedly corrected her, but soon she was too invested to feel embarrassed. When the man leading the training asked them to demonstrate their defenses, Rhea would scrunch up her little face determinedly, side-eyeing the apparently fight-savvy yearling for hints.

First she'd let her ears fall back and pin to her skull, then she wrinkled her nose up in a puppy snarl like Corvus had done. Her eyes narrowed a lot but that was more incidental from the way her expression changed when she was trying to focus than because she was using it as a defense. Going to bend her joints slightly so they were loose and ready to move, she noted the older girl shifting the way her legs sat under her body and studied it for a moment. The limbs were move centered under Cael's shoulders and hips now. Rhea would mimic the move to the best of her ability and also remember to lower her head - not too far this time - and tail even with her spine. Her shoulders fell back a bit as she leaned forward eagerly, tail breaking form it's position for a moment to wag hopefully. Waas this right?

The little kids were pretty cute the way they tried so hard to get the right answers. When her father spoke again she'd fix him with her eager mismatched gaze, tail still fanning the air as though it might not have an off button. Yeah, it was a lesson on the basics, and yeah she was pretttty sure she'd figured most of that stuff out by now, but honestly it was almost too easy to get excited about topics she liked. Call it fire or passion, whatever it was Caelestis had it in spades. Well, for the topics she cared about anyway. Other stuff... not so much.

Rhea seemed to take her little correction pretty well, and even cast a green eye over in search of answers when they were asked to demonstrate their defenses. If that didn't fan the flames of one's ego nothing would, oh my. Never one to miss an opportunity to, er, display her knowledge to the public, Caelestis would slip seamlessly into her best defensive posture.

Ears back, eyes narrowed, lips pulled into a snarl that was a little more fierce than the one's the still pudgy-cheeked kids could produce. Her hackles raised down her spine as her legs moved to rest equidistant beneath her with joints bent slightly for mobility and to lower her center of gravity. Head and tail aligned with her spine - and oh, she almost forgot to tuck her chin!

Once she was set, the girl would sidestep as gracefully as she could. Perhaps not quite the grace and fluidity of a fully trained fighter, but good for yearling with training that was sparse at best! Moving towards Caelum she'd drop her snarl long enough to ask, "Am I fierce yet, ma?" She could almost hear her mother thinking something about how couldn't be surprised the seriousness didn't last. Probably accompanied by a great big inward sigh.