Rhyme returned to the beach at the slower moving part of the rapids to find Motif. He had stolen Poem earlier to take her and Theory on a bit of a training session and now he was fulfilling his promise to take Motif as well. The girls were doing well, their training progressed well. However now that he had the both of them in front of him training at the same time he wondered if Theory would take the warrior’s path. If Poem didn’t take that path he’d happily eat Imperia’s nest. She reminded him so much of when he was younger, how much he’d looked up to his father and dreamed of being just like him one day.

The slate alpha tried to bury those memories deeper down. Now a days he suppressed his memories of Imperium and his father. He was forging his own path and creating a brighter future for his children. He vowed they would not go through what had been forced on him. They would never be beholden to a master, and he would never abandon them because of a name.

He felt his hackles raising and he forcefully lowered them as he approached Motif and her salamanders. Rhyme put on a smile as he looked down at her from the bank of the river. ”Ready for training, little one?”

Poem was whisked away for training, and Motif couldn’t help feeling a little left out. She spent so much of her day following around her older sister, that she wasn’t entirely certain what to do with herself. She ended up quietly sitting by the stream, hunting for salamanders. Their bodies fascinated her, with their funny colours, and their oily textures. They moved so fast that she might find one, only to blink and realise it was gone again.

She had just managed to pounce on one, and was holding it, wiggling, beneath her paws. Her prison was gentle enough not to hurt, and hard enough to keep it there. She looked up when she realised her father was approaching, and grinned when he mentioned training. She raised her paw, and released her catch, which shot away like a bird in a divebomb.

”Yes!” she crowed happily, wiggling her tail as she stepped up to her father, and waited for him to lead her to Poem.

Rhyme smiled proudly down at his young daughter as she shifted her gaze his way and beamed up at him. She gladly dropped her salamander hunting in favor of training, something he hadn’t expected. Her eagerness to learn gave him hope for her future and that of Abaven. Motif wiggled as she scrambled up the bank towards him, the slate alpha back away, leaving her room to fully rejoin him on the bank.

”Have you been practicing any?” He asked her curiously as he lowered his haunches to the ground. Rhyme didn’t have any intention of going anywhere, this lesson was just he and Motif. He had mostly gone over defenses with Poem and Theory, and would likely continue that trend with Motif, Verse, and Noir as well.

She pushed against his forepaw rather then stopping a pace back, rubbing her head against him, before looking up at him with a bright, innocent smile. She loved Rhyme, there was something exciting about him, he told her off less then Mum, and wasn’t afraid of new ideas. She had a feeling that if it was up to him, they would have been allowed outside of Abaven by now. She was just.. So excited to learn.

When he asked if she had been practising, her guilt instantly showed on her face, as she blushed a deep crimson. busted she knew her face had already given her away. She scuffed a paw in the earth in front of herself, and knew that Rhyme would be more okay about hearing this then Shaye. “I.. I did, actually. I got to practice my defense and leap at a mother honey badger, but it wasn’t like, a real fight or anything” she was quick to sooth him.

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The young girl’s affection for her father was obvious to him as she beamed up at him with her innocent smile. He couldn’t help but to offer her a playful nuzzle as he settled down in front of her. When the guilty look overcame her Rhyme was sure he was about to hear her say that she hadn’t been practising. Of course that also would have been a lot easier to swallow than the words she gave him after. She had gone up against a honey badger.

Rhyme felt his jaw drop but he tried to recover before Motif would grasp that he had been so taken aback. Even he would have given second thoughts about taking on one of those ruffians. He’d seen them take on full grown leopards with no remorse. For a moment he thanked the powers that be for sparing his daughter’s life.

”You know that was very dangerous of you right?” He asked her softly, wanting to gauge how much awareness she had before offering any kind of real scolding. ”How did you defend yourself?” She didn’t look like she had sustained any real injury either, so he wanted to know how well she knew her defenses or if she had just gotten lucky.

Her father's mouth widened in surprise, and she ducked her head, wondering if she had misread him. She had thought he would be proud, but now she had a feeling she was about to get into trouble. She flattened her ears to her skill and scuffed a paw in the dirt, looking up at him remorsefully. Her extra long tail sweeped the earth behind her slowly, as through too cautious to continue its happy parade.

“I know dad” she said “But it wasn’t a real fight or anything. We-I made friends with a baby honey badger and the momma just told us off, she didn’t mean uhh-me, any real harm.” she lied. That honey badger had been pissed when it had seen them playing with its baby, but no need to tell her pappa that. She was really bad at this lying thing, she needed to work on. She just had to hope to hell he wasn’t paying attention to the ‘we’ and ‘us’ that slipped in.

She was more than happy to move the conversation on to defenses, and quickly moved her paws into position, digging in her toes and dipping her knees for balance. “Like this, Da” she said, diggin in her chin and ruffling up the fur near her neck.


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His young pup was good at looking cute and innocent as she realized she had slipped up. Rhyme had to mention something, and he didn’t like chastising her. However, he was glad to know that she was at least slightly aware of the danger she had been in. She knew, and continued, stuttering in places as she explained what happened. Likely her slips meant that Poem was with her. When was Motif in trouble and Poem wasn’t there along side her. ”With Poem right?” He wanted her to know that he knew she was covering for her sister.

Honey badgers always took their fighters seriously, Rhyme eyed Motif suspiciously, but didn’t press any further as she shifted and showed him her defenses. He nodded approvingly. ”Well, your defenses are in tip top shape. Just raise your tail a little and maybe tuck your chin a little more.” He praised her as he nosed her tail up higher and circled to push her chin closer to her neck. ”No more Tangling with Honey Badgers okay?” He teased as he kissed her cheek affectionately.

“Just me, da” she said softly, hoping the quieter she said it, the less he would hear the lie. She couldn’t, she simply wasn’t able, to drag her sister into any sort of telling off. She loved Poem too much, she would always stand up for her. Just like Poem stood up to her, protected her from the world.

She raised her tail as she was bid, but the long flowing thing still grazed the earth despite her best efforts. Her tail was much longer than anyone else in her family could boost. She tucked her chin, even if she did feel it was a bit restricting and uncomfortable. Still, she smiled as her father praised her, and he would kiss her cheek gently and she would nuzzle her head into his gesture. ‘I’ll try pappa, I promise” she said, after all she couldn’t guarantee her life would never hold honey badgers in it again, but she would certainly attempt to avoid rolling with them. After all, they were rather intense and scary.

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That Motif was willing to lie so readily to him about her sisters involvement was both endearing and alarming. Alarming in that she was so serious about telling the lie, but endearing in that she would allow herself such discomfort to protect her sister. He narrowed his gaze but didn’t press any further, he might still have a word with Poem, and Shaye for that matter. She would want an update on the lesson anyway.

Motif did her best to replicate the instructions he gave her and me smiled down at her. She also promised to try and stay away from honey badgers. It was probably the best he was going to get. These girls were going to be the death of him one way or another.

”Alright, well I’ll take that.” He mused gently as he moved forward to nuzzle her affectionately behind the ear. ”Come on, we’ll go see if your mom and Poem have had a bite to eat yet.” He nudged her gently in the direction of Shaye’s den.

-exit rhyme?-

He didn’t push her any further, but a simple look into the concern in his eyes told her he hadn’t brought it. Regardless, he didn’t force her to oust her sister, and let it lie. She reached up and licked his muzzle under his chin. “I love you dad” she said softly, a silent thank you for his acceptance.

With that, the fighting lesson was over, and she hoped he hadn’t cut it short because of her lie. She flushed a little, but was easily nudged in his chosen direction, and fell out of her stance as she scampered towards the den. ‘Last one there gets the gristle cuts!” she shouted at Rhyme, before leaping into a headlong run.

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