TIED TO WHAT IS LATE, AIN'T YOU NOW

Aureus stalked around the perimeter of the garden, trying to untangle the myriad of scents that lingered there. There were obviously the scents of various plants and herbs and of the healers who tended to them. Yet, this afternoon he caught a dark, musky scent that shouldn't have been there. "Smells like bear." He glanced at Kali and Griff who weren't to far off. The jaguar stalked up to him, sniffing around the same area before nodding thoughtfully. "Yes, that seems to be the case. Should we call Malleus?"

Aureus sat down to think over the question. He was getting old enough and strong enough he didn't feel he should have to call his dad over every single thing amiss. After all, he was a soldier now. He needed to be able to attend to his duties and as he had a nearly flawless battle record he felt his odds were good. Even so, he wished there was another wolf to accompany him in case something went wrong.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It had been a few days since she'd done a patrol. Mostly because she'd been trying to work on her battle skills. So far, she had beat Malleus but lost against Pyrrhic. And she had beat some others that didn't reside in the pack, too. Her confidence as a fighter had been growing, but there were still some things that tugged at the back of her mind. Since one of the mortal challenges at the battlefield, she couldn't erase the image of how intently the two Jaguars that had been with the masked wolf stared at her. She was no different from the others in her family, so why had they been looking at her like that? Shaking her head to get rid of the thoughts for now, she continued around the border until she saw one of her younger cousins up ahead. She headed towards him, but slowed a bit when she recognized the bear stench. These things were everywhere, weren't they? Wrinkling her nose, she approached Aureus and dipped her head in greeting to him. "Hello, Aureus. You smell that?" How could he not? Bears always smelled wildly different than they did, it was hard to miss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Speech"

TIED TO WHAT IS LATE, AIN'T YOU NOW

Aureus decided to track the bear and at least do a bit of reconnaissance. Just as he was about to set out he noticed one of his cousins, Proserpina approach. He dipped his head in greeting, honestly glad to see someone else about. He wasn't quite sure how she felt about tracking a bear but it wouldn't hurt to ask. Maybe it would be a good bonding experience. Aureus had to admit he had a tendency to stick close to his immediate family, namely his twin which wasn't all that surprising.

"Hello, Aureus. You smell that?"

He nodded his head. "I was thinking of tracking the bear and gathering a little intel. If it's headed out of the territory there's no reason to bother it but if it's not we may want to drive it off. Care to join me?"