Malik walked along at his father's side, looking around wide eyed at the fat, soft snow flakes that were falling around them, a big grin on his face. "Look at how much of it there is!" he exclaimed, his tail wagging a mile a minute. For the most part his parents had kept them around Auster in the warmer regions, or so he had been told by his parents during his extensive questioning of what other kinds of places were out there in the world, but as soon as he was told how it was actually winter in the northern continent and there was something called "snow" everywhere he just had to go see it! He talked his father into taking him up there and as an added bonus it was just the two of them! He loved his sisters of course, but who wouldn't like a little one on one time with their dad?

He loved going hunting with his dad so of course that had to be included in their trip too. They came out to this open prairie, but immediately he noticed that not only was there not a bunch of trees or brush to hide behind like he was used to, but they stood out drastically against the stark white backdrop of all the snow. On top of that everything just smelled cold. He smelled around a bit and everything just smiled wet and damp and cold—almost like any scents that might have been around were covered up by the snow or the scents couldn't stick to the snow at all. He turned his light brown and mint hazel eyes up toward his father who he was quickly catching up to in height, giving him a questioning look. "How're we gonna find something to hunt? Or hide from them out here?"

WC: 305
Total: 305 / 1500

"Malik of the Sea"

His children were growing up so fast... That was the thought that passed through Kane's mind while he walked northward from the southern lands into the prairie with Malik at his side. His boy, the little pup he remembered nursing at his mother's side, was now about halfway to matching his own dire height, with no signs of stopping any time soon. It brought a proud, fatherly smile to the older wolf's face as he watched his little doppelgänger at his side, reminded so much of himself in his son. Youthful, enthusiastic, eager to take on the world. Malik was the spitting image of his father in more ways than one. And part of that eagerness came in the form of an intense wanderlust and drive to do. So when Malik had asked to go see the snowy northern lands of Boreas, Kane did not hesitate to agree, and off the two males went to let young Malik see a true winter for the first time. The lands of Boreas were cold, gray, and snowy, with a light flurry of heavy flakes actively falling when they arrived. The world was quiet, many animals having gone into hibernation or hiding. A gentle arctic wind rippled across the open land. These were the harsh hunting conditions of the north he remembered from his travels with his tribe.

Malik exclaimed at how much snow there was everywhere, and Kane chuckled beneath his breath, every exhale causing a small cloud of condensation to form from the end of his muzzle. "Yes, snow falls like rain, but covers the ground in a blanket, much like how the petals from flowering trees do in the spring," he explained to his enthusiastic son, following just behind and to the side of his miniature look-alike to allow Malik to take the lead and make his own discoveries, just as he had been raised to do by his tribe. "Hmm, that is a dilemma, isn't it?" Kane mused when Malik asked about hunting something in the open like this. "Much of the shrubbery we could use has receded or died, and freshly fallen snow acts like rain to mask scents. Winter is often a harder time for hunters because of those reasons. But what the season does to hinder us, it can also be used to aid us." Kane gestured with a large paw behind them, to the trail of paw prints they had been leaving in their wake. "Though it's more difficult to track prey by scent right now, is it significantly easier to see where they've been. It also means we will have our scents masked from them as well."

Kane gestured with a tip of his muzzle farther north into the expansive prairie. "Why don't you take the lead, Little Hunter. See what you can find. The winter will put all of your senses to the test, so you will need to be keen and alert. Once we find something, then the real test of our prowess begins." He smiled, flashing his big sabered teeth to his son and waved him forward to begin, following at his side all the while. This would be a good learning opportunity for the juvenile hunter who wanted to be like his sire. He would let Malik find a trail of something for them, then he would show him how wolves hunted in the winter.

WC: 565
Total: 870 / 1500

"Kaneonuskatew"

As his mate, Tamsyn may enter his threads not marked as Private.
____________________

Malik loved listening to his father's lessons and as he explained the ins and outs of the difficulties hunting in winter brought he looked up to his dad dutifully and absorbed it all. When Kane pointed behind them toward the paw prints that they had left in their wake in the soft snow, Malik turned his head to look behind him, his gaze following the trail of prints all the way back to their paws. It was kind of like the paw prints that they would leave in the sand on the beach where they had stayed when they were younger, but even more distinct. Bringing his attention back up to his father's face he listened while he was told about how they could use tracks like that to help track down prey that had passed through the snow covered region as well and how they could take advantage of the snow masking their scents as well. A little grin tugged at his lips at the realization, a soft sound of intrigue escaping him while his tail wagged.

His interest and intrigue quickly turned into barely contained excitement as his dad gestured ahead of them and told him to take the lead to see what he could find, making his chest puff out proudly with an even wider, toothy grin across his lips as he was called a 'little hunter'. All he really wanted was to be as good as his dad one day and live up to the hunter title and skill that he had so getting to be in the lead of a hunt to track down their prey was a big responsibility for him that he was very eager to rise up to. He gave a firm nod and turned his hazel gaze out toward the land that stretched in front of them. He focused in and tried to remember everything his dad had taught him so far as he kept going, making sure to stay extra quiet and move as carefully as he could, leaving just the soft crunch of the snow under their paws as the only sound that came from them as they moved.

He kept his eyes peeled for any variations in the smooth surface of the snow, hoping to find prints like theirs that could lead him to something of interest, and after a bit of searching he finally spotted a bunch of hoof prints that made a trail through the snow, their paths mixing and crossing over one another in places so it was difficult to find one trail in particular to follow. But, that meant there was a whole herd of whatever this was! With his tail wagging gently behind him, he studied the prints for a moment, his head tipping to the side while he tried to figure out which way the trail was leading to. Finally he found a set that were clear and distinct enough in the snow to see the shape of the hoof print where he could tell which way its pointed 'toes' were facing. He grinned and gave a glance back at his father before he forged ahead, following the mess of snow prints toward what he hoped would be their prey.

When they crested a small hill, he stopped when he saw the figures of maybe five or so deer all clustered together, some of them with their heads down grazing off of a small bush that had managed to hold on to some of its leaves. A couple of them had their heads up, looking around and watching, but they traded off occasionally to snack on the bit of foliage.  He was so excited that he had tracked them down all on his own that he could hardly contain himself, but he didn't want to give away their position so he managed to do just that! He looked up at his dad with a happy grin, looking to him to see what they should do next.

WC: 664
Total: 1534 / 1500

"Malik of the Sea"