It was a nice, sunny day today, though the spring air was still cool enough to not scorch her back too much. A perfect day for some fighting training for the kids. It would take a lot of teaching for the pups to be well-trained enough to properly represent them in -- and to be allowed out in -- even a friendly practice raid, as her and Mercury had discussed. On that subject, she still needed to speak with Art about their ideas. She wasn't nervous, exactly. She was just new to this. She wasn't sure exactly what her role entailed yet. She reminded herself that that was fine, considering it was a completely new rank for the Hallows. She would get to decide the finer details of what it meant to be a good Commander of the Hallows herself and hopefully leave aspirational pawsteps for whoever succeeded her. Which was scary in and of itself, but in a different way.

Letting out a deep breath, she stood alone in the courtyard and called for any pups who may want to get a lesson and maybe a spar today, depending on how they were doing and whether just one or multiple pups showed up. While she could spar one of them herself, it might be unfair if they had an idea of winning.

"Speech"

Elowen had been by the Grove and, much to her surprise, she made some friends. The first was a canine, a dog by the name of Ginger for her mostly red-brown coat. The other was a cardinal who, despite being female, bore the unique and bright red coloration of males of her species. She was a funny bird, insisting on being called Mama, short for Hot Mama. She had a lot of personality, but she was kind to both El and Ginger, almost like a mom to them. They were on their way back to the castle for Elowen to find her parents and reveal her new friends when she heard a curious call. She didn’t know the owner of the voice, but she was calling for any pups who wanted a fighting lesson. Elowen grinned, glancing towards Ginger and Mama. It was time to go! The girl arrived to find a pretty lady waiting for her in the courtyard. She was sure this was where the call had come from, and Elowen approached with a shine in her eyes. “You’re the one who called for a lesson? Can my friends join us?” She asked, gesturing to Ginger and Mama as her tail wagged behind her. Then, quickly realizing she hadn’t given her name, she looked back at the older femme again. “My name is Elowen by the way! It’s nice to meet you! These two are Ginger and Hot Mama!” "Talk," 'Think.'

Kipling had searched for something to hunt but unfortunately whenever he’d find a rabbit or bird they’d always get away.  The boy had finally found something he could catch though it wasn’t very impressive.  Did he even want to play with it more?  A howl came from their commander.  He liked Tika and he liked fighting!

Kipling picked up the box turtle between his paws, its head mostly hidden in the hole.  Kip placed the back of the turtle shell into his mouth still undecided about its fate.  For now, the turtle would get a free ride to where the training was being offered.  Maybe he’d just see if the turtle was still around after fight lessons.  If it was then he’d play with it more!
Kip sped along as quickly as he could manage but it took a little while.  When he imagined them starting without him the boy let out his own howl ‘coming!’.  Admittedly, it was probably a slurred message with a turtle in his mouth. He had just been doing expert hunting after all, so maybe he wasn’t at his fastest right now, alright?

Kip spotted Elowen and Tika, and promptly both dropped and forgot the little box turtle.   “I’m here!” his eyes shifted to Elowen, “Hey El,” and whatever he was about to tell her was lost as Kip’s gaze then turned curiously to the dog.  “Who’s this?” From there his gaze went back to Tika, “are we going to fight today?  I can beat El up.”  The comment was thrown in a manner of typical friendly sibling rivalry.  

"Kipling Carpathius"

The beautiful day is much too inviting to be stuck inside the huge, stone castle. That is why, when the call for pups to come join a lesson, rings out, Caladia is rolling in the long grass of the nearby plains. She giggles as she flops from side to side, wiggling her body into the dirt as she goes. The rains have been plentiful and have made the ground moist enough that there isn’t much dust to kick up but also, not too much to create puddles of mud. Right now, the girl is doing a great job of painting her hodgepodge-colored coat the dark, earthy hue of the ground.

When her aunt sings out the call, Callie shoots upright from where she is laying and turns to face the castle. Springing to her paws, she promptly falls over as her puppy coordination and short legs work against her. Huffing indignantly, the pup untangles her legs and attempts to gather her paws under herself again but this time with a lot less ‘spring’ and much more ‘stand’. Second time works and she puffs out her small chest, proud of such a grand accomplishment. Oh wait, no one can see her.

With her paws now under her, the girl gives her dirt riddled coat a good, hard shake so that she will be presentable for her aunt and almost ends up back on the ground. Oops. Many of the huge clods have been shaken free, so Caladia swiftly runs to where the lesson is taking place, not wanting to miss a moment of it. Arriving a little late, she finds Elowen and Kipling have already beaten her to the lesson. However, the girl doesn’t feel sad since she sees a golden opportunity to get a little revenge.

Putting on a small burst of speed, Callie aims for her three-legged sibling. Kip is distracted, asking way too many questions to notice her flying up from behind him. Small form leaps through the air as the mighty hunter tackles her unsuspecting prey, landing squarely on her brother’s back and knocking them both to the ground. Her body pins the boy and she nibbles a little roughly on one of his ears before standing up and moving to the side.

Seating herself in the little line, she turns her attention to Tika, a huge grin on her lips as she readies for the lesson and hopes that her aunt isn’t getting sick of seeing her. She just… has such cool lessons!


"Caladia Carpathius"

First to arrive was a pup Avantika hadn't had much experience with, who was followed by a coyote and a cardinal. She introduced herself as Elowen and her companions as Ginger and Hot Mama, whose name in particular made her laugh a little under her breath. Interesting. She yipped, calling her own birds down from their places in the sky and to her shoulders. "I'm Avantika, and this --" She nosed the small black falconet on her right, who puffed up his chest at the attention "-- is Kit, and the other one is Kaata." Kaata shook out her feathers in greeting.

There was a muffled howl, but Avantika recognized the voice. Kipling took a little while to arrive, but was practically glowing with excitement, dropping the turtle that had been clasped in his mouth and greeting her and Elowen. He had barely asked if they would be fighting today, declaring that he could beat up the other child, when Caladia raced up behind him. Avantika saw her as she approached, but did not warn Kipling, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of her mouth instead. It burst into a true grin when Callie tackled him, both of them falling to the ground. Soon enough the girl got back up and stood beaming up at Avantika.

"Since there's three of you here, I'm thinking we could have a melee spar," the Commander said. "All three of you against each other, all at the same time. What do you think about that?" She and her birds would be watching while they fought, looking for any places she could compliment them on or that would need improvement. "And," she added. "whoever wins will get to spar me after."

"Speech"

The wolf before her would introduce herself and Elowen smiled, gaze shifting to the birds that she had. They weren't the same as Hot Mama, but they were neat! Mama puffed up her own feathers as she focused her attention on the other birds. Ginger on the other paw grinned at them in a friendly manner. It was always good to see a wolf that got along with their companions. But it would seem they would not be alone for long as another child came bounding up and the dog glanced over at him with a head tilt.

Elowen glanced at him with a grin. "Hey Kip! This is Ginger, and this pretty red bird is Hot Mama. They're my new friends!" She was proud to introduce them as such too. Her tail wagged behind her, at least until her brother said he could beat her up. El huffed. "You can not!" She knew he wasn't being mean, but no way she would let him win. Ginger chuckled beside her. "She's been practicing. I'd be careful." The retriever told him.

Thankfully it seemed luck was on her side. Callie came in and pounced on their sibling before knocking him to the ground. El's grin widens and she lightly pokes at the earth in front of him with a paw. "Too bad, looks like Callie wins~" She was teasing him of course but she couldn't resist the urge to praise her sister's sneak attack.

Tika began to talk and mentioned a melee… a fight where they all fought each other at the same time. Elowen frowned at that. "But… if we were fighting like that… wouldn't there be teams?" The pup seemed to not understand, head tilted to one side. "It seems weird, Miss Tika…" Her words were honest for her thoughts but not unkind. She glanced at Kip and Callie. She has play-fought with them… but actual training? It wasn't as though Elowen thought she was incapable of sharpening her skills but… a "real" spar with them felt weird. But hmm... That was what this lesson was for, right? If her siblings were okay with it, she'd give it a try!