While the majority of their focus had been on constructing suitable lodgings before the onset of winter, that didn't mean Modesty would allow herself to neglect the outer reaches of their new domain. She looked over the wetlands wondering how many of these birds would stay for the winter and how many would migrate. Their proximity to the desert kept a warmth in the air and she would be interested to see if the marshy ground would freeze over. Ducks swum between the rushes and the sound of birdsong was everywhere. It put the leader at ease, for surely if something troublesome was afoot, the birds would cease their song.

“Speech.”

The troublesome little thunderhead of a wolf would never voice his displeasure with the pack's relocation, but nonetheless it ate at him. His greenhouse! His eel pit! Now completely unguarded, open for any wanderers or vagabonds to destroy as they saw fit. In his day to day, he did his best not to think about it. Admittedly, the young male spent quite a bit of his time away from the newly established territories in order to check on his projects on the old island. It ate up a lot of time, and already he could see that the effects of his neglect were being felt by the denizens of his little realm. Perhaps it was time to establish a new sanctuary, closer to home. Improve upon old designs. That was what brought him to the estuary, where he also happened to stumble across his mother. She had been handling her leadership role well, as far as he was concerned. Hardly an ambitious fellow, and uninterested in politics, Nimbus wasn't particularly chuffed either way. So long as he was allowed to tend to his garden and his critters, the rest of his packmates could do as they pleased. He trotted up to his mother with a warm chuff bubbling up from his slender chest, grinning like a sunbeam. "Hey mum," he chirped as he sidled up to her and sought to lean his diminutive frame against her left forelimb. "anything on your agenda for the rest of the day?" he questioned idly, his rosy gaze drifting across the landscape as he spoke. There were a few specific creatures that might inhabit the territory that he was hoping to find, not necessarily to take any back with him- not yet. This was a scouting mission of sorts. Getting his metaphorical ducks in a row. Oh, ducks! Maybe he could tame some ducks in the upcoming seasons. "Nimbus" raindrops by sqdpxl

Not the smallest of her children but one of the smaller ones to be sure, Nimbus's attention was met with a smile, a lowering of her head to plant a kiss against his forehead. The question was met with a contemplative sound, the birds continuing to go about their business despite the two predators standing right there in their midst. "I was going to talk to Sakana about where he wants to build his gardens, then check on the cows, make sure your brother's dogs aren't harassing them, and then I was going to see if Jael wanted us to try and catch some ducks, or if we are better waiting until the spring, and taking some eggs to try and hatch so then the babies don't startle and fly away. What do you think?" She put the question to her son, to see if he might have any solutions to their upcoming problems.

"speech"

He let out a pleased grumbling sound as his mom placed a little kiss atop his head, his thin tail wagging lightly. Things had been a bit tumultuous, he knew his mom was stressed lately. Could see it in the curve of her shoulders and the crease of her brow. It wasn't his place to intrude on the problems of leadership, he was young and inexperienced, and so he would stay quiet about things unless asked. Which just so happened to occur in that same moment. Soft, rounded ears perked as he took in the laundry list of things that his mother was going to be doing today. Pale pink gaze drifted to the waterfowl as they were mentioned, tracking the movements of a few mallard drakes on the water. He hummed thoughtfully, leaning away from his mother so he could take a small step towards the water. After all, he'd been thinking about the same thing today! "Well, we could do both." he offered tentatively, brows furrowed in thought. "If we start getting them used to our presence, we'll be able to harvest down from their nests, or take a few eggs in the spring, and collect any dead ones from the area, and they won't attack us- or they won't attack until after we take their eggs, at least." he snorted to himself at the image of his mom and the little dog-lady fleeing the estuary with a dozen geese and ducks in hot pursuit. "Taking the eggs in the spring is a good idea, since the babies will imprint on us and won't be afraid. But I also think it's worth making friends with the ones who already live here, to make our lives easier in the spring. If we leave some vegetables and herbs in a specific spot every day or so, they'll think that we aren't just here to eat them." by this point, he was simply planning aloud. Whether or not his mother appreciated his idea, he was going to start feeding the ducks. Maybe try to befriend the swans that he'd seen stopping by as they migrated. The estuary was going to empty out rapidly by the end of the season, but the fowl that remained would become acclimated to the presence of the wolves that occupied the territory. He liked the idea of being able to fish without scaring away the ducks... Peering over his narrow shoulder, the greyscale waif beamed at his mom for a moment. Nim was hoping that she'd approve, he wouldn't admit it, but he wanted his parents to be proud of him- even if he wasn't a great warrior like his other siblings. "Nimbus" raindrops by sqdpxl

Modesty listened to her son, sparing him the weight of her gaze as she took in the estuary, it held a lot of promise with the right caretakers. Smooth shelled turtles sunned themselves on a log that protruded from the brackish waters, and the glimmer of fish could be seen beneath the surface. It wasn't just the birds that made this place a boon, it was teaming with life.

She nodded along as he spoke of feeding the birds, to get them used to their presence, "It's a good idea. We'll need to make sure the food doesn't go mouldy, we don't want a repeat of the chickens." She cautioned, surveying the area to see if there was somewhere they could build some sort of shelter where they could place the food. There were some reaches of land that were more solid than the others, she was sure Dread would figure it out. "Perhaps if we designed some sort of shelter, something that could offer some protection from the elements, from predators, maybe they would even choose to nest in there?" She was sure Jael could come up with something, and there were enough paws about to help her bring the concept to life, but would it be worth the effort? The resources?

Modesty never spent much time observing the habits of other animals, but she knew her son did, and she wanted him to feel comfortable voicing his opinion around her. She wanted the same for all her children (well, maybe not Deluge, she didn't need that girl voicing her opinion to know what it was), so she waited to see what Nimbus would suggest, perhaps he would like to take the lead on this little project? Perhaps not.

"speech"