Asahi was nosing through the underbrush full of pine needles. Trying to catch any sign of the prey she was tracking. She must have lost the scent at some point a few trees back.

Her ears perked up at a strange noise coming from the nearby stream leading to the falls. It was a soft sound as if someone was clicking round rocks together in the same rhythm and a fluttering of wings along the ground. A strange cry. Asahi looked at Jiro wondering if he caught the same sound and was just as drawn as she was to investigate it.

The girl pulled ahead, loping through the bushes she hopped up onto an old log and peered at the gurgling stream, several bounds away. A curious and bloody scene opened up before her and she sank back for a moment. Wasn't this part of Auster full of bears? Did they come across one of their feedings? The same gravely rock colliding sound and a flutter of wings was the only sound over the bubbling water.

She peered over the log again and swallowed at the image of a bloody river bank. The body of a lemur slumped limply against a rock, blood smeared around and on it.

A flash of bright blue caught her attention as Asahi found the owner of the strange sound scrambling on the ground and fluttering lame wings, breathing heavily, also smeared in blood. What would Jiro think about this? She didn't smell any bears nearby.

Speech // thought // Japanese

Jiro followed along behind Asahi at a leisurely pace. He was letting her track the prey for now since she needed more practice at it. So far, she was doing good until she went left and the animal had gone right. Noticing how she stuck her nose under some pine needles, he stands back, turning to look away so he can stifle his chuckle. Ah Asahi, she'd get it soon enough.

Before he has a chance to give her some pointers, the rhythmic crying noise and flapping of wings also catch his attention. Interesting was an understatement. He meets Asahi's gaze for a quick moment as they share the same expression. Following close behind her in case it's a trap, he easily navigates through the brush and over log, barely lifting his paws. When they approached the stream, Jiro lets out a quiet gasp at the scene. Instinctually, he stands close to Asahi in a protective manner, silver gaze lifting to scan their surroundings for predators.

When no bear or large cat scent came to him, he relaxed slightly and stepped forward to peer at the scene on the muddy riverbank. The dead lemur has his lips turning downward into a frown and his brows drawing together in confusion. This didn't appear like a feeding of any sort... He's about to go closer to the lemur when the flutter of wings draws his gaze to the bird who is also blood and cannot seem to fly. Jiro glances to Asahi for a moment before moving closer to the bird.

"You poor thing," he murmurs as the bird screeches loudly in his face, terrified that it would be injured further. "We won't hurt you. We can try to help," his voice is soft, tender, before looking to Asahi. "If we figure out what happened to the lemur, we can probably figure out how to help the bird," the boy says, concern clearly written on his expression as he looks back at the two injured animals.

Asahi held her breath as she ducked and stayed close to her brother. Trusting him to keep his promise to protect her. He golden eyes swung about until they both concluded that whatever danger there was, it had passed.

She watched as Jiro pressed forward to investigate the scene. When his eyes meet hers she slinks over the log, away from her hiding place, and approaches the fluttering panicked bird as Jiro talks to it. She tilts her head at the poor thing and hums a light tone to it. To her soft high tune, the bird stops screeching in their faces and fluffs its feathers out, watching them with a wide beak and harsh fast breathing.

There was a lot of blood around its face, but its beak seemed fine and its little eyes blinked back at them fine as well. She glanced back at the lemur and carefully approached it. Three bright blue feathers were grasped tightly in its paw. The blood had leaked out of both of its eyes and a ragged slash across its throat.

"I don't think a predator did this." She commented to Jiro, her black nose approaching the corpse to smell it. It smelled of bird and blood and lemur. And possibly fruit as its last meal.

She glanced back at the bird and noticed one of its legs was curled up tightly into its feathers and its wing was held at an odd angle.

She went back to the bird and hummed the tune again, trying to get a better idea of what had happened.

"It's okay, let us help." It started to understand as she held out a paw to gently open the strong wing, then gingerly looked at the odd wing. She carefully lifted the bird up as she got it to sit on her wrist and it let its foot be examined. It was missing one tiny toe, but that was hardly what could have accounted for all the blood on it. She had an idea of what happened.

"I think it's one of those Blue Roller Birds." She mentioned decisively. She had always been fascinated by their aerial acrobatics. Their compact size relative to a crow endeared them to her.

Speech // thought // Nihongo

Along with Asahi, Jiro takes time to look at both of the animals. Inspecting their injuries with his eyes, he too notices how this clearly couldn't have been a predator. The ragged slashes across the lemur were far too small for anything that ate meat. And the bird almost appeared as if its wounds were more offensive than defensive. Whatever had been attacking the duo had been out for blood, not a snack. Sniffing at the lemur, he too smells the scent of bird on the primate, but it didn't match the scent that lingered on the red bird that now perched on his sister's wrist.

Turning back to Asahi and their still-alive friend, Jiro watches as Asahi inspects the bird's injuries. He notices how the strong wing seems fine, but the other has clearly been damaged in a way that it might not heal properly. His deeper tone hums along with Asahi to help calm the bird who has since stopped shrieking and appears okay enough to continue letting them tend to its injuries.

"You really think they did that to the lemur?" Jiro questions gently though he too had noticed the blue feathers gripped tightly in the lemur's hand. He didn't know quite so much about the birds, but had seen their impressive acrobatics at one time or another. "Why do you suppose?" He asks, eyes turning back to the injured, but alive bird that continued to shiver and ruffle its feathers.

Asahi was mashing a paste with her teeth from plantain and dandelion while Jiro observed the carnage. She placed the paste over the tiny bleeding wound of the missing toe, and looked around for a light stick and some grass she could weave to set the bird's wing.

"Can you help me set its wing?" She asked, pulling a few cords of grass while the bird fluttered and clung to her wrist during her movements.

"I think the lemur caught it, and squeezed too tightly, breaking its wing. I think it pecked its eyes out then sliced its throat trying to get away. It lost a toe. The other claws are quite sharp. What do you think?" She mentioned smoothly, her voice holding no hesitance or stutters as she spoke to Jiro. He was probably the only one who heard her speak this much.

She quickly wove a grass string with her paws and waited for Jiro to find a good stick.

"What kind of calming herb do you think we could give it?" She asked him. This bird seemed pretty fierce to her! She loved its vibrant blue and purple-grey feathers. The colors are a stark contrast to her own bright koi fur. She knew some of their packmates had ravens as companions, did he catch any care tips about birds from them?

Speech // thought // Nihongo