Morning washed the rocky terrain in golden light, illuminating the world as well as her target. Halla lay crouched among the red rock formations, watching a small herd of bighorn sheep. The moved expertly across the dry, rocky terrain. There was a wounded male, whose blood had alerted her to the herd's presence. He was a sizable creature to take down along but she hoped that the injury to his left hock would be enough to slow him down so that she could get a meal. The sun shining down on the herd made their pelts seem to glow. Perhaps she should get a nice hide to tan and stash away for the cooler winter nights.

Halla steadily crept closer, doing her best to keep her pale pelt hidden and her body down wind.

He was steadily tracking the scent of an injured ram, movements graceful and stealthy. He wasn’t exactly downwind of them, but he was careful to move in such a way that his scent wouldn’t reach the bighorns. He laid eyes on them, spotting the injured male and studying him, then the herd and surroundings, until his eyes landed on the agouti form of a familiar wolf. She was one of those who had helped with the moose cow, and he waited to catch her eye, nodding toward the ram with an ear flicking in question and invitation to help hunt it before he shifted his path, moving with experience and softness. The animals were wary, especially with the smell of blood among them. Luckily for the two wolves, the ewes and younger rams weren’t especially keen on staying close to a weak meal ticket for predators. Each time the ram tried to integrate; the smell of his injury drove the others a little further away. Cairo moved until he was in an advantageous position. If Halla were to charge now, the flock would scatter, and the ram would hopefully be spooked straight to the Adravendi man. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Her ears twitched and she glanced about her before spying the male that had found the moose some time back. He nodded to her, gazing at her questioningly. She nodded and gestured to the ram. She was happy for the help and would split the kill. Halla was hunting for food and as she had no pack or place to store a full kill there was no disadvantage to sharing her hunting efforts with another wolf. Halla bided her time, watching the herd carefully before she exploded out of the brush straight for the injured ram. Her legs ate up the distance toward her prey. Sheep scattered every which way, most seeking to climb higher up the rock formations but as the injured male tried to follow he twisted and stumbled back down, bolting toward Cairo. Halla swerved and worked to herd the injured animal toward the wolf laying in wait.

She’d taken his invitation, and he waited as she gauged the timing and sprang. The flock scattered, and the ram, after failing to flee with his fellows, gave and bolted toward the better-hidden man. Cairo counted the strides, then launched forward, spooking the ram. He covered the distance in a leap, head snatching low and his jaws clamping on the beast’s foreleg, severing one of the tendons and further laming the creature. The ram staggered and tripped, but sallied and sought to run. But it was hobbled by injuries, one on the hock, and now a fresh one on the opposite foreleg, and its flight was slower than it surely would have liked. It was in full panic now, fleeing blindly on flat ground. Cairo surged after it, working to get ahead and drive it into an offshoot he knew was a dead end and curved upward overhead, preventing any sheeply wall-climbing tricks. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Halla kept on the ram's heels at first but then as he started heading in the direction she wanted she let him go. She kept pace behind him but not so close he'd be tempted to bolt off to the side. She subtly moved left or right to coax the ram in the direction she wanted. Cairo lunged and shredded the flesh of the ram's leg causing it to stumble. It recovered and took off but at a limping and awkward gait that it would be unable to sustain. Halla kept her pace, tearing after the ram alongside Cairo. They drove it toward an offshoot but at that moment Halla saw an opening. She put on a burst of speed, her jaws lunged for the ram and she caught its injured hind legs in her teeth, her shoulders rolled forward as she sought to stop. The force of her screeching to a halt while the ram tried to leap caused it to crash to the ground. She thrashed her head as it tried to stand, hoping to keep it on the ground where Cairo could put an end to it.

An opening came early, and the ram went down. As it struggled, Cai spun on his hocks and dove in, sinking his canines into the ram’s throat, wrenching his head to assure the jugular would punctured, blood filling his mouth. He held on until the ram sagged and weakened. He released it and backed away, flashing Halla a light grin. “Good hunt, again.” He studied the now dead animal thoughtfully then looked back to her with a perk-eared smile as he added, “What are your plans with him? I’m happy to help with skinning and processing…” He lifted a paw, showing off the bear claws with a wiggle of his toes. He kept the bear claws on his bracers sharpened, for fighting and hunting, and especially skinning. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Panting Halla took a moment to rest as the sheep met its end. She looked to Cairo and nodded. "I'd appreciate that. I'd like to skin and tan the hide and of course eat the meat but if we are to process the hide it's best to do before rigor mortis sets in. What do you want in return for your aid?" She wasn't quite sure if he was offering his services for free or if he had something in mind. She was happy to share the meat. She would be unable to finish it herself anyway and while she'd like to have the full hide she supposed it was only fair to split that as well.

Halla moved to the hind legs and started chewing off the feet so they'd be out of the way when she went to tear cuts up the inside of the ram's legs. She could tilt her head in a way so that only one set of teeth cut into the hide. It was the best she could do for now, having no knives or other sharp weaponry on her. She didn't mind though. It was simple and primal and good enough for her.

Cairo smiled, nodding as he moved to the front legs while she gnawed the back legs off. With practiced cuts, he sliced the skin at the backs of the knees first, then all the way around before bracing a paw against the fronts of the joint, taking the lower leg in his jaws and snapping them forward, disjointing the legs and setting them aside. The pups should enjoy them, if the woman didn’t decide she needed them for crafting. “The legs, if you don’t need them for crafting. We have five pups at home that would love them for teething. They’re getting bored of marshmallow root.” A grin flashed at the last remark, some ram hair clinging to a tooth before he puffed it off his lip and bent to make the cut at the underside of the ram’s jaw and down the neck to the sternum and belly, taking care not to cut further than the skin. “Any meat you don’t want I’ll take home, if you like. Any plans for the horns? They’d make you some pretty good armor, for defense if nothing else… or carrying horns for coals or herbs.” Delicately, he began working a bear claw between hide and flesh as he cocked an ear at her. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Halla licked the blood from her muzzle and nodded. "That is an acceptable trade." The legs had little meat and she was not in need of sinew at this time. Halla worked at the legs, using her teeth to snip up the inside of the legs, peeling back the flesh as she went. "Yes, there will be leftovers, I mostly intend to eat the meat along the lower back and sides. I would like to keep at least one of the horns for some crafting projects." She hadn't quite decided what she would do with them as there were so many good possibilities. She considered turning it into a vessel for carrying water or perhaps pine pitch. She mused over the possibilities as she worked her way down the belly of the sheep. She gave the hide a few more good tugs, pulling it away. Above them she caught sight of a pair of turkey vultures circling. Well, that didn't take them long.

He held the carcass steady where she needed, helping tug the hide free of the ram’s corpse, snipping here and there with his bracer claws as he listened to her words, nodding. Giving her one side, he began to methodically skin along the side of the animal on his side, working toward the back, bending his toes to present the smooth tops of the bear claws to form a loose “fist” and pushing that fist along the inside of the hide to peel it from the flesh as he gripped the edge in his jaws for leverage. “We sometimes use horns to carry coals with us. Makes starting a camp fire so much easier.” He remarked between uses of his jaws as he worked around the haunches. A glance upward, following the woman’s line of sight showed him the vultures, and he grunted to himself. It was soothing, steady work. It had a rhythm to it, and the outcome would provide a little more meat to Valhalla’s larders, and bones for the pups to play with and teeth on. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Halla continued her chewing and cutting. She was used to working swiftly as a loner if she wanted to keep an animal's hide. Scavengers always seemed to appear within minutes. Often she'd distract them but tossing organ meats though with Cairo also present she hoped the pair of them could keep scavengers at bay. She also didn't plan to trade the hide, necessarily so a few little holes wouldn't be a problem. Thankfully though it was only the turkey vultures and while they landed nearby they had yet to move in. Halla finished her side of the sheep then looked to see how Cairo was doing. He'd be able to get it completely finished. In the meantime she turned her attention to prepping for tanning.

She typically just used the brain, having few items to tan with and as she'd want the horns anyway she started chewing into the skull. She started at the eyes where the skull would be easiest to break. It also had the advantage of allowing her to lap up the eye jelly which might attract a few less scavengers to the face of the animal. She was suddenly wishing she had her set up with oak tannins but it wasn't practical to carry everything needed. Halla continued working her way through the skull, her jaws scratching and cracking bone until at last she was able to see the brain. She turned to hunt for a stick, deciding it would just be easier to dump the skull on the hide and then scramble the brains til they leaked out.