Maybe the word hadn't gotten spread far enough just yet. Word that this land belonged to new rulers. While out on a patrol with Rudyard, the pair of wolves came across a brown bear feasting on the carcass of an antelope right at the edge of the plains. A bear, no matter the kind, was not something that Resin wanted to have so close to the castle. And so it was up to her to scare it off. Little did Rudy know, it would be up to him as well. "We're going to harass it until it leaves, but don't get close to the front end." That was her only warning to her son before the giant fae worked her way towards the bloodied bear. Lips pulled back from serrated fangs as Resin growled a low warning. Had the bear packed up then and run off, the incident could have been over with. Unfortunately, it growled in turn and placed itself between the antelope and the wolves. It seemed that it was prepared to defend its kill. Very well. Resin was ready to defend her land. Squaring her shoulders, the woman shot one final look towards her monochromatic child before stalking slowly forward, keeping the bears attention on herself. "Speech"

Walk | "Talk" | think

Rudy felt like he’d been growing every single day as the things that had been so large in the fall were starting to be getting closer to his size.  Rudy had felt he could take on the whole world as a small pup, now he was already imagining when he might ask mom about when he could try a group hunt for an elk, the same species that had once tried to trample him.

Seeing the bear had stalled him in surprise as he got a good look at it, the boy was thrilled when Res actually informed Rudy that he would be in on this fight as well! Rudy positively perked right up at and one could wonder if he had even paid attention to the warning portion of what she’d said.

Fortunately, Rudy had listened and the claws and muzzle on that bear helped assure him it was indeed a good idea to avoid the front end.  The boy moved away from her and working his way around to the left side and closer to the rear end.  When he saw the bear was fully focused on Resin he lunged in to take a bite the back of its rear leg.  Feel the muscle in that thing!  Suddenly the bear had noticed him and even as Ruddy’s teeth had let go he was hustling back off a few feet and around trying to keep to the rear as warned.  That thing was beefy!  Rudy had a feeling just a whack of the bear would hurt even without claws or teeth.

Of course behind put him closer to the bear's carcass, that didn’t appear to make it happy either.  You know, the bear moved pretty fast for its size.  Well, on the good side focused on Rudy meant not focused on mom and mom was a whole lot more dangerous than he was!  On one hand, Rudy knew one mistake could get him killed, on the other hand, he knew mom wouldn’t give the bear a chance.

Despite her warning, Resin had been prepared for Rudy, in his excitement, to forget her instructions and go straight for the bears face. Surprisingly, he didn't. Good boy. He seemed to understand the concept as well. While she kept the bears attention, he rushed in from behind and took a bite. Then the bear focused on him and now Resin would go in and take a bite. They would harry the beast until it was tired of the nips and decided to escape with its life. If things went as planned, anyway. With the brown bears attention on the spotted boy, the giant fae danced in, sank her teeth into one shaggy hip, and danced out again before the flying paw could connect with her body. Honey colored eyes blazed with fury as the bear snarled and rushed the grey woman. Thankfully this bear wasn't fully grown. Had it been an adult male, there was no way that she would have let Rudy close to it. This was a young female though, most likely recently separated from its mother. Resin didn't wish to do any lasting damage to the bear, but she wouldn't let it stick around either. As the bear rushed her, Resin ran a few paces away, leading it closer and closer to the border of the plains. Once there, she would release the creature from their barrage of bites. Hopefully it would learn its lesson. Glancing towards Rudyard, Resin motioned with a pull of her skull towards the border just in case he didn't catch what she was going for. "Speech"

Truthfully Rudy had just thought of the harassing and scaring part, and especially now with all his excitement he hadn’t thought of their needing to keep it running farther from the pack.  It confused him for a moment when mom ran a distance away considering mom didn’t run from anything!  However, when she looked back it clicked in his mind the direction she was running, having that momentary bright light of realization spark through his mind.  Right! Rudy ran after them, though a bit slower so that while mom had led it forward he was bringing up the fear to stop it from trying to change course and go back the way they had come.  Rudy was sure they would win and found this all quite fun now, his tail giving it away from the way it flagged back and forth until remembering to drop it down low once caught up and again showing off his fangs as he crept up on them. Its attention was mostly on mom now but it hesitated to look back at Rudy remembering what had happened last time.  Rudy paused, watching it feeling every breath he took now as seconds seemed to be minutes with the world slowing around them.  He wasn’t moving so the bear looked back at Resin and Rudy charged in to aim a bite for its rump.  This was great! He connected again and uh, and it was time to run again!  He started to run backward when he suddenly remembered what mom had been doing. Rudy ran in a wide circle till he headed the same direction mom had been, letting the bear chase him a bit farther away.   Rudy looked back at the raging bear chasing him and had to admit this might be a tad scarier if Resin hadn’t been here but the trust in her was complete to know he wouldn’t be doing this if she didn’t think he was up to it.  Mom would stop it from ever laying a claw on him and, meanwhile he’d be happy to get another bite in when it focused on her. This was great! "Rudyard"

The pair of wolves worked the bear over, urging it step by step towards the border. Rudyard was doing very well. He was quick on his paws and kept his bites small and fairly harmless. Resin tried to do the same, but it was difficult with her teeth. The bear bled a little, but it was nothing compared to what the ash and onyx woman was capable of. In time, the bear realized what was happening. This was a learning experience for her. She would remember in the future that this was a dangerous place and that she should be cautious if she came too close. That was exactly what Resin wanted. She didn't mind predators coming close or passing through, but lingering and thinking that they could make kills on her land? That was unacceptable. She wouldn't risk her pack to a food aggressive bear, lion, dingo, or anything else. One more well placed nip to the bears hind end send it lowering its rump and flying off and out of the plain. It soon disappeared into the trees and their task was done. Licking the bit of blood from her lips, Resin looked to her ever growing son and gave a nod of approval. "Well done, boy." He'd done what she'd asked, he'd kept his cool and he didn't let himself get too excited like he used to when he was younger. She was proud of him and his growth. Moving closer, the giantess nuzzled the top of her sons head and gave his black and grey fur a tender lick. When he had been younger, she wasn't sure if he'd ever grow out of his somewhat selfish ways. He'd proven her wrong and for that, she was glad. "Speech"

The longer this went on the more it was fun, the quicker Rudy seemed to pick up on reading the bear’s movements or anticipating its reaction.  The boy couldn’t tell you every signal he picked up on at the moment, when muscles twitched that had told him to move or what to expect, only that his gut seemed to know and he’d grown up all these months trusting it.  After all Rudy was still alive so it had to be worth trusting! Rudy planted another few bites on the bears hind legs and backside before they reached the a point where the bear suddenly caught on and took off running.  Rudy was ready to give chase again when he noticed mom hadn’t continued to chase after it this time.  With the fight gone his tail safely came up again, high and proud wagging about.  The grey boy’s mouth was open in a big grin and panting.  That had been so much fun! ‘well done’ mom said to him!  Mom didn’t throw around praise easily and so Rudy’s heart shot up with the praise.  At her nuzzling of his head the boy tilted his own up a bit, letting his head dig inside that thick dense fur of her neck, scenting her scent that was one of the first smells he learned as a newborn. He didn’t tell her excitedly how fun it was right away, just enjoying the moment of closeness for a few moments.  Someday he wouldn’t be a pup and imagined this might not happen as an adult, but right here and now it felt good.  So a minute of a young affectionate boy before the normal side of him crept out, “Hey mom, if we can take on a bear does that mean I could hunt elk properly with you now?”  He had never forgotten those elk nor a promise he made himself that at some point he would be the one to chase them. "Rudyard"

With the bear chased away, Resin was ready to head back to the castle. Rudy's excitement began to peek through and he questioned her. A chuckle rumbled up from the woman and she nodded. "Yes, we can hunt elk some time." There weren't many hunters in The Hallows. Rudyard would be the one helping to fill their stores. If he wanted to learn to hunt elk, then he would learn to hunt elk. "They aren't easy. And depending on the time of year, they can be very aggressive." She gave the boy a warning. Elk were easier than musk ox, harder than your standard deer or antelope. Their meat was gamey, but not entirely unpleasant. Once they made their way back to the castle, Resin placed another little snuffle atop Rudyard's head. "You did well today. You're welcome to patrol with me again tomorrow if you'd like." It was either that or care for the alpacas, so she imagined he'd jump at the chance to patrol again. "Speech"

Walk | "Talk" | think

Yes!  This meant Rudy wouldn’t only have one experience with elk which happened to be the embarrassing one of the predator becoming the prey.  There was no arguing with mom on their danger, though certainly less dangerous than they had been when he was so small.  However, he still remembered their ability to work together and the muscles in those hooves.  Rudy could respect it, even as he still would label them as his prey now.  He gave Resin a short nod with this bright eyes of one again envisioning a bright future, “I’ll be careful.”  He could already envision the fun of chasing the challenging game and the danger made it all the more fun.

When they were back towards the castle and Resin praised him she got those bright eyes again.  It had been a great day and even more so since mom wasn’t one to throw out praise for small things.  The days of just training and running about for whatever tasks he created for himself were over.  Rudy had to work and time for other things came after that.  He wanted to hunt, that was a thing he had to do every day to grow better.  The boy wanted time to spar and fight as well, nor had he given up on being a snoop.  "Patrol with you sounds great." Specifics there, patrolling with his mom sounded great.  Not that he was complaining of working, just making note that it was better with her.