Shirken was unallowed to go anywhere she would be forced to swim to get there. Not that she had any desire to swim right now with the cold of winter clinging to the lands. The tiny princess was infinitely curious though, and her dual toned eyes peered out over the water as she sat on the beach. Kiyohime had her sights set on the island across the channel. It wasn’t so far off, and she contemplated the bridge before her. She wouldn’t have to swim if she went across the floating bridge.

The tiny girl was only just starting to develop her talents. With the help of her uncle Plague at least her mind was more open to exploring outside the realm of what her sibling’s interests were. For once she wasn’t trailing one of them, and found the confidence to go out on her own. Well, sort of. Her mother’s squirrel companion had his eye on her from the forest behind her. She could be confident in her safety on the island, but maybe not the next one.

Ike squinted her eyes slightly as she caught movement way over there. Tiny deer were walking along the beach. Her eyes widened in surprise, she’d only seen a couple of deer and they were much bigger than these! Shuriken always thought herself too small to be a real hunter, that and spilling blood wasn’t very lady like. Still, there was an odd eagerness inside of her that urged her to hunt the beasts across the water.

Chimera had seen his sisters pups in passing, but he didn't think they would end up on his island, of all places. What was the girl even doing here? She was a long way from her 'palace' home. From where he rested in the shade, the giant brute watched the girl as she inspected the deer. Siren's deer. Lest she get any ideas about hunting them when she was older, the young man decided to speak up. Rising from his place, Chimera shook off the snow and sand. Padding towards the small, speckled child, he spoke in his gruff, growling tones, though he wasn't trying terribly hard to be scary. Something about the girls small size reminded him of Siren. "These deer aren't for eating if that's what you were thinking." Mismatched ears flicked forward as the brutes one working eye rested on the child. "These are your Aunt Siren's friends." Chi didn't really agree with making friends with the food, but Siren loved her deer so he couldn't take their lives from her. "You seem like you might be interested in hunting, girl." One brow lifted, the dark speckling around his eye lifting with the action. It was somewhat funny that they shared the same coloring. She very well could have passed for his child. Now why in the hell would he be thinking about that? "Speech"

Shuriken was eyeing the deer rather intensely, not that she had any chance of catching, let alone killing one of the small ungulates. Still, her dual toned gaze lingered on the tiny prey species, her mind turning all of her gears before the massive man revealed himself from the shadow. Ike’s attention was swiftly taken from tiny deer to big huge man. Seeing him surprised her, not just because of him seeming to appear from this air. He looked remarkably similar to her own patterning and she realized this could be no other than her uncle Chimera.

She had been a little nervous upon meeting Plague and had she met Chimera first her reaction to his gruffness would have been much different. She knew one uncle was fantastic there was little reason to believe this one was different. He approached her and Kiyohime lost all focus on the deer that he spoke about, warning her that they were not for hunting. She had heard Siren’s name before but she hadn’t yet seen the sliph of a woman quite yet. She couldn’t help but wonder what the use of having deer as friends might be. ”I wouldn’t…” Ike trailed off softly as Chimera spoke again.

Ike looked up at him with vibrant dual toned eyes as he uttered his own observances. She wanted to hunt. Shuriken couldn’t deny him, and looked away bashfully. Still convinced that she was too small to be any good at hunting. ”I am…” One white paw trailed along the snow covered sand. ”I’m too little though.” She looked back up to her uncle. Even Plague thought her too tiny to spar with her. Not that she hadn’t enjoyed sparring with the young leopardess.

The pup, he still didn't know her name, said that she would never hunt the deer on the island. He believed her. When she said that she wanted to hunt but she was too small, Chimera scoffed. "If you're small then you hunt small things." It was logical, right? Who in their right mind would try to kill huge prey when they were the size of a rabbit. Maybe that was where they would start. "Come," he instructed and moved back across the barrel bridge to Dove Island. There was a lot of prey here, including the birds after which the island was named. Winter was making the tropical wildlife very slow. Easy pickings, really. "Wait there," he instructed again. Chi left the girl on the beach while he disappeared into the snow covered foliage. Some time later, Chimera emerged once more, but this time he had something in his jaws. A sluggish dove had been an easy target. Without the girl seeing, he'd snapped one of its wings. The bird was still very much alive and was struggling between his jaws. He had been careful not to puncture its flesh. That would be up to... whatever her name was. Tossing the bird onto the sand, it instantly made a beeline back towards the safety of the brush and trees. "Catch it. Kill it. Think about what you're doing before you do it." Chi came to stand behind her, giving the child enough space to work. "Find the birds scent. Follow it. Be mindful of the sound of your paws." They could work on wind direction next time. Was he already thinking about next time? "Speech"

Chimera echoed her thoughts, if she was small she needed to hunt small things. Maybe that was why she was attracted to the tiny deer. Not that she had a single chance to catch one but their smaller forms were much closer to her size. Kiyohime didn’t hesitate when he commanded her come along with him. The small girl gave one last look at the retreating ungulates as her mismatched paws carried her after her massive uncle. She was curious what he had in mind for her as they carefully crossed the floating bridge. She blinked up at him curiously but didn’t utter a word of it as he told her to sit and wait. The girl nodded slightly and lowered her haunches to the snowy sand to wait.

Ike didn’t know how long she had to wait for her uncle but the girl didn’t lose her focus so easily. One of her first lessons was just how to remain still when she was told. It was a difficult task for someone of her size and youth, but she had a huge drive to make her parents proud. It seemed like doing the difficult thing was always how to attain that goal.

She was losing her focus when Chimera reappeared from the forest, a fluff of struggling feathers in his mouth. Bright eyes widened as the man stalked forward and released the dove. It fluttered and fell to the sand, very quickly using its waddling feet to return to the forests. As Chimera rounded and sat behind her she twisted to look at him. She nodded at his instructions, not quite understanding what she meant but keeping them in mind no matter what.

The dual toned girl strode forward, having not forgotten where she saw the bird enter the brush. The first instruction was to get the bird’s scent and Ike’s tiny pink nose was to the ground memorizing the fearful scent. Her tiny form slipped into the forest, knowing she couldn’t rely on her eyes to find the prize. Be careful of how loud your paws are, she walked slowly and kept her tiny body against the ground.

The dove was suffering from the pain of a broken wing and it didn’t make it very far before it had hunkered down to wait the wolves out. Shuriken was inexperienced, but this was an easy target. Still, when Ike managed to pounce on the white bird she was more surprised she caught it than anything. Like Chimera she grabbed it in her tiny jaws. She wrestled with it for a moment, realizing that moment she didn’t know how to kill the bird.