Broken Antler Fen Teach Me

I hope a surprise thread is okay @Sebastian.  <3

 

It was late afternoon and Odie found herself wondering around the Fen.  She was thinking about her old life at Silvertip.  None of the bad times, but the good times.  The day that she had gone swimming with Stoic, Adeline and her Mother.  That was a day that she would never forget.  Slowly she found herself starting to come around.  Solemn, her Mother and her Father were never coming back, but she would always remember them.  They would always be with her in her heart and one day she hoped that her whole family could be reunited after death.

 

The thought of death no longer scared her as much as it used to.  Death was many things, such as, unpredictable, sad and cruel.  Yet it was a part of life.  You lived and you died, it was as clear as the blue sky.  Still sometimes she wished that death had left her family alone.  Maybe it would have been better that way.  Maybe all of her littermates, her Mother, her Father, June and Mason, possibly even Steady could have all had a happily ever after together.  She was not naive though and stopped her thoughts as soon as she thought that.  That had happened in the past and although she would still mourn for ever single one of them, she had to focus on the present and future.  She had to learn the basics of survival.

Odette howled for Sebastian.

It was the first time that the pup had tried to howl, for she had never really had a good chance to try it before.  Her howl was wobbly at first, but as she contiuned it grew stronger, more powerful.  It surprised her.  Slowly her howl ceased to an end and she waited.  She wanted to know how to hunt and how to survive for her pack and some of her own personal reasons, that she was not entirely sure if she wanted to go through with.  She wanted to find her family.  Her siblings.  Although she was unsure if Adeline was still alive, it was a possibility.  Addy had been a fighter from the very beginning, so had Stoic.  They had to still be alive, just had to be.  Who knew though... maybe they weren't.  Only time could truelly tell.

Always! <3

Sebastian had recently returned from visiting Silvertip Mountain. He had spoken to Steady and he was wondering if he should tell Odette. It might be the best way, he wanted to be honest towards her. The young alpha was surprised to hear Odette howl. He smiled, because it sounded cute, and it meant that she was growing more comfortable here in the fen.

The male was quick to trot in her direction. His heavy voice responding to her that he was on his way. He was quick to find her by the water, there was no surprise there. "Hi, Odie," he greeted. Ever since they went to the water she had been steadily becoming better. Swimming helped him mentally too. You had to move in order to not drown, and the movement would make every wolf better. One felt so weightless. Sebastian loved the water. "Good howl. I'm impressed," he praised. "I was looking for you actually. Though it can wait because you howled first. Do you have a question for me?," he asked.

Odie's tail gave a little excited wag as Sebastian came into view.  Soon though Uncle Seb started to speak and Odette watched him curiously as he spoke.  She smiled at his praise for her howl, but found herself wondering why he had been looking for her.  Had sometime happened that he needed to tell her?  Had she done something wrong?  Odette didn't push that topic any further, because she was actually a little nervous to find out what Uncle Seb had to tell her.

Instead Odie asked her own question.

"Uncle Seb... do you think you could...."  Odette trailed off nervous, a little unsure of if she really wanted to learn this know, beause it did scare her to think that she might have to defend herself someday.  Life was life though.  Unpredictable and always changing.  "Do you think that you could teach me how to fight and hunt?"  She finally asked, then looked up at her father figure with bright and hopeful eyes.

Sebastian knew that he would have to tell her about talking to her uncle. But maybe it was better if he did that later. The male stepped closer and sat by her when she asked that question. "Of course! I would do nothing rather. And well, you experienced that one pack hunt with the moose," he explained. "I'm a hunter so I could teach you all the tricks. However, would you want to learn to hunt land animals like rabbits and raccoons, or fish? Because you know we could use another expert on our waterways and the health of out waters," he spoke to her. Maybe she would like to have a hunter trade along with a fisher specialty.

"I'm not the best fighter but I could explain you about patrolling the borders and defensive fighting if you want to know that," he continued to speak. Sebastian didn't ask why she wanted to learn, if she was willing then he would let her learn everything she wanted to know. He knew kids could be very eager to learn and he only wanted to nurture that in Odette.

Sebastian began to speak and she listened eagerly to hear what he had to say, absorbing every single word that escaped his mouth.  Uncle Seb claimed not to be the best fighter and he seemed really into teaching her fishing above any other prey, so fishing it was that she would try out first.  It would have to be fun afterall, since she loved water and all.  She shot Sebastian a huge glowing grin.

"Can I learn fishing first?"  She asked him in an excited tone with enthusiastic body language, tail wagging back and forth as she waited for Sebastian's response.  As she waited Odette cast a long glance over Broken Antler Fen.  Who knew that a place like this could hold such greatness.

Sebastian grinned. "Of course!," he hummed, though she was not really big enough to go into the deeper water but she could then practice on the smaller wish that stayed in the shallows. Sebastian quirked up his lips and walked more into the water. "Fishing means patience,"he explained. After all one had to wait till fish would come close enough, and then react.

"Important to know too is that water transforms the actual location. Here, look down at your paws, they are in a different spot than you can feel they are," he explained as he made her look down. The same goes for the fish, so when you aim for them, you have to aim next to them, depending on where the fish would be," he hoped that made sense.

Odette listened intently to Sebastian, deeply intrigued by the learning session.  Everything seemed to make perfect sense to her, but then Uncle Seb told her that she had to aim next to the fish though, Odie was deeply confused.  If you aimed next to the fish wouldn't you miss?  It made no sense, no sense at all.  So with reluctance to follow that one part of what Sebastian had told her, she began to speak.

"Uncle Seb... I don't understand.  Why would you aim next to the fish?  Wouldn't you miss?"  She asked her Father figure with confusion alight in her voice and a sweet little cock of her head.  "It just makes no sense to me."  Odette finished, hoping that either Uncle Seb would make sense of it all or tell her that she was right about this statement that it was illogical to aim next to the fish.

Sebastian smiled at her when she didn't understand. It was logical after all. "I know it is strange, but it is the water protecting its fish, I believe," he spoke to her. He stood a bit away in the clear water. "Odette, look at my paws and legs. Especially where they go into the water. Do they look weird? Do you see the knick in my legs that isn't suppose to be there?," he asked her.

Maybe then she would understand then. "Only when you are under the water yourself you see things right. It is only if you look down into the water from the top," he explained. Because she had been diving before. Which was very impressive.

Slowly things began to make sense as Sebastian spoke.  She looked down at Uncle Seb's legs and did notice that wierd kink in fact.  She nodded once.  "That makes much more sense."  She told him, happy to gain more knowledge about the subject.  Odie's tail gave a little wag and she thought a little further about the water situation.

The pups head cocked.  "So does this mean that water is magical?"  She asked innocently, with a touch of sweetness mixed in.  She supposed that the water just had to be magical.  How else could someone explain all it could do, especially when it came to manipulating images.

Sebastian smiled when she seemed to get it, soft of. She asked if the water was magical which made him smile. "No, it is just normal water," he spoke. "All types of water do this trick," he explained. After all with the sea it was just the same. Still the girl hadn't seen the sea yet. So that would be something for later.

"Why don't you go check if there are fish in this fen!," he encouraged. He was curious to see how she was going to tackle that. If she was going to dive or just swim around. Maybe she would surprise him with a new way of locating fish he didn't even know about.

Odette was amazed when Uncle Seb told her that all water was like this and that it had nothing to do with magic. How did it work then?  The question ran through her mind over and over, but finally she decided that the question could wait for another time.  For now she would go look for fish in the fen like Sebastian had encouraged her to do.

The fluffy pup stood stone still, eyes searching the water, with curious hope.  For the longest time, she didn't see anything, but suddenly a silver flash caught her eye from a few feet away.  The puppies tail gave a small wag.  It was a fish.  Expectant eyes soon turned on Sebastian, as she motioned to the fish with her head.

Sebastian smiled when the pup had such focus to find a fish amongst the water. The young male nodded in praise. "You can go in the water instead of looking at the edge," he explained and walked more into the water himself. He knew he scared the fish away but they would soon return. They only had this fen to go to.

Sebastian figured that with a flood the fish came to be in these fen's. They were mostly there at the Fisherman's fen but others contained fish too. The male stood still. "Sometimes they swim between your paws!," he spoke to her. "Or you could dive to see them, like last time!

Odie enjoyed Uncle Seb's nod of praise and found her paws tingling with excitement when he encouraged her to go into the water instead of sticking at the edge.  Right after he said that though he walk right into the Fen, scaring the fish that she had found away.  Although Odette was disapointed, she knew that everyone made mistakes and that she could find another fish, so without complaning, Odette walked into the water, right after Sebastian, listening all the while to him  talk about how the fish sometimes would swim between your paws or that you could dive to see them.  It sounded pretty cool.

For a brief moment, Odie's eyes swam over the surface of the water.  "Do you see any fish Uncle Seb?"  She asked her father figure curiously, before sliding her gaze once more over the water.  No fish or silvery glint caught her eye though like last time, so instead she waited for Uncle Seb to respond, to see if he could see any fish in this fen.

Sebastian looked over the water, knowing that the fish would be hiding somewhere. Some would go between the water plants to hide. He stood in the water as Odette questioned if he saw them. "No, because we just startled them. Fishing is equal to patience. It will probably take a few more minutes before they will come out and show their faces,"

"The trick is to look into the water, not scan the surfaces for bits of smooth silver." Sebastian scanned the water and then looked down by Odette's paws. "Oh right there, by your right paw!," he pointed out. It was a small fish, but a fish nevertheless. "Did you see it?"

After her question, Uncle Seb responded with a no, telling her to have patience and that it would probably take a few more minutes before the fish would come out to show them selves.  Odie frowned at first, disapointed, but then nodded, her frown disapearing.

Soon after that Sebastian continued on to tell her that the trick was to look into the water and not scan the surface.  She then watched her father figure scan the water himself and then exclaim that he noticed one, right by her right paw, then asked if she saw it.  "Yes, I do!"  She exclaimed excitedly, her tail beginning to wag happily.  Then with that Odette slammed down her paw on the water, next to the fish.

She caught it... for a few seconds.

It was under her paw.  Wiggling, squirming.  Now she just had to finish it off, but how would she do that?  Fear and uncertainity flashed through her features and through all this she lost her focus and the fish shot away like a bullet.  Instantly disappointment slammed down upon her features.  "I lost it...."  She whispered quietly, upset with herself.

Sebastian smiled when Odette was looking around and trying to fish. The male watched how she was trying to slap it with her paw. It looked very cute. "Sometimes that happens that you lose the fish," he explained and moved closer to her. The male watched the waters. It might have stunned the fish for a moment. But he rather liked to grab the fish with his mouth.

He watched as a fish comes closer. "Try to grab it with your mouth, it cannot escape if you bite down on it," he explained. The young male kept his eye on a fish and then lashed out and grabbed it from the water with his explosive speed. His mouth calmed down on it and then showed her with a gentle smile. The fish was moving his his mouth until he bit down harder and killed it.

He brought it to the bank and then sat down. "You try,"he offered, watching from the side lines. He was going to let her try and grab a fish, let her get her practice on.

Uncle Seb made the catch look so easy... was she really so terrible at this?  Still after seeing how Uncle Seb caught the fish, she felt much better about catching the fish.  Maybe know that she knew that using her mouth made this so mcuh easier she could do it.

It was worth a shot.

So carefully, the pup's eyes slide through tthe water, searching for a fish.  She needed it to be close though so that she didnt have to go to far to get it, because if she had to go too far that could cause to much movement and she would probably end up missing the fish.

Then she saw one.

It was a decent sized fish and swimming towards her.  She waited for the moment.  3, 2, 1.  Then she stabbed her muzzle into the water, jaws aiming for the fish... and then she caught it.  It was in her mouth.  With the sudden realization of this her head shot up, with bulging, excited eyes.  Then she quickly raced back to shore, a small distance away from the water and finished off the fish.  As soon as it was dead, she carefully put it on the ground and turned her excited gaze back to Sebastian.  "I caught one Uncle Seb!"

Sebastian watched how his student went to catch a fish. The male was almost like her teacher now, and how he watched how she progressed with her hunting. Honestly he would not think that the young pup would catch a fish. But she managed to catch one, and Sebastian was overjoyed when she returned to the lake bank.

He let her kill it and watched her with so much pride! "You did!!," he spoke full of excitement. He gave her a lick over her cheek. "That was excellent fishing, Odie," he grinned and then nudged the fish closer. "Now you also deserve to eat it,"he hummed. It was a great thing that she could fish. It would be a useful skill later in life.

Odette's tail wagged happily with Uncle Seb's praise.  She to felt proud that she had actually caught a fish.  Sebastian was such a great teacher though, so good at explaining things do it wasn't really a huge surprise to her that she had done it under Sebastian's watch.

"You're an awesome teacher Uncle Seb."  Odie praised her Father figure before digging into the fish.  She only ate half though before she stopped, glancing up at Sevastian with adoring eyes.  "You deserve some fish to Uncle Seb.  You can have the rest."  She told Sebastian then proceeded to nudge the fish towards him.

Sebastian grinned proudly too when he was praised as a teacher. "Oh thank you Odie," he spoke. He really felt like he could tackle this fatherhood thing that was going to happen really soon. He smiled then the fish was offered. He took a grateful bite and smiled at Odette. "You are going to be a great fisherwoman one day. I know so," he hummed.

end? :3 Feel free to archive!