Dragoncrest Cliffs we were children of beasts

@Kiwi!

Thuringwethil is gone early in the morning from the den, leaving Wildfire slumbering or tending to the puppies for a chunk of the morning as usual. She tends to the borders and checks in on those still recovering from the bear, but for the most part her days continue as usual. The sun is mostly hidden as clouds cover the sky, leaving the day relatively cool as the ocean air rolls in over and over.

As she returns to the whelping den—something she realizes they’ve started to outgrow—a hare dangles from her mouth. A break in the trees illuminates through the clouds, draping the tree trunk in mid-morning light. Thuringwethil drops the kill near the mouth, lowering to an open patch of grass out front to see whom she can lure out.

Kiwi's nose twitched as she scented the hare, and carefully as she could she extricated herself from her siblings.  She didn't want to wake them up and have to share, no way!

She ran to the entrance, and her tail began going a mile a minute as she saw Thuringwethil.  "Nomi!" She squealed, promptly forgetting her previous goal, and galloped forward to meet her with enthusiastic licks galore, assuming the Heda lowered her head to accept them..

It is Kiwi that comes out first, chirping her greeting. Thuringwethil moves a little forward so she can accept the excited kisses and offer a few of her own. Dark tail thumps heavily against the ground. “Chon yu enti?” she asks, moving a little to pull the kill closer, offering it to the girl to explore.

"Sha!" She looked at it, then sniffed it experimentally.  It smelled good.  "How did you get it?"  She asked, looking at her with curiosity before poking the kill with her nose.  Then she lay down, her ears pricked for an answer from Nomi, as she began chewing on a hind leg.  Her little teeth worked at the meat, slowly pulverizing it.

Kiwi confesses her hunger and steps up to it, a smile curving upon her features. If the other three puppies don’t pick up on the scent, her daughter could have the whole thing to herself. There will be other kills she’ll bring to all of them, enjoying spending the one on one time it affronts her along the way.

“I found its scent, chased after it, and caught up,” she tells her, lowering her rump to the ground and all the way until she’s sternal, watching the curious child explore. “We hunt for the food we eat, just like you will one day,” she explains.

She listened as she gnawed, transfixed by the concept of it.  She smacked and swallowed what she had so far, then wriggled, sitting up and then thrusting up onto four paws and forward a step.  "Show me!" She said, the request more a demand than anything else, but her tail waved eagerly behind her.  She wanted to learn how to catch them!

Kiwi demands to be shown out to hunt something and she smiles, nodding her head. If she wants to learn, she’ll learn, and she enjoys the eagerness so young. She enjoys the chance to teach the next generation of Drageda and finds it more satisfying when they are her own. Artaax and Blixen are active and dutiful members of their pack and though her oldest daughter gives her a bit of a struggle, she wouldn’t stray from listening. That spark she sees in the chocolate girl.

“I’m going to hide this somewhere nearby. You’re going to find it, you think you can do that?” she asks, stepping forward and taking the kill back from the child. Assuming she says yes, Thuringwethil disappears through the redwoods and deposits it, half covered by a large fern leaf but open enough to be seen. She takes the long way back and comes out from another angle of the den to give her the go-ahead to search.

Do you mind putting a fade on this? <3

no prob, sorry for the holdup!

Kiwi's demand was luckily taken in spirit, and to her glee nomi moved to supply a lesson, showing her how to track.  She did not catch on right away, but was attentive, and figured it out eventually that she was to use her nose to find the rabbit.

Giggling madly, she weaved about without any real direction or idea, nose pressed to the dirt.  If she found it, likely it would be via luck, but not for lack of trying at least!