Oopsie daisy, Ishi exclaimed lightly as he very nearly plummeted to his death. The youngster had been pretty much prancing through the meadow, minding his own business, when suddenly the meadow had decided to drop. As he was aiming to become a Scout, Ishi made a mental note to be more sharp-eyed about geographic perils like this one. But he also made a mental note of the peril itself, charting the land in his head, though quite aware that it was a bit too close to Lost Creek Hollow to be of use to the wolves who lived there. They probably already knew about this place.

Ishi didn't, though, and after moving past the sharp drop had a lot of fun exploring the snow-touched grassland, his little white ethereal figure moving through the dusk... until suddenly he stopped. What are you doing so far from a lake, hm? He asked the enormous male swan. It was on the edge of a river, alone but absolutely enormous. Ishi had never seen a swan before, but supposed it was friendly. If Ishi hadn't been such a small wolf, he would have counted the bird as food.

But as he moved to continue his travels, the swan blocked his path and hissed. What, why? Startled, Ishi halted wide-eyed. 'Scuse me, he murmured, and tried to pass again — but the swan lashed out this time with its sharp beak, missing the boy by a hair's breadth. He recoiled his front legs, almost standing on his hindquarters, bemused and bewildered by this unexpected danger. What was he supposed to do now? He wanted to venture onwards, but this big bird was trying to get him to flee back to Lost Creek Hollow!

Over my dead body! said the youth bravely.

Goliath, with his slow pace, had been venturing the areas near his original pack, not only to survey the area, but also scout for any possible fishing sweet spots, his limited intelligence didn't stop him from being passionate about something other than combat, he rather enjoyed fishing. Barely any movement, other than the lunging, and all it required was patience, something he learned quite quickly. 

His stomach began to growl, he had completely  forgotten to stop and actually hunt on his journey. Yet, soon enough, he caught the sight of river, and quickly followed its stream down, trying to find an ideal place where he could try and catch something small. Rather, he was disturbed from the loud sounds originating more south. For a second, his eyes flashed with anger, but he soon saw a particularly large waterfowl attacking a smaller, (curiously) whiter being, that turned out to be a younger male of his kind.

Thoughts slowly ran through his head. If he would take down the swan, would the white wolf attacking (or being attacked) mind? He could eat parts, and bring back this prize of a fowl to show. His hunger began to overtake his thoughts, and Goliath began to trot towards them. Maybe, just maybe, once he got a better grasp of the situation, he would be able to ram the swan as it was distracted, and kill it off completely,  but it took him too much time to think that in-depth, and instead, headed for the offensive.

"SWAN!" he barked, the other, smaller wolf might have been trying to overtake the larger bird, but he wanted to claim the waterfowl as his kill, and the bold boy wouldn't take that from him.

Ishi felt an instinctive jolt of fear. It was far from overpowering, and he didn't feel it to the very tips of his fur, but it gave him a bit of a shudder — or would have if he wasn't by now as still as a statue. The big male swan had clearly claimed this part of the river as his own. Ishi wasn't knowledgeable about birds and how they worked, but he could employ a bit of common sense to realise that Spring was a good while off, so the swan's seemingly territorial display was unexpected.

By now the swan was so close that Ishi was worried about trying to flee. He didn't want to flee, of course, but if the choice was that or a broken neck he would choose the former. Problem was, if he turned the swan could take a crack at the back of his head. Yikes, what now?

"SWAN!" Whoa! Giant guy to the rescue! Ishi was as startled as the swan by this sudden appearance, and had been too distracted to sense the stranger's presence until now. At the big male's voice and movements, the swan reeled round and advanced on him instead, and Ishi grabbed the opportunity to reel back out of harm's way. He didn't speed off, though... he wanted to help! Er, but what was he supposed to do? He was no warrior. So he lingered awkwardly, tense and surprised, gazing wide-eyed between the stranger and the swan.

Goliath had transferred from a trot to a full on a sprint as he was tunneling towards the large waterfowl. His mind was just repeating the same three words over and over again. Ram, Rip, Repeat. Those words had done him well until now, and would again. He pulled his lips back and snarled as the Swan began to advance in his direction. What a tackle it would be, if he could pull it off. 

The second he came into a position close enough, he leapt at the bird, his teeth aiming for it's large neck. As soon as he came into contact with it, he grasped the base of the neck with his teeth, and tried to pin it down on the floor. While the collision was slightly unexpected, (atleast for such a large animal, as it didn't weigh much) it was much harder to actually keep it down then take it down. It's massive wings smacking Goliath's ribs, he let out a grunt of pain before tightening his grip. He heard a rip on his back, perhaps the pulling of a muscle, and accidentally let the Swan out of his grasp. 

The only thing that he could see of actual damage was the marks where he held it down. The swan quickly  leapt away, once again ready to strike. Already, he knew this fight would draw out much longer, from his fatal mistake of responding to pain. He looked back at the wolf backing away. In anger, he roared "ATTACK" "SWAN" "DOWN" at the fight deserter, maybe, if the by-stander understood, they would be able to kill it once he had the swan a final time on its back.

Ishi's heart was humming with the thrill of it all, which wasn't really a positive thrill but wasn't exactly negative either. He was hardly a daredevil, but he was young and naive and loved adventure. And hell this was an adventure! Still, he didn't want the stranger to get hurt, and a tiny part of him wasn't too keen on destroying the beautiful bird either. So he was in two minds.

Some time soon he'd think of this experience as hugely fun, but for now, at least, he was content to see it as serious.

For that reason he didn't flee or prance towards the swan — the kid was not a warrior, he had no idea how to fight. "ATTACK". Wait, what? He was supposed to attack the swan? Bring it down? Er... He could try...

So the small, dainty wolf advanced on the creature with its wings like sails, and immediately got hit in the ribs by a powerful wing. Gasping, Ishi was thrown backwards and he doubled up, almost paralysed. But his weak, brave move had had one benefit — it had distracted the swan so that it turned its back on the much fiercer wolf...

The wind had been knocked out of him, sure , but Goliath circled it, he would wait for the right moment to strike. What a large bird, he noted, his pack leader would surely be proud. He looked at the young wolf to his side, and nodded towards the Swan, maybe something could change the odds. 

He went into pure shock as the the young one just galloped towards it. The swan just turned its side, and with a single hit, threw the creature down. For a second he was too confused to understand, but with the swan looking aside, he immediately pounced into action.

This time, Goliath would make no mistake like the past-

He pounced once more on its back, driving it to the floor, and bit at its neck. Stopping it from turning around to peck at him like a vulture. He held and shook it until blood appeared at the end of his teeth, while pushing his entire weight on its wings.
Its large neck was moving so frantically, that in anger and frustration, he drove up the neck, and clasped the throat just beneath its head. Putting his weight more forward, like that he could snap the head right off, or that's what he thought.

If anything
He was trying to decapitate a swan.

Gasping as the breath was knocked out of him, Ishi felt dizzy and otherworldly for a few seconds, but even then he didn't hesitate to get back to his paws. He wasn't a coward by any standard, but he had no damn idea what to do. He rather liked being small and slight, nimble and willowy, but at times like this it sure would help to be some hulking goliath that could thunder to the rescue.

Poised but unmoving without further command, Ishi stood helplessly as the warrior battled on. It was a horrifying sight, and Ishi watched wide-eyed.

He had no idea what to do. The large male had shouted commands (or warnings?), and Ishi had tried to follow them but maybe he'd misunderstood. He was used to less monosyllabic instructions. And so he hung back, clueless and wishing he wasn't.

His weight was pushing the back of the Swan's neck and back, yet his jaws surrounding the swan's nimble throat was contradicting his previous action. This, however, made it extremely easy for him to break the swans neck, if only he tugged hard enough, its bloody head could be removed. 

He distributed his large legs on it's wings, where it couldn't affect him, but it did indeed keep him uneven. As he pulled, he began hearing the simple cracking of the base of its neck, follow by the final crack and snap as he twisted its fragile nape all the way back, he could almost see its eyes. The final crunch came after a while of struggling, and blood poured from the beak and the teeth mark on its head. 

He came closer, placed his paw on its nape, bent down and bit its throat, before jerking back. Its head didn't come clean off as he expected, and it took him several bites to remove its head. This wasn't neccesary, but his anger just made him require this achievement, it would be a complete victory. 

He had forgotten about the other wolf, and quickly looked back. Had he gone a bit too far? He quickly looked back at the mess he had done, and must have scared the smaller male.

"Help Goliath carry" he said casually, as if the gruesome event had been merely fictional. In between catching his breath, he quickly picked up the neck of the beheaded swan, and slowly dragged it to his direction. It didn't matter now if the wolf went in fear, he had at least got something.

Although he looked like a pampered prince, Ishi had never been a sheltered sort, and had been taught to hunt quite early so he was no stranger to gore. Not quite of this nature, though. He'd never seen a swan before, let alone one being slowly slaughtered, and the fact that it was being done by a fierce stranger was quite unnerving.

Still, he remained where he was and didn't tremble, watching with some horror — yes — but also interest. As his breath slowed and he calmed down a bit, Ishi noted the oddity of a swan being here at all. A swan near the river of Morningside Cuesta... that was something for a Scout to note.

But he wasn't out of here with the information just yet. "Goliath" (that was really his name?!) had work for him to do, and Ishi had already automatically walked halfway towards him before he realised the lack of reasoning behind it. You want us to... bring it back to your pack? Ishi searched haltingly for an explanation.

Goliath dropped the limp swan neck to grunt approval to the wolf. He meant to pick up the bird once more, but he quickly remembered something vital, and before picking up the swan's body once again, he quickly told the smaller one: "Bring head." before continuing, "Make pack mighty proud." he added. 

With such a large bird in his hands, he would definitely make himself seem as more of a asset to the pack. He followed this train of thought as he once more continued to carry the corpse to his grounds, which was quite a while away. He rearranged the neck to place it above him, almost as if it was slumped over his shoulders.

Ishi was a naturally amiable wolf, and tended to be quite an appeasing little thing — a Yes Man, even, from time to time. But it would be an enormous amount of effort to help this stranger carry a swan all the way back to... whenever he was from.

Erm... I'm sure you can manage it yourself, he said bravely, but his tone was friendly. He didn't dislike the male at all. Hell, he'd probably saved Ishi's life!

Oh but — one last thing, if you know. What's the name of this place? The area, and the river? Do you know? There was no use warning others of swans in the area if he couldn't put a name to it.

Looking back, he only said two words. "The Mudminnow River" before leaving in silence.

Ishi watched as the great fellow picked up the swan effortlessly and left the scene. The boy gladly let him go, but just before he disappeared from sight he called after him: Hey! Thanks for saving my life!

With that, and deciding this had been an awesome adventure, the boy decided to follow the river and see where fate took him next.