Since he had opened his eyes, the eaglet had been particularly disgruntled. By his siblings, by his mother, by any sign of his father, and by the sun itself.
When he woke, it was to one of those things annoying him already. The sun, barely peeking through the entrance of the den, made the boy crank open a single eyelid to give the creeping light the most disgusted look he could manage with his tiny, scrunched up face, before the rotund puppy heaved himself to his feet and began to stumble for the light, intent on driving it away. For himself, and for his siblings. He gave a few ferocious snaps of his gummy mouth, little tail curling up in a fierce display as he stood just behind the entrance to the den, growling and snapping at the curve of cheerful sunlight along the walls.
Kallik arrived at the imperator and moatrona's den with a pair of plump cottontails held between his jaws. Spring had been good to the prey of the mesa and Mereo was reaping the rewards.
He hadn't visited yet out of respect. He wasn't sure the rules regarding new born pups and he didn't want to upset the matrona. He certainly wouldn't want the entire pack around his children in their first days of life.
When he arrived at the den entrance, he was surprised to hear the tiny sounds so close to the outside. The legatus set the rabbits down and plopped himself on the ground in the opening. He looked at the dark boy. You are too young to leave,
he said softly. He didn't want to disturb anyone that had managed to sleep through the ruckus.
Unfortunately, children were not logical beings, and the appearance of someone else registered to Aquillius as half annoyance and half brand new ally for his fight against the sun.
This all typed out by the monkeys on typewriters in the eaglet’s head ended up with a result known simply as “give the big Momma the stink eye and continue on”. So, Aquillius turned the stankiest eye he could muster upon the poor legatus simply trying to help (he’d appreciate it when he was older) and loosed a shaky “woowoo” in response.
Kallik wondered if his own children would behave so badly. The sheer disdain in the boys expression was surprising, considering he could barely even talk.
The sound the child made next had the legatus quietly shushing him. Your mother and siblings are sleeping,
he said. What if we step outside for a little while, right over there,
he pointed with his nose to a shady patch just a few steps from the den. He didn't think the matrona would mind; Kallik would never let anything happen to him.
He raised an eyebrow in invitation.
Aquillius was disgruntled for a second, his blurry little eyes following the motion of Kallik’s nose, before they went back to his face. The boy gave a squint.
Hmmm…this wasn’t dad. Or maybe it was, the eaglet couldn’t say for certain. He couldn’t quite see this strange man anyway, but if he was his father, then Aqui would listen. The boy gave a grunt of acknowledgment to the suggestion, before trundling into the sun like a slow motion speeding freight train. He went a few feet, toddling into the pointed shade, before he plopped heavily onto his behind, giving a heavy, world weary sigh.
He looked back at Maybe-Possibly-Could Be-Dad, tail wagging at his back haunch.
To his surprise, the boy did as he suggested. Kallik sat up and watched his every step as he clumsily made his way to the shaded spot.
The soldier got up and followed, scanning the area as he moved. He looked for the direction the held the most danger and then put himself between that and the pup.
When the legatus had settled back down on the ground, he stared at the kid. What the hell was he supposed to do now?
Uhh, I am Kallik. When you are older, I will train you to fight.
He didn't even entertain the idea that the imperator's son wouldn't grow up to be a soldier of Mereo.
Aquillius stared, for a long time. Dark puppy blues stared out from beneath his brow ridge, the eaglet having to haul his head almost all the way back to stare up at the adult in front of him. He didn’t understand much of what the man was saying, but he latched on to letters, syllables, rolling his tongue around in his mouth.
A.
That was about as much as he could do with no teeth to make any other sounds.
Bik.
He was trying though.
Yes, big
he answered, saying the word a little slower than he would normally. I will teach you how to be a soldier, how to protect Mereo. So will your father,
Kallik explained.
The legatus had an idea. Stay here,
he told the boy. He quickly trotted over to the rabbits, held one down, and then ripped off its ear. He trotted back over and settled back down beside the kid, dropping the rabbit ear in front of him.
It is soft and fun to chew,
the soldier told him. He watched with interest to see if Aquillius liked his new toy.
Aquillius stared at the fluffy thing in front of his face, his eyes going large, like an owl’s. A soft breeze ruffled a bit of the fur on the ear, and the boy spooked backwards for a moment, before he was clumsily pouncing on it, using too big paws to keep it pinned to the dirt.
Aa!
He squeak-shouted, reaching down to take a clumsy mouthful of the fur. His eyes went up to Kallik, slowly sliding onto his belly.
Bik. Bik!
His voice peeped, like that of a bird.
Kallik found his reaction very amusing. He was also glad that his idea had gone over so well. Maybe he wouldn't be so bad at this kid stuff.
Aquillius spoke again. It was the word from earlier which had no relevance to the rabbit ear, but the legatus didn't think it necessary to try and correct him. It was likely futile anyway given that the pup didn't understand much of what was said to him. Yes,
he said. Big rabbit.
It kind of applied; they were fairly large for rabbits.