every night he had thought of the coming hunt and been elated by the idea, or terrified, or felt ill-prepared in sudden shocks, although he knew that weeks of preparation and many days of training had prepared him. he knew he could do it, he would do it; and yet raiyuk felt all of these things. it was a wonder he could sleep — but he did, and it was deep. the training had not ceased even as they neared the end; this weariness competed with his excitement and all those other emotions that churned within him, but each night raiyuk got his rest.
the day finally dawned which would involve his seal hunt. he would leave this camp a boy, and not return to it again the same. he would return as a man, prepared to be a proper older brother to the siblings he was bound to have in the spring, and capable of finding himself a wife. all of this was an aside, and raiyuk did not think in such specificity; he only knew this was the moment he had been working towards and all of his earlier expectations, his fears, his excitement, seemed to melt away as he became like the ice upon which the hunters tread.
i am ready.
raiyuk said.
he did not look to matteo, or to his father. he looked to the hole in the ice and moved towards it - steeling himself for the cold that would soon come, breathing the air while he could. as he descended to the water he felt that chill and let it seep up his legs, across his chest, and let himself bob there a moment while his father came to his side.
there, in that moment, was one look to chakliux and raiyuk only hoped his eyes did not betray the fear he still felt, which he had swallowed down as best he could.
with one deep breath, he plunged.
If you are serious about hunting a seal, you wait for it to come to the realm, where it is the most vulnerable. Above water. On ice. Or a beach. A more preferable option, actually. There they are slow, awkward and almost incapable of defending themselves.
Underwater, under ice - that's their kingdom, where they reign. No longer bumbling and clumsy. Agile and elegant creatures, that move through the darkness of the waters with ease. They can hear sounds from long distances away. And their whiskers allow them to sense movement and disturbances in the water well, without even seeing the source.
Tiden had been hanging out with a small group of young seals. None were overly friendly with other, drawn to the area, because fish were plentiful here. When they had had their fill they would haul out on the ice and rest. Further away the ocean was not frozen, but here they would swim up to the hole to breathe in time from time.
There was a splash, when something heavy fell in the water, sending waves in every direction, scaring fish and with only the seals remaining and waiting. Tiden as the oldest swam closer to investigate and was met with the same spindly-legged, scraggly shore-seal he had spied on few days earlier elsewhere. He circled the alien wide, then dove beneath him and bumped his muzzle against its belly.
raiyuk was under the water when the seal separated from its group, and he was trying to keep his eyes open against the intense cold, and trying to keep hold of his breath, so he did not immediately see it. it was not until the water-dog came sweeping in close to his belly that raiyuk reacted, first to the shifting of the water in its silent way and then to the touch of something against his underside, which made him kick out and lose some air; the surprise frothed from him in the form of obnoxious bubbles.
he calmed himself as best he could and finally got a glimpse of the round shape, the mottled hide, the sheer size of the seal — which were all familiar for being like the glacier seals, but surprising too, because it was so much bigger than raiyuk could have ever imagined. raiyuk paddled in place and tried to swim closer for a better look, and wanted very much to strike out at the thing, except he remembered how difficult the hide was on the glacier seals and did not know if he could be successful.
his breath was wearing thin, so he made the decision to surface again. once his head bobbed up from the icy water he saw his father waiting there, and took a few shallow breaths to ease his own racing heart, and then a larger gasp to prepare for the hunt; the look in his eye as he plunged in to the water again and saw his father was the only indication that he was ready to truly hunt the thing.
swimming desperately to reach for the seal now; hoping that its own curiosity would make it complacent until the moment the two wolves could strike, and rend through that rubbery hide, and put red in the water. as soon as raiyuk was close enough to hang there beside the seal, he used all of his strength and training to push himself towards it and strike out, clawing, snapping his teeth while his tongue was wedged far back to stop the water from choking him, anything — because he had to prove himself a man.
Tiden circled the odd, spindle-legged creature, while it thrashed and snapped and fought against the water, wanting to achieve something that the seal could not fathom. He saw the glint of the bared fangs and the whites of the eyes that were all too small to see properly in the world he called his home. Their gazes met for a moment, when he swam upwards to face the stranger, and he swiftly evaded the attempted grab in his direction. Amused by the antics, he turned to swim paralell to the intruder, brushing his side against the other's and then again remaining close enough for his presence to be felt, but not near enough for the stranger to grab him effortlessly.
The world you are born in and which shapes you makes a difference. Tiden had learned the ways of the water from the moment, when he had been weaned and left to fend for himself. The first attempts to befriend the liquid, cold and dark world had been difficult, but soon he had embraced it and become one with it. Now - nearly three decades later - he was one with his home. Swimming, gliding, diving, turning and twisting, dancing and hunting in the water came as natural as running did for the bretheren that lived on the ground. The idea was simple - you did not fight against the water. You went with the flow. But it seemed that the underwater guest did not know that. Perhaps, he would learn, if properly encouraged.
Tiden approached the stranger and attempted to grab hold of his hind-paw.