her injuries are healing well, she thinks. eske is no healer and if she had her way she wouldn't have been 'taking it easy' like she has. she is quick to scoff at the notion. 'easy' and eske have never gotten along and she is by and far not an idle woman. she cannot stand not being in the thick of some sort of action even if that 'action' is simply a border patrol. it's something. the pain they initially brought has long since ebbed and eske itches to get back into her regular routine. so she does. she wrangles up a breakfast of plump groundhog and heads to the northern borders for her patrol. she never was a very good patient. she has a brief moment of guilt but brushes it off before it can actually take hold. she's wanlida and scars are apart of the job. eske pauses to strengthen a spot on the borders, drawing in a deep breath as she cast a glimpse at the lightening sky. the sun has begun it's ascension in the horizon, somewhere over the break of the redwoods. she admires it briefly but ultimately pushes on. there is a lot of borders to cover and it feels good to fall back into familiarity.

eske focuses for sounds outside of drageda's borders, eyes, ears and nose alert for anything that didn't belong. the voice of a child did not belong. it grabs wanlida's attention immediately and even after she deduces that it comes from within drageda's borders she is still not soothed. concern furrows her brow as she adjusts her course for interception. a frightened rabbit runs on by her. eske's gaze follows it for a second but ultimately dismisses it as the one of heda's youngest brood comes galloping into her view. "where's the fire?" eske asks the young girl, tone light and amused. concern morphs her expression in earnest though especially when the familiar forms of wildfire and heda do not make themselves present. the girl, kiwi, is much too close to the borders for wanlida's comfort. though the northern side ( for the moment anyway ) appears to be much safer than the southern side that brushes ankyra sound where the bear haunts it is still a dangerous place for one so young to be. too much could go wrong.

"you won't catch it," eske tells the girl bluntly, hoping to grab the girl's attention before she has to chase after her and corral her back into drageda's territory. "besides," eske draws on a breath. "you shouldn't be this close to the borders. it's not safe." wanlida's disapproval is near palpable. "we can hunt something together? i have a few tricks i could teach you." eske offers to the rambunctious child. at this point, eske was willing to do anything to usher the girl a safer distance away from the borders.

eske moves in mirror of the young girl's attempts to side-step her, stubbornly holding her ground as 'roadblock'. "not by making all that noise," eske informs her, subtly correcting herself on her earlier statement. it probably wasn't entirely encouraging to tell a child they can't do something. or maybe, depending on the child in question, it was. kiwi inadvertently reminds eske of herself when she was that age. 'no' had become less of a order and more of a challenge to eske. ...it still was; though with age has came wisdom.

eske's relief is palpable for a few seconds as her offer works. it grabs the girl's attention and kiwi bounds closer, evidently ready. "come on," eske gestures towards the safety of drageda's territory. they were too exposed out here on the borders and eske wanted to get kiwi closer to hougeda. "we have to find a new rabbit to hunt." the previous one was a lost cause even if it wouldn't have crossed the borders into no-man's land and further into neutral territory. it was far too spooked to let it's guard down any time soon.

eske gives the young girl behind her a warning look over her shoulder aimed more so at the growl half of kiwi's reaction. she doesn't appreciate it and she lets out a small snap of her teeth, remembering why she's never been an overly active part of drageda's youngest generations before. they require a lot of patience — something that eske's struggled with all her life. but, she can't be too annoyed at kiwi. kiwi reminds eske a lot of herself when she was that age. a question comes a few moments later and eske glimpses down at the girl as she does her best to keep up. "you have track it. find a scent trail; recent or fresh scent trail are always the best." eske explains. in a way, this lesson feels almost ironic to eske whom, at one time, had wanted to pursue hunter. she later abandoned it in her plight to rise among the ranks of drageda's warriors. "a rabbit's warren is a good place to start but you have to approach them quietly because there might already be adult rabbits lingering around." eske stresses the word 'quiet'. "you have to be patient. you can't just go barging at them like a mad bull." eske explains to the young girl, glimpsing at her from time to time to see if she still holds her attention or if she's still at her side.

eske's steps slow then and she works to make her steps as quiet as she can before stopping all together. "there's a rabbit warren ahead," she gestures with her muzzle in the general direction. "i know it's there and now you know it's there but pretend for a moment that it isn't. there's a tuft of fur caught in that bramble there, and a fresh pile of rabbit droppings to the left. if the scent trail fades look for tufts of fur or droppings. it's your best indication at how recently your prey's been through."

eske watches kiwi's reaction to being pointed to the proverbial rabbit goldmine. part of her expects the girl to charge at it, as she'd barreled after the rabbit that had slipped outside of drageda's borders. in a display of patience, kiwi does not. she waits. eske lets out a soft noise of praise as the girl, instead, questions her in a not-quite-a-whisper. "it's important to not spook them. they are easily scared," eske explains. "so you want to approach them slowly, and as quietly as you can. they will still run, of course, but if you can minimize the distance between you and it before it runs the better your chances will be of being successful."

"try to sneak up on your prey. try to be patient. if you alert it, pause and let it lower it's guard before continuing. when you're close enough then you lunge yourself at it. it might take time but it'll be worth it when you have a rabbit to show for it." eske promises and then gently, nudges kiwi in the rear with her snout. "try it." wanlida encourages. trial was the only actual way kiwi was going to learn, after all.