Red was on the move again that day. Despite the heat and humidity, and the fact that it was nearly sunset, her Coyote blood told her to explore. She hadn’t really traveled very far past the Sunspire since joining, and she was just itching for adventure. She followed the sun West to the Greatwater Lake, having never been there before, and was greeted by a welcome sight. The lake was even more beautiful and surrounded by green than she had imagined when watching it from the Mountain. A herd of deer watched her cautiously from the other side of the lake, but she ignored their sounds of distress. She wasn’t hungry, and wouldn’t be able to drag a deer carcass back to the mountain even if she did kill one.

Instead, she marched directly into the water with the decision to swim. She needed some way to cool off. As she paddled around the lake, she paused every once in a while to lap at the water. Some ducks had landed in the lake before she had arrived, and now they quacked angrily at her as she snapped at them. She didn’t intend to actually take any of them for a meal. She was just playing. But the ducks, it seemed, had zero sense of humor. No matter. Red was having the time of her life, and was glad that her coyote blood had called her towards this previously unexplored area of the Wilds.

Red was, for a while, completely unaware of the other wolf’s presence, and so continued happily on with snapping lazily at the ducks. After a time, however, she grew tired, and decided to head to shore. It was as she was turning around, after having made this decision, that she finally spotted Meldresi — though, of course, she didn’t know that was her name. She noticed that the female seemed to be staring at her, or at the ducks. It was hard to tell because, from the position of the black she-wolf’s eyes, she could have been looking at either, or none.

Not knowing what to do, and still quite nervous around other wolves, Red decided her best bet was stay in the water for now and keep an eye on the female. Timidly, she let out a chuff to ask, “What do you want?” The coywolf would not approach her full-blood cousin until she had proven herself non-threatening. And so, she waited, paddling in place to keep herself from going under the water.

Meanwhile, the ducks had decided they’d had quite enough fun in the lake and were now making a beeline for the opposite shore from the two canids.

The moment the word “hunt” left the black female’s mouth, Red was on it. She loved hunting — found a carnal joy in taking down prey, even if it was only a duck or two this time. With a short bark, she turned around to face the fleeing fowl and paddled her hardest after them. For a moment, they didn’t notice, but then one of them gave a warning quack, and they began flapping their wings in an attempt to take off.

The coywolf paddled harder, craning her neck to try and snap at one of the stragglers. And that’s what set the whole flock off. All of a sudden, they all rose into the air at once, quacking loudly and flying away to the west. Red growled in frustration, watching them go with a glare. Now what? Apologetically, she turned to Meldresi, her ears flattening in embarrassment, and to say sorry. Then she was hit by inspiration. She would fish for the female! She was in a lake, after all.

She gave an excited bark and began searching the water around her for a fish or two to sate both their appetites. The failed hunt with the ducks was stirring up her previously nonexistent hunger, and she was determined not to fail again.

It took Red a little while to spot one of the swimming buggers [size=x-small](because Red is suddenly British ATM and wanted to use that word)[/size], but it was well worth the wait. She quelled her excited bark, which would most definitely scare away the fish, and instead focused on hunting. The trout — or, she guessed that’s what it was — was swimming around to her left, which put her in a weird position. She wouldn’t have a head-on shot at it. She’d have to twist her body around to catch it. She kept a close eye on its movements, tracking its whereabouts. Then, with a sudden jump in the water, she flipped her upper body to the left, jaws open to snap down on the food.

With a triumphant gleam in her eye, she began paddling to shore, the trout hanging limply in her jaws. It was a good day. With a wag of her now soaked tail, she dropped the fish at the black female’s paws, and then looked up at her, as if to say, “Look! I did it!”