fishing did not come naturally to the wolves of the east. their hunters were skilled in the dispatching of big game, tracking and attacking with ease. fishermen were rare and went without recognition. thus, learning the trade had never been one of anathi's priorities.

however, the western lands lacked the bounty of prey that he had become used to. in their recovery, they had been forced to survive on the sparse population of small game that had survived. he wondered if his home suffered in the same way.

the tepid water pooled around anathi's ankles. there was a large school of small fish that seemed to swarm around a collection of weeds. he licked the run of his maw as he silently began to devise a plan. 

ndiye kuwe, he rumbled, carefully taking a step forward, sukoyika. the school was only a lunge away. anathi snapped forward but managed to grab only a mouthful of foliage. the fish scattered but collected once more on the other side of the pond. 

the hunter sucked his teeth in frustration. nje enye? he continued to prowl with his eyes focused on their reflective scales. another lunge, though this was even less successful than the last. anathi groaned and threw his head back in frustration. kutheni usenza lento? 

the fish, having found themselves the victors, swam far enough to be out of the hunter's reach. annoyed and even hungrier than before, he plopped down in the water and hung his head.

the pride of a hunter was easily broken. the pride of a man practically came pre-shattered. it was embarassing enough to know that his failed endeavors had been seen, but to know that the witness was a woman was devastating. 

water, anathi said with a shake of his head. frustrated, the hunter slapped the surface of the pond before standing and sulking back to land. honger, he whined with a discreet grin. it would be difficult to recover from the loss but showing the extent of his hurt was unacceptable.

context clues, anathi.

the huntress spoke with an accent that made it more difficult to interpret her words. he listened intently, managing to pick out pieces of each sentence. water, calm, she'd said, so he stood perfectly still. silently, while they waited, anathi practiced sounding the words in his head.

practice, he repeated, prakytyk. if one word a day was all that he could manage, living here would suck.

the instruction to wait was lost in translation. die water, anathi whispered as he crept from shore to shallow.

from what he'd gathered, the key was to strike and strike hard. he snapped furiously at the water's surface, likely sending the school into a frenzy. several times did fin meet tooth, but never for long enough.

frustration grew and boiled over. anathi stormed back to the shore and huffed his annoyance.

as ek still, calm, fish work? if i stand perfectly still, can i catch a fish, too?

anathi knew just enough english to piece together the sentence. it was communicated poorly, between the accent and touch of afrikaans, but he hoped (and prayed) that she would understand. this time, before bounding into the water again, he would wait for her response.

anathi tilted his head in confusion. pasiënt? it didn't make much sense, so he figured it was a simple mistranslation. the rest of the words were similar enough for basic comprehension, though.

he heard the girl's stomach rumble and realized that she'd been waiting. rather than embarassment, he took it as encouragement to try again. each step into the pond was taken with care as he eased into the water.

oh, how the hunter wanted to snap and bite! those weren't her instruction, though, so anathi calmed himself.

eventually, a particularly brave fish swam across his path. he lunged but missed, rising back out of the water with only a fragment of a fin. his prize still in maw, anathi turned to the girl with a smile.

okay, he thought, calm. 

more time passed. the same fish swam some inches from where anathi stood. he attacked again, but rearose completely empty-handed. it simply wasn't on the menu, he thought, before walking back to shore.

okay, he laughed, jy eet. mock drama writ on his face, anathi used a paw to "shoo" the girl and her fish away. the act lasted only a minute, for he couldn't help but laugh at his own humor.

anathi watched in awe as the sylph retrieved another fish. despite the tempation, he did not touch the first. instead, he picked it up and placed beside the other, then repeating, jy eet. it was her catch, after all.

he took a few steps back to give her some space. there was a question asked, some of which anathi could understand. round here? she'd asked. he shook his head. eh, weste. nie hier nie. after a moment of concentration, anathi asked, rond hier? 

from the accent, he doubted that her answer would be a yes. they were both foreigners in this land. wat is i'm?

name, like naam. anathi tilted his head back to release a long, oh!, actually using a paw to cover his forehead. learning this language would be difficult, and realizing how much he didn't know made him regret not paying attention at home. rhode, he replied, then standing to take his leave. 

eet! he exclaimed with a smile. anathi nodded to the girl and turned to leave, deciding to head deeper into these flatlands.