Qeya River who’s got the high ground now, obi-wan?

Three months was a big age.

Phoebe was pretty damn sure she was like, the most mature kid ever. It was why she was quite happily ranging farther through the territory, kicking cans by the train tracks and not showing up until somebody had to come look for her. Or she got hungry. Whichever one came first.

Today, she’d found a rock. Not a very big rock, but very big for someone like her. She crept the corner of her mouth under a fang, considering every angle, before she moved into a dead sprit. Her chest hit the rock first, driving the air from her lungs in a harsh wheeze, before she fell flat onto her back with her legs twitching like a cockroach.

Okay, she considered. Plan B. Which of course was standing up and doing the exact same thing until it worked. She got all the way to plan H before she managed to get a foothold and scramble up the side, wobbling there until she managed to stabilize. Once she wasn’t about to tip over, she whooped her superiority. Like a hyena who’d sucked down helium.

The kids were at the grow-and-explore stage, which meant that they would always be hungry after their adventures. Ksura hunted and brought food to each family without discretion- after all, it was in the best interest of the pack that all of the children should grow equally. And while he left the discipline and care of Wren and Silvertongue’s kids to the wives, he liked to help out where he could, with food and play time. 

He cruised toward their neck of the territory, and spotted the dark girl on top of a large rock- but quickly averted his gaze. Her little cry, victorious and adorable, brought a smile to his lips- one that he had to smother quickly so he didn’t give away his plan.

He approached the stone, keeping his posture and head low so that he could walk about it without looking up to see the child perched on its apex. He dropped the pheasant he’d been carrying, and sniffed the wind. 

Huh. Weird. He said to himself, and began to snuffle about, circling the rock. I could’ve sworn I heard Phoebe’s voice….And I can smell her here but….Where did she go?

There was a rustle in the trees. Phoebe lowered herself to the rock’s surface with a thump, her eyes big over the slender crocodile maw she currently sported. K’sura, a sure playmate, was a quick find for her eyes, and she watched him with the steady patience of a hawk eyeing a mouse. Or, rather, she would have if she wasn’t spending all of her time giggling.

He circled the rock a few times, nose in the air, looking for her, but Phoebe didn’t move an inch, no sir. She hugged the rock with her front paws like a kitten learning to pounce, while she wiggled with the urge to pounce. Not yet! something in her said.

So, she just stared at K’sura with that unsettlingly large gaze. And giggled a fair amount.

Phoebe? He called out, a question in his voice. He perked an ear and tilted his head, and was glad that he’d turned to face away from her for the smile that came on his face at the sound of her first giggle wasn’t something he could easily hide. The tip of his tail waved, but he put in an effort to make it stop. 

PhoeeeeeeBeeeeee? He called out again, brushing past the stone as he meandered in the opposite direction. He paused, and allowed the tip of his tail to raise and wave close to where he thought her nose might be.