Northstar Vale forget what you learned

everything had been provided for them. the only thing that hadn't was personal belongings. suddenly he felt a grand sense of debt. even if they were pack mates now! they would work all of this off. yet still his gut clenched at each meal provided, each round of healing supplies spent.

so perhaps it was no surprise that today he moved to make himself busy.

as busy as could be.

he did what he knew best, beginning a patrol along scent markers. adding his own where such was required.

he did his best not to think.

towhee wanted to teach.

tamar hurried to maxim's side, fetching him a teasing brush meant to be sisterly in nature.

"now i can tell you every thought that i had." she smiled. "towhee is going to be teaching ptero as she heals. and after, i am sure." her light eyes flicked ahead on their path. "do you also want to be a teacher?"

tamar had done more for them than he felt he could repay! it was with her presence that he was reminded of this. but he accepted her warmly all the same, a shoulder bumped into her.

towhee would already become a teacher.

somehow she remained quick to find ways to stay involved.

oh, um, perhaps it became apparent he had given much thought to himself at all the last few days!

i don't know. he confessed in a way that felt exposing for the man who had only just retired as soldier. maybe i need to turn my skills as tactician into something else.

the morphe nodded.

she hummed to herself. "it would be good to know where our best defenses are. or to track the animals that come through the vale." both suggestions came to her in a moment.

tamar looked at him and wondered what he might say.

he appreciated these responses more than he could put into words. yet perhaps it shined in the warm glow of olive eyes.

i could be a tracker and guardian. it is not so different than a tactician! he laughed, warm and giddy. delighted.

yet still he deferred to her! as if she had not just suggested such!

tamar laughed.

"do one! or both, maxim. but tell me which you choose. i want to you teach it. our children, i think, will be ready to track soon."

time to learn a trade and to be taught. but she wanted them each to have many teachers.

track. i will be a teacher for tracking. he decided with a firm nod. not to mention — if guardians are needed, towhee is a wellspring of knowledge! he doubted it would be so terrible to send possible students to his wife.

besides, this would give him a way to learn a fuller life beyond mereo.

even if he deeply missed the faces of it.

"will you hold classes as towhee wants?"

her eyes were bright. she smiled winningly at him. "the red forest where my children were born is a beautiful place. bring the young ones there to show them, i think."

her gaze shone with delight.

he felt it. trust placed in him when she suggested he teach the children among the red trees. it was not so unlike when he received promotions in mereo.

his face felt warm.

i-i will, yes. he agreed with a firm nod. his tail betrayed any composure he hoped to remain, swaying behind him.

i will learn first, and then i will bring them into the forest to learn too!

fade? we will need a new one!

she was happy.

"good! i will come with you, to these lessons. all of us should learn."

tamar meant to meander with maxim, to walk with him and show him small things here and there. an hour of retelling the story of their world and their vale.