Two Eyes Cenote the valley nis

muat-riya was larger than he expected.
riot could see the halls were well-worn by the treading of many feet. this was something of intrigue to the boy, whose short life had been lived in relative isolation.
but he was disallowed to leave the watchful eye of stormchaser. 
yet, the hunger to explore was insatiable.
the last time he checked, rowdy was fast asleep beside him.
and stormchaser, nearby, the same.
now, his chance!
under a setting sun, the boy slips away from qiao’s quarters. 
overcome by the thrill of freedom, he breaks out into a run.

the scent of fresh meat catches his attention. 
riot stumbles to a stop. and fervently, he searches for the source.
he soon finds the morsel. hidden squarely, purposefully, beneath the cover of a large stone; the ground beneath had been hollowed away. sort of cache, surely.
roguishly, he seeks it out and scarfs down the meal.

he’d been asleep up until seconds ago; torn awake by a receding terror that he could no longer name. 

riot was gone. rowdy bolted upright, looking around him. the poky lady was gone, and stormchaser asleep — he put his thick nose to the ground and began to snuff in circular patterns. 

aha! his brother’s scent! the boy tottered after riot, limbs loose and two tails wobbly.  

riot’s tracks brought him down a hall bore smooth by feet. he saw riot ahead, bent over and clearly eating — excited, the boy stifled a slurred giggle and snuck forward to pounce on his brother’s raised butt.

as eset recovered, khusobek kept himself occupied in other parts of the palace. lambasted for his actions against machiavelli, his protection rejected that horrible day in the desert, the crocodile was at a loss for how to approach the hebsut again.

the old woman had brought with her a young man and two children. while khusobek found this objectively odd, he saw no reason to question outwardly. it was a stroke of luck to find them away from both guardians as they ate and played.

"there is more food here. much more. shall i show you?" he asked the young pair, blinking at the two tails which were far more apparent.

a voice behind him,
he flinches—
but to his delight, he turns to see the mischievous face of his brother, mid-pounce. with a grunt, he is bowled over, still chewing on his snack. the boy quickly recovers and greets rowdy with a playbow.
look! he utters, gesturing to show rowdy his discovery.

however, their antics are short-lived.
a man finds them, the low rumble of his voice nearly startles riot again. he is tall and muscular, formidable in all senses.
despite his exterior, his words are sympathetic—an offering, riot soon realizes. he glances to rowdy to study his reaction.
really? i wanna see! he replies, wandering toward the man with a tad of nervousness, tail wagging lowly at his heels.

look! his brother orders. rowdy crowded the discovery, thick nose pressed close to the ground in piggish snuffs.

a voice behind them. rowdy reeled, bumping into riot as he did so. his brother was outwardly more bold, though he shared a glance between them that communicated he too wondered.

rowdy's ears flopped forward, inquisitive for what this stranger offered -- but not so brave as to speak just yet.

"come then."

he would lead the pair of pups to a nearby larder, not out of eyeshot of where they had been playing in the hall. here were kept the dried meats of ruminant animals; strips of sheep belly and slices of elk shoulder, bison backstrap, horsemeat, goat haunches.

he was careful, but gestured for the children to take what they wanted. so long as they were here, khusobek saw no reason why they could not join his own children in training.