Moonspear one day, we may

The daylight hours felt so awfully fleeting, and despite the bitter chill that persisted, she was determined to rove the mountainside through all of them she could. Sometime early in the afternoon, she began to come upon an open swatch of the Spear's middling slopes that faced the rest of the range it jutted from, and curiosity drove her deeper over the quiet winterscape. She prowled, low nose and keened.

Out in the relative open, she swiftly found herself unimpressed with the way the winds could bite out here and fluffed her coat appropriately. With time her curiosity was rewarded in the scent of bighorns on that very breeze, so that she deemed worth looking into for now. It seemed a little early in the winter for them to be this far down the elevations, or it was compared to the very mild last winter. However, she already had a feeling the weather may not be quite as gentle on them this year. This could simply be further proof of that.

She stayed upwind and above the prey, skirting a wide pathway from where the group of the sheep loitered in a spot where the snow was thin to graze. In spying on them from up here, she didn't think she recognized them -- at least not by their most noteworthy ram among them. She eyed him longest, tracing the twists of his horns, before picking a spot of relative cover to watch from for a while. There she counted the heads and wondered if they were from a neighboring peak, but also had to remember their downfall the last time they had hunted ram in the back of it all. Still, this was useful information to gather, and she was pleased to find them making themselves at home here.

Korei had seen her mother leave, and decided to follow, out of curiosity. She wanted to see what her mother was going to see. She didn't even think if this could be wrong or not, going about this. 

Her mother stopped soon, and Keoni stopped too about two paces back. Her mother had spotted something, and Korei stretched her neck up to try and see what it was. When she couldn't see, she did what her mother was doing, prowling over to see what her mother was seeing.

While her ears stayed pressed forward, she caught that subtle glimpse of paleness coming closer. More and more, she was finally getting used to having little shadows trail her motions over the mountain but less and less, she shooed them back towards the heart of the territory.

Gesturing her welcome at her pale daughter -- the only one she could ever identify so easily, she hoped the girl would join her immediately. She swept her tail softly but otherwise kept it subdued; the prey were not so close, but she didn't want to risk too much with the winds possibly shifting. "Do you see them?" she asked quietly, then swung her muzzle down the mountain towards the  bighorn sheep grazing a way away. They were well counter-shaded, and laying low so not to draw a lot of attention -- or so she imagined from her point of view. She glanced down at Korei, curious.

Korei Julia gave a little wag of her tail, coming up to her mother's side when she was beckoned forth. In their view, the daughter saw what she remembered to be called sheep. "Um...sheep?" she asked, glancing up to her mother's face. "Are we gonna get them?" she asked again, excitedly this time.

She squinted off towards the prey. "Mhm. Bighorn sheep," she detailed, although sheep was plenty effective of a descriptor. All food. As for getting them, she hoped they could one day. But as just one experienced hunter, there was not much she could hope for alone without the possibility of great risk. "We would need more of the pack to do it, and likely we will soon.. For now, we can observe them -- see if any are weaker, and might be easier to bring down. Want to get a little closer?" she asked, although was already getting ready to slink on towards a new vantage point.

Korei pouted, looking over at the sheep. She wanted to chase them, to have that feeling a hunter had. In her mind, she wanted to grow up fast. Too fast. When the option of getting closer came up, she nodded her head without hesitation. "Yes, Momma! I want to see closer!" she answered energetically. She wanted to get closer, see these sheep. Which in her mind, were food. Glorious food.

The pale daughter seemed less than impressed by their lack of hunting, and to a degree, Amekaze understood. She wanted to run them down too, but she also wanted to be successful. It would take a heap of luck she didn't think she had to fell them here and now, herself with Korei beside her. Maybe.. one day, their odds would increase.

"Alright. When we get closer, we will have to be a little quieter. Watch where you put your paws especially, so not to make a lot of noise. If they start looking over towards us too much, lay low. I do not want to make them too uncomfortable," she explained, dropping her voice as she detailed this and began to lurk on herself so she could follow by example. She moved over a deliberate path, and tried to skirt cover whenever she could. In her pauses, she watched, both the sheep and her daughter. "I am interested in the one with the horns. He should be watching over his group, so if any notice us, he might." Amekaze theorized aloud and gestured her snout at him, standing alone at the edge of the others. Many of them milled around, moving somewhat as they picked as grass beneath thin spots of snow. He stayed relatively still with just his ears flickering and breaths slow and steady.

She moved in beneath the next cover she could find -- a low rock, outlined by a scrubby plant in the front. Ame had to hunker low, but she liked the advantage they could get here. "The winds are in our favor here," she said, noticing how it ruffled Korei's coat.

Korei so badly wanted to chase. Her legs were telling her to. Chase, chase, chase. But that would mean disobeying Momma. Korei nodded to her mother about moving quietly. She was learning, hoping she could do this in the future. Slowly she moved, trailing behind her mother. She forgot to look for things here and there, but stepped on nothing that made sound. 

Korei peeked her head up a little to see the 'one with horns'. She wanted to get it for Momma. She didn't make much sense about the comment of wind, but it ended up falling on deaf ears anyway. Her eyes were on the prize. She wanted to take the horned sheep. She licked her lips once, still staring at it. "I want to get it, Momma."

The pale daughter was eager, but still attentive. Ame was pleased that she'd heeded her suggestion to keep her paws quiet and to follow along. She sighed softly, understanding, but based in logic. "Just us, we are mostly a bother to them. Unless you have any good ideas on how only we together could bring him down?" she murmured quietly in an effort to crush that hope gently. "He is strong, fast, sure-footed on the mountain. So are we, but even I alone could not expect success against a creature his size.." She shook her head softly, squinting at the prey in question. As a wolf, half her strength came from the pack -- the tactical advantage their bonds allowed. Alone, he out-sized her greatly.

"But.." she whispered. "Soon we rally the pack, and we do get him." It would be their first exposure to a pack hunt, perhaps. Unless something better came up first. Amekaze gauged her interest silently.

Korie pouted. She wanted to pounce them so much. But her mother was wise, so she stayed put. She almost asked if they could get a small one. But then reminded herself of her mother's words about the big one that would cause them trouble. "But you are tough, mama" she complimented to her mother. Her little tail wagged as if she was giving herself a pat on the back for complimenting her mother.

It wagged even more when Amekaze spoke of the whole pack going in. "Ooh, can I join?!" she asked excitedly, her voice not quite as low as before. "I wanna pounce one of them."

Tough, true, but alone against the ram she knew her limits and snickered softly. "Tough, but they are even bigger up close," she assured the girl softly. "In the hunt.. my strength is the chase and the first moves. It is why I need the pack to help me bring it all the way down.." It would have to take an explosive strength for her to one-hit kill her prey as she could dream, or a massive might to be able to rend them so disastrously they fell at least.

"Perhaps you may, if the timing is right. I would like for you to be able to. If not these exact ones, others certainly.. you will get to pounce.." she said, tapering off into a pensive silence for she didn't doubt that the mountain would provide variety for them. "Come on, let us leave them be for now. I have seen enough," she nudged the pup's cheek gently and began to turn away for what would turn into a pathway towards the rendezvous area. "We can track down your father instead and let him know what we saw," she smirked, chuffing encouragingly over her shoulder. 

Korei gave her mother an understanding look. If they were bigger up close, then it would be a bad idea to take the big one on. Even though she wanted to, just for the thrill and to impress her mother and father. "Will Papa see me pounce one?" she asked as they left, following along at her own pace. She wanted to show off her skill, show she was the best and impress. That she could do things on her own, without help. And she would show her mother and father what she was capable of.

She gave a thoughtful little 'hmm' to the girl's question, and willed herself to not look too deeply into the question. Nevermind that the longer she looked at her, the more she sometimess thought she was reminded of Lazarus.. but also Charon distinctly too in the subtle, yet important things like how her ears sat on her head and the faces she'd make sometimes. How in the ever-loving... Anyway. Amekaze smirked. "He will," she affirmed the pup. "I think he would like to," she added and started to jog off towards the rendezvous area -- where she guessed would be a good place to look for Charon.

Korei's tale wagged at her mom's words. She would be able to show off her skills, her independence. And her father woube there to see it all. She smiled at that. That's all she wanted, to show she could do things herself. She remained silent from then on, just happily walking behind her mother to the rendezvous area.