Sun Mote Copse And if heaven would not have us I would take the other option

Set shortly after their return.

Since returning, his Mom had been on edge about his Dad getting attacked, and Bronco had decided at some point along their trip that he’d be a warrior when he grew up. It was a big relief, then, when he came back only to be given free roam in the packlands- as long as he stayed inside the borders. He could do that- there was plenty of space for him to prowl, searching for small animals to hunt though he lacked the finesse of sneaking that his mother had.

He wasn’t a particularly thoughtful mover. He kicked at sticks and rocks, pounced and bounded here and there and barked at birds up in the trees that took offense to his presence. He’d grown to be a bruiser of a young fellow, having lost a good deal of puppy fat while travelling. He was still a pre-tween, essentially- but had the bravado of a first year university student. He continued to travel along, looking for something to chase or someone to wrestle with, while at the same time paying little attention to his surroundings. Very much a young boy following his imagination through the thick woods.

There were moments, when the most protective daddy of the year had to let his kids out of sight, and it was, when the adults were out hunting in a group for something bigger to put on the table. A small herd of deer had wandered in the area and, though Elfie had been pretty upset because he was not allowed to vome along, he soon saw advantages of not having to look over your shoulder constantly. In case Eljay jumped out of nowhere and forbade him to do yet another fun thing (he was over-exaggerating, of course, the biased little brat). 

Entertainment did not need to be sought far for. Elfie heard Bronco thrashing (yet another exaggeration) through the copse as a herd of buffaloes long before he saw the little man himself. "Hey!" he called out to his person-who-I-am-related-to-but-exact-name-of-relation-is-hard-to-name and bounded towards him. "What are you up to?" he asked cheerfully, ready to engage the boy in mischief, in case the answer was not satisfactory enough.

Truth be told, Bronco was just distracted enough by whatever he wasn't actually concentrating on that he was startled when Elfie's voice rang out. He leapt into the air and landed with four legs splayed, his tail arched and the fur along his spine prickled up. His wild eyes trained on the familiar face, and just as suddenly as he'd reacted in surprise, he smoothed his appearance and gave the boy a rough grin. 

"Hiyah H'Elfie," He greeted, not at all apologetic about being startled earlier. If anything, it was a good instinct to have- something he'd learned from his Mom while they'd been out on their bonding trip. "Nuttin'," He said, kicking aside a twig that was too close to one of his feet. "I'm bored. Wanna do somefin?" He asked, not entirely game with a suggestion, but ready to see if maybe Elfie had an idea.

Excellent answer!!! Elfie's eyes lit up in excitement, when he was faced with the wonderful challenge of being a ring-leader and deciding, what fun stuff they were going to do. Adults with their deer or wossnames could go hang, they were going to have the REAL fun. Huh! And they won't tell them a thing. Or they will. Or not - depending on the adventure.

"Let's go fishing," he suggested. There was a river bordering the copse on the East and was therefore perfect for the occasion. First - it was still within the territory borders and Elfie's dad would have difficult time to find disapproving arguments. Second - well, he had never done this. He had heard Wraen tell him that some wolves did and could do this. And he reasoned that fish should not be so much harder to catch than frogs, right? They were cold, slimy and lived in water, basically the same thing.

"Maybe we will get the Golden fish. Wraen said that it grants wishes," he explained, being perfectly serious. "Or we will encounter pi... pir... toothy bastards," for the lack of a better name for carnivorous fish. "Or a water monster - with two of us, he would not stand a chance!" the meter of excitement was getting to new highs, as Elfie came up with new and new stuff he planned to engage himself in.

Fishing? That sounded like a good idea. "H'okay!" He responded brightly, tail waving quickly from side to side. "Ma showed me fishin'," He said, and opened his mouth to boast about how well he'd done (though it was not in fact so) when Elfie excitedly continued to chatter, saying something about golden fish. This definitely intrigued Bronco, who had never heard of golden fish, nor had he ever seen any. How could his mom not tell him about those? That a lame-ass she was. 

"Yeah yeah!" He agreed, nodding, and listened excitedly as Elfie continued- this time about some kind of fish that had teeth. He tilted his head to the side- his mom hadn't told him about those either!! But he liked the fact that Elfie called them Bastards. "Yeah! Them toofy bastards!" He agreed, baring his own in a little growl. He liked the idea of water monsters even more, and dipped into a play bow. "We c'n killit," He asserted, and gestured. "C'mon, less gettum," He said, bouncing twice on his toes before racing off- in the wrong direction.

"This way!" Elfie intercepted Bronco, before his cousin had run off too far and beckoned in the opposite direction. In order not to become a total doofus, he - of course - double-checked, if that truly was the right path. But the distant sound of the rushing water assured him, so he set off and led his way to the place confidently.

"What did you do with your mom, while you were away?" he asked convesationally, feeling a little envious of the privilege Bronco had had to go to all those exciting places, while his own dad kept him cooped up in the copse. It was not fair, but then again an increasing number of things had become unfair and did not seem to change for the better as he became older.

Bronco's excitement didn't waver one bit when he was called in another direction. He awkwardly slid to a halt and pricked his ears, turning gracelessly as quickly he could and began to bound after Elfie, nipping at him playfully when he caught up. Oddly enough, for a creature who had a decent amount of pride for one who'd learned and lived so little, Bronco's pride wasn't hurt at all when he was corrected. When his Mom corrected him, he felt sour and resentful- but with Elfie, he was able to simply laugh off his mistake. 

Elfie's question made Bronco nod and add an extra bounce to his step. "Went huntin,' fishin,' lookin' for stuff an' trackin,'" He said. Of course- his mother had tried to teach him nearly everything she could in the month they'd been gone, but he'd been a bit too young to get a lot of benefit out of it. "I caught a few things all by myself!" He announced proudly, before he winced slightly. "An' got quilled by a porkypine," He admitted, with a small laugh. "'em aren't for eatin,'" He assured Elfie, making a distasteful face as he did so.

Oh, come on - why couldn't his father be Niamh? Oh, wait, that did not sound right. Like Bronco's mom. Elfie felt jealous not only of all the things his young friend listed, but also the nonchalant way he mentioned them. As if they were nothing extraordinary, as if they happened daily. Frankly speaking he had had a bit of this and that education with either his grandparents or Wraen as well, except, whenever he was out and about, he had this guilty nagging feeling that he had to learn these things in secret. So that Eljay would not get upset or worry about him. 

"What are those porky-pines like?" he asked, having never encountered the animal itself. "They sound kind of tasty."

Bronco stumbled just when Elfie asked him about the porcupines, but caught himself, recovering from his trip clumsily, but just in time to give the older boy a half-smile, half-grimace. "Ey ain't tasty," He admitted. He shuddered, wriggling his little shoudlers and skittering a few paces sideways in the process. "They got them sharp quills what sticks in your face, an' they really hurt when you gettem plucked out," He said. The porcupine which had quilled him had been fairly young- but the quills, such tiny little things, had still hurt quite a bit as his mother pinned him down, squealing and crying, and plucked each one from his muzzle and face, and a couple from his tongue. "Don' fuck widdem," Came his sagacious conclusion, with a wry, sidelong glance.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Elfie shook his head and meant it, though he had not the slightest idea, what a porcupine actually looked like. And it was highly possible that upon the first encounter, he would try to attack and eat it. Some lessons in life you simply have to learn on your own.

"Did you track any bears?" he asked, having seen one, felt amazed and scared as well and not at all consoled by the idea that the adults had seemed to be concerned as well. Up until then he had firmly believed that grown-ups were invincible. Now he was not so sure.

Bronco's ears pricked at the mention of a potential foe that he wished he had been able to track and tackle. He woefully shook his head though, and shrugged a shoulder. "Nah. Din't track any bears." He said. "Ma says they're too dangerous. An' cougras too, she said 'specially those are dangerous," He said. Of course, his mother had mentioned her own encounters with both animals, but given the fact that she'd survived, he wasn't convinced that bears and cougars were completely off the table for a wolf as big and strong as he intended to be some day. 

He caught sight of the glinting water in the distance and gestured, hastening his pace so that they might not miss their oportunity to catch either a water monster or whatever the golden fish was that Elfie had mentioned. "Ja think we'll catch somethin'?" He asked as he slowed his pace, considering the water was closer now and he didn't want to frighten any water-dwelling creatures away with loud footsteps.

"Wraen said about the same thing. If they get really, really hungry, they can become very nasty too and try to eat wolves," Elfie recited the bed-time bogey-man story of, why young puppies should not be venturing outside after sunset. This did not mean that he had not tested this theory few times already. Him being here meant that no bear had got him. But who knew...

"It's not easy, but we can try," he replied. He had not caught a single fish in his life, had only a vague idea of, how it worked. By now they had got nearer to the river. Elfie could hear the rush of water and he padded ahead to examine the river-banks. From their vantage point the bank was too steep and the depth of water too unclear for them to attempt climbing down. "Let's go that way and see, if we can find a shallower part," he suggested. "Would not want to become fish-food, would we?" he joked.

Bronco, still young, liked the idea of taking on predators that his Mom thought were too tough for him. There was a grave seriousness with which she spoke when referring to other predators- especially bears and cougars, and she had informed the boy of the loved ones she'd lost to them- but given the fact that Bronco didn't know those wolves, he wasn't necessarily able to sympathize. Empathy was a thing he had yet to learn, and it was too soon yet to properly determine whether the boy would learn it very much at all. Nevertheless, for now he knew to avoid dangerous creatures- but in his mind and in his pretend universe, he loved the idea of chasing off cougars, bears and any other formidable creatures that might think to threaten their pack. 

It turned out that Elfie had been told the same, and he simply shrugged in response. Wraen wasn't a particularly exciting wolf- she was very kind to him, but she didn't tease him for a smile or a laugh the way Finley did, nor did she aggravate the boy the way Niamh did- so there simply lacked a little bit of a spark to ignite a passionate bond. Thus far, the boy was really only interested in his peers anyway, and Elfie- being slightly older but still willing to tow him along on his adventures- was a guy that Bronco could hang out with. 

He came to Elfie's side, and as Elfie lowered his head to gaze down the steep embankment, Bronco gazed slyly along the ridge of Elfie's back, and atempted to draw himself up a bit more so that he might appear as tall as his ruddy friend. He couldn't pull it off without looking silly, for standing on his toes and craning his neck back, so he gave up and looked over the edge of the bank as well, and though Elfie wanted to search for an easier way down, part of Bronco wanted to ignore the sage advice and simply barrel down the steep, dirty ledge and into the water. He wasn't as cautious, and didn't mind the idea of bounding out into the open air and simply allowing himself to plonk down into the water, assuming it was deep enough that he wouldn't hurt his legs. But Elfie made a good point, so Bronco shrugged, smiled, and agreed. "Yeah, don' wanna be fish food." He said, sticking his tongue out in distaste.

As Elfie led Bronco towards a safer and shallower place in the river, he did not think for one second that Niamh's son might disobey him in order to do, what he considered great and wonderful. He was used to Weejay accepting readily everything he offered to do and he took his seniority over other puppies in the pack as granted. In a few months, however, the distance between age and maturity would become almost non-existent. Bronco would no longer be the wide-eyed curious puppy, who ate everything that was fed to him.

But boys Elfie's age rarely have such introspective ponderings. He was looking forward to all of the fun they were about to have. All the fish they were going to catch and, how envious and amazed everyone around him was going to be. After a while both of them found a gentle slope that led them to the river-bend. The water was shallow there - running over sets of small rocks and soft sand, both could easily stand there, the water-level reaching up to their bellies in the deepest point.

"So, we just have to walk in the water, stand there still and wait. When a fish approaches, we need to dive and grab it," he explained the plan to Bronco, while he himself walked in the water and took, what he considered to be the best position. "Easy, right?"

Following along behind Elfie- but staying slightly to the side, so that it didn't look like he was shadowing Elfie the same way he might trail behind his mother- Bronco gazed this way and that, seeking a safer way to get down to the river where the surface rippled in a gentle, lackadaisical way, rather than the tumultuous current that might sweep the boys away. He picked his way down the slope after Elfie did, careful not to slip up as doing so might make him seem clumsy and childish. When one of his hind feet did give out on loose ground, he was able to catch himself and put a 'no one saw that, right?' look on his face, before feigning a look of calm confidence that he deigned suitable for the occasion. He wanted to seem like one of the cooler kids in the pack- it might elevate his status a bit, given that he and Nellie were the last kids to be born. 

He waded into the water carefully, nodding along with the instructions Elfie gave him. "Yup. I know," He claimed casually. Niamh had shown him how to fish, though he hadn't had any success with doing anything apart from terrifying minnows and sending frogs scattering into the bullrushes and water, ruining any chance that his mother might catch something. He was older now, though- and more responsible. And he was ready to be more serious with Elfie around, where he had previously taken some delight in spoiling his mother's day. "Jus' gotta be patient," He said, finally using some of the advice that Niamh had begged him to use. If only she could see him now- proof that the kid could actually retain some of the information that she had previously assumed simply floated over his ears. He stood a few paces away from Elfie, and began to stare at the water's rippling surface with concern and concentration, willing for a fish to come into his pouncing range.

Elfie knew the theory, but had never had a chance to put it to practical use. Unless you count his first-hand experience in swimming and pretending to be a huge, furry fish among all those, who had fled over the hills, when they had sensed him coming. He waited patiently and watched the water's surface, now and then a small fish would dart by, but he paid no attention to those. He had come for his white whale and mere ants were worth neither the effort, nor his attention. 

However, after fifteen minutes it turned out that you could not will big fish to appear. He cast a side-glance to Bronco, who seemed to be just absorbed in the task as his older cousin had been previously. Not wishing to appear less lucky or as a failure, gears turned in the boy's head and he came up with a grand plan. Simple one too. He returned to watching the water and, when the moment felt right, hopped in the air and landed forepaws and muzzle first in the water. He dove as if he had truly seen something and emerged with all the disappointment a sea-captain would have for a whale seen, but not harpooned. 

"How is it going for you?" Elfie asked, after he had finished his little theatrical and shuffled closer to, where his companion was standing.

Staying still and being calm were two things that Bronco wasn't normally very good at- but when used in a combination for the sake of hunting, he was actually relatively decent, for a young child. He hadn't realized it quite yet, but perhaps being a hunter suited him- and he remained focused on the rippling surface of the water, watching for anything that looked like a fish. He wasn't really paying much attention to Elfie, so he startled a bit when the reddish boy suddenly launched himself into the air, and then landed with a splash into the water, sending small waves and water droplets flying everywhere. Bronco laughed, and when Elfie turned to look at him, Bronco raised an eyebrow, and then shook all of the water out of his pelt- hoping to get Elfie back for getting him so wet. 

"Well, nuttin' now," He laughed, scanning the water, before another idea occured to him. "'Cept maybe...." He said, crouching a bit, and then he too pounced- aiming to land as heavily as possible in the water right next to Elfie, hoping to send a wave of water splashing over the boy, and to start a waterfight.

Elfie's trick had worked, he believed that Bronco had caught his bait and felt a little smug for his clever idea. However, that smile faded, when his cousin/nephew/whoever he was in the complex family tree, came up with something better. One moment Colt's look-alike pretended to be focussing on something, the next he sprang, landed right next to Elfie and splashed a wave of water right in his face. 

When the first surprise wore off, Elfie blinked, shook his coat and with a cheerful war-cry attempted to tackle Bronco. The water-fight was on!

With both  young wolves splashing around in the water, the prospect of actually fishing became quickly forgotten as any fish would have easily been frightened away by all the ruckus. Bronco didn't particularly care- today was a day for laughing, splashing about and having fun, even if it meant that they didn't end up catching their golden fish after all. There would be other days for hunting and catching food, but today was simply a day to play.