Redtail Rise everything is alright

attn any puppies or pack mates! at the rendezvous

 

New Snow brought back with her a hefty portion of the hunt for the many young mouths to feed. Having already eaten her own fill, she had the idea to test the hunt drive of the cubs. So when she arrived back to the rendezvous, mouth full, New Snow dangled the meat in a manner meant to tempt, low to the earth to start. 

But when the cubs drew closer, she would lift it upwards and dart backward in a game of keep away. It would be good to tire the pups out and get their legs moving both, and for the cubs to learn that not all food came easily. And lastly, it was an activity to bond. New Snow bore great affection for each of the cubs, having taken the young of Red Woman under her wing,  with Blood Spot.

The gift that Lilia brought was not entirely dead. She'd snagged the duck from a stream on her way back to the pack after a small round of scouting, and had managed to surprise it by waiting carefully in the cool, dark waters. She had its chest and one wing crammed into her mouth and though it tried to nip her shoulder, its bill was neither sharp, nor strong; the most it could do was poke her, and she could tolerate that for as long as it took for her to bring the gift to the Rendez-vous site.

Cruel as it might've seemed, the duck had been incapacitated enough that it could neither waddle very fast, nor could it fly more than a foot or two off the ground. Eventually, it seemed resigned to its fate, and went limp in her mouth, uttering only a soft quack every now and again. The mallard's feathers were no longer bright and shiny- he'd shifted into his late summer plumage and had lost the shiny green that had normally covered his head. 

She saw New Snow darting about with some meat in her mouth and chuckled as she approached. She set the duck down, and placed a paw on its back, to make sure that it wouldn't try to amble off before one of the kids took an interest in it.