Ira had been continuing to work on his stalking skills, and had begun his eavesdropping skills, eager to pick up on useful tidbits of information to relay to Jinx. So far, he had not caught anything that he deemed worthy enough of his Mambo’s time, and accordingly the Princeling would move on. The challenge of moving with stealth and whisper was gradually increasing the larger Ira became, and already he was gaining on Jinx, not nearly as little as he had been when she had first taken him in. His eyes had chilled to a frosted crystal blue, having lost the milky hue they had during his earlier months, and his winter fur (and adult fur) had grown in - though these were minor things that Ira paid little attention to. He was more concerned about his paws and awkward movements that were less than regal. He had considered socializing but contented with the notion that he did not feel like it - mostly because most adults (except for Jinx and Fox so far) did not seem accepting to his insolence and demanding behavior. It mattered little, in truth. Ira only listened to Jinx, and even then, it was purely out of his desire to please his Mambo -- that wasn’t to say he wouldn’t rebel against her someday. Instead, he had decided that he would be on the search for bones - or if he was luck enough a rabbit he could take down and use to make his talismans to strategically place at the borders to scare off savages.
He had tracked down a rabbit but scared it off when he had missed a step and kicked a rock that clattered noisily against the others. Ira had chased it before he had, irritated, surrendered. A scowl played across Ira’s lips as he walked away, giving the fleeing rabbit a chillingly cold shoulder, swearing under his breath - though if he was swearing at his too-big paws or the rabbit he wasn’t entirely sure. The sound of water moving - beyond the sound of the current - caught his attention abruptly, and ears slid back to his skull to see a darkened head sticking out of the water as it swam. It looked canine and young - around his age roughly - but he could not determine it’s exact gender and was sneeringly contended with mentally calling it ‘It’. “Isn’t it cold for a swim?” Ira called out to It after a few moments of observing, brows raised ever so slightly in a inquisitive manner, though his movements were coy and curious as he padded towards the bank.