Redhawk Caldera I'm the holy water you can't live without

A peal of thunder roared across the open sky in the wake of a cloud-veiled flash of lightning, drawing the boy's attention momentarily, but that was it. Until the storm raged fully, he had no reason to leave. Even then he would only seek the shelter of the trees and would resume his practice, either by pacing the borderlands or fighting someone or continuing to hunt as he did currently.

The muskrat took a few steps closer to the water and Nightjar froze once more. He was within a few yards of it, easily in sight and yet the muskrat was unsure. The wolf was giving no obvious indication of his intentions, but prey animals were naturally skittish and this one was no exception. It was right to be, for in that split second Nightjar loosed a growl and began to lumber in its direction. He was too slow to be effective, however, and the muskrat escaped into the caldera's lake, though it was closely followed by the snapping tank of a wolf that was a nearly full-grown Nightjar.

He went far enough for the water to reach his breast, but chasing such a skilled swimmer was futile. He stopped, water churning and bubbling around him, and watched the muskrat's head bobbing above the surface as it fled to the other shore. He stood there for a minute longer, just watching, before he turned around and finally noticed Peregrine.

Nightjar stared back at his father for a moment, then snorted and shook out the fur on his neck as if to say, "oh well."