Kintla Flatlands Gone Fishin'

Congrats on the rank promotion! :D

Kaihra soon found the answers to her questions: Koda had been scrounging for bait. The dark woman found herself impressed by the boy's ingenuity, and a little jealous she hadn't thought of it herself. She followed at a distance while he searched for the best grub to offer the unassuming fish, ensuring her gaze always remained on the boy and her back never turned to him.

Her watch turned idle when Koda searched the rocks with little success, but found her attention captured again when he turned his focus on the soft soil by the trees. The time he spent there clued the woman he'd found the object of his search and she drew up on his opposite side to peer into the overturned soil. Squirming bodies met her, but she committed their appearance to memory, forcing back the squirm in her stomach as he picked up their wriggling bodies in his mouth.

Then, bait in tow, he entered the river. And they waited. And waited. She did not join him in the water, instead sitting on the bank, watching his concentration never waver. He seemed to have mastered the technique of standing still, and Kaihra found herself mimicking his form from the water's edge. Time dragged on, but the woman found silence come with ease. After all, her parents had settled for nothing less.

Finally, he dove. But the boy did not peel a clean kill from the water as he had done before. Instead he splashed around the stream, and Kaihra flinched as a spray of water splattered against her fur. The drops stung her eyes and she scowled, but by the time she blinked the final residue away, the boy had emerged from the river himself - with fish in tow. The dark woman blinked with a start and took a second take before raising her brows, again impressed. The boy was young, but obviously skilled. If he kept it up, they'd need more than the two of them to carry the kill back up the Plateau's crest.

She considered his offer in silence. In different circumstance, she would have sought a solo spot somewhere further down stream, away from her packmate's watching eyes. But this boy knew much, and what she could glean from him would prove invaluable in further hunts. "I will try." She drew to her paws and moved toward the soil he'd found the grubs in a way that let her see the boy from the corner of her eye. She lowered her head to push at the dirt, drawing back when a tiny white body poked through the particles. Her stomach flipped again but she did not let her face betray her disgust at the thought of its wriggling body pressing against her lips. Turning her head this way and that, she lighted her eyes on Koda again with a questioning look. "So is there a way to grab this thing without it squirming against my mouth?"