Dawnlark Plains tender like a dove

kaelith is filled, above all, with the need to make his brother proud. he will not rely on blood alone to solidify his place within darukaal, although he knows faust would offer him lenience.

but kaelith is a man now, with the height and build to show for it. albeit he still lacks the coordination of an older, experienced individual. the flick of a rabbit's ear catches his keen eye, and the wolf feels his heart race. this is his moment, his chance to feed the collective.

he creeps forward, tail held aloft, just as his father once painstakingly taught him to do (and at the time, kaelith had been fiercely disinterested). he keeps his gaze fixed upon his target, jaws parted to scent the air, and soon he is less than a tail length from it.

its eyes are wide and dark, and from so close kae can see its whiskers twitch, smell the milk scent clinging to its belly. a mother with kits nearby, no doubt, and guilt worms its way into the pit of his stomach. squirming little things, so similar to wolf pups. so tender and so untainted.

that moment of hesitation costs him his meal, for the rabbit stomps a footprint into the snow and flees to its burrow, deep underground.

"damn." he's lucky faust didn't see that.