Bramblepoint red-hawk for dinner

Aureli gave a short little nod; he could do that. He had a patient, now, and that meant that all was right in the world.

"I will teach you," he said, a promise in his voice. He stood, stretching his sore hind leg — the one with scars criss-crossed over the ankle. "Now, where has your mother gone? We should make a plan..."

He squinted into the wilderness, his tail swishing idly in contentedness.

"Leto?" he called, looking this way and that.