Swiftcurrent Creek Elastic heart

Not ten seconds after his run-in with the leaf, a figure came trotting into view. Relonikiv blinked at the familiar face, then managed a small smile, which grew slightly when he noticed the hare in Kieran's maw. He moved to greet the adult, his head bowed and his tail low, then dipped his head to sniff at the rabbit the adult had dropped on the ground.

"Hi," he said in a quiet, friendly voice, then asked politely, "Kin I eat?" A pup his age wouldn't normally be fully weaned for a few weeks, but there was hardly a choice now. Meat had become the primary staple of his diet over the past few days, with the Alphas quickly weaning the boys from regurgitated to solid. "Bunnit?" he added after a moment, trying to remember the name of this particular type of prey and accidentally mixing up bunny and rabbit.