Moonspear you can feel it in my pulse

looking for a quick baby thread with @Charon or @Amekaze !!1 This is backdated before the Saghani incident, after her thread with Rannoch [so she doesn't have any injuries right meow]

 

A bear had killed the parents of Rannoch. And so began Hydra's hatred of those of the ursine variety. Like Hell one of those things, whatever they were, would kill her parents—or anyone she loved. Hydra would inform her sisters of all they needed to know, and she knew she needed to speak with Alya in particular for the new information gleaned about her hearts desire, Cypress, but first came her duty to them all (which surpassed all else when she feared for their wellbeing). 

Hydra called for her mother or father but also followed the trail of one of them. Her mind ran so rampantly that she could not depict if it was her father she went after, or her mother. Either would do, as they were both perfectly wise.

It just so happened that they had been together at the time of Hydra's search, which might be why she had been so unsure which of them she was tracking. They'd spent time together that day, just at the tail end of the rosy days passing the period of heat and had lain cuddled up for a little bit. Charon nuzzled Amekaze as he got up and promised to get her something to eat, stretched his limbs and departed.

Just as he took off he saw Hydra up ahead. To see the strongest of his daughters so grown up made pride swell in his chest and he chuffed to announce his presence to her, as she seemed preoccupied with tracking something or someone.

Hydra, of all her sisters, was perhaps the easiest to tell apart from her sisters when she was her True Self—she was proud, self-assured, and confident in the way she held herself. Her body language shifted upon sight of her father, and she paid her due respects to the pale man as she slid beside him with a lowered tail and some rough, submissive nips to his chin. Though typically she would incite a spar, Hydra withdrew quickly enough—her blue eyes flashed and her ears pricked. Are bears easy to kill? She inquired, looking over her shoulder for a moment. I met someone—his name was Rannoch. He said his parents were killed by a bear, her gaze fell back to Charon, her hackles lifting slowly at the thought of her parents coming under attack from, well, anything. Charon would know better than anyone of her present desire: exterminate bears. If that were possible, which he would tell her.

As his daughter crouched to pay the due respect for a moment he considered that he may have been mistaken and it was Alya instead — she was the hardest for him to tell apart, because on a scale from Lyra to Hydra, Alya was in the middle — who had been pretending to be Hydra. But then when she spoke he was sure it was Hydra, from the fire behind the words she spoke and the urgency with which she breached the subject without a moment's pause or care.

But the subject itself was startling, a grim reminder of the death of his own parents as well as Eshe. Was Rannoch another one of Eshe's — that Cypress boy's brother? He swallowed away the wave of grief he felt to think back to his mother and the sacrifices she had made, that he had never gotten to know her. But then he put it aside, for worry for his daughter was suddenly imminent instead. "No," he was quick to say. "Taking on a bear is a pack task, not a one wolf task." He remembered meeting Barf face — what was her real name again? — when he was Hydra's age and convincing her to teach him about killing bears. But in hindsight her encouragement on the matter had been foolish and dangerous.

"Bears are large and strong, so the only chance is to distract it while other wolves attack it. If you ever meet anyone who tells you otherwise, who tries to convince you you can take one on alone, they're a bunch of fucking liars. Do you understand?" He looked pointedly at Hydra, not meaning to put her on the spot but feeling angry at the thought someone may teach her what he had been taught when young; and that she may pay the price for it that he never had to out of sheer luck.

A pack task. Not a one wolf task. She registered the words and nodded, and as he spoke on she held to the words he said. When he asked if she understood, she nodded again. Where do bears live? She asked next. She had never seen one, and she supposed if they could not just go out and end them as she would have liked she ought to know how to best avoid them. Have you ever seen one? Her ears rotated forward, quite interested in his own experiences. Her father was wise and knew best, and she was always keen to hear his wisdom and his stories.

Charon'd hoped that her interest would fade with the knowledge they were not to be messed with one-on-one, but of course he should've known better. Her interest only seemed piqued now and she continued her questions. He didn't answer right away, but after the last question he said: "There were bears living on Moonspear soon after we moved here, years ago. We killed one then, with the whole pack together — but at the time, we were with more." Nishu Inte had been killed then, well, more or less... "They live in caves," I think, "And I've seen many. Even before Moonspear, where I was born in Stavanger Bay." He realised maybe he should take her there sometime. "My brothers were attacked by one once. While I took Floki to safety the bear ripped the leg clean off another pack mate." And that was why she shouldn't take one on alone, ever. They were strong, and they were ruthless.

His words sobered her. Hydra would certainly never take on a bear independently, now. I won't go after them alone ever, she informed, in case he wasn't certain from her questioning. And her father made it clear that no small number would suffice, either. I only wanted to know if Moonspear was safe from them... so that one bear is dead, are there more? Their number wasn't grand, but Hydra did not want any bears here. Not after hearing the story of the bear that had killed Rannoch's parents, and the bear that had ripped off her fathers brothers leg. She grimaced.

"Good," he confirmed when Hydra promised not to go after bears alone, ever. She then went on, pragmatic as ever (a thing she had inherited from her mother, surely), to ask about Moonspear's safety and the role bears played in it. "We don't know — there haven't been any," he half-lied; there had been two at the time, but they had not seen the second ever since killing the first. There was no need to worry Hydra needlessly.

"If you ever run into one, call for the pack. We must work together to kill it. What works mostly is being fast and getting too close for it to hit with its teeth or claws. A different wolf distracts it each time while the others manage to land blows." It didn't hurt to teach her about it in case the situation were ever to arise. Charon certainly did not intend to get killed by a bear.

Charon shared with her the how-to, and Hydra stored this intel away. Now she certainly would not make any attempts to take out bears, at least not alone. Though at the very least Hydra would know what to do when she was in that situation. That there haven't been any bears relieved Hydra; she believed him, given he had never lied to her (to her knowledge) before, and also because she had never seen a bear here for herself. 

Feeling confident on the subject now, albeit a bit disappointed that she could not take a bear on for herself, Hydra nodded. Her good sense caused her to want to avoid bears now rather than find one and begin the eradication process she had desired to begin to start with, prior to being educated on the matter. So, satisfied, Hydra shifted the subject: Wanna spar? her tail waved in invitation, and without further warning she sprang to the side of her father, reaching to nip his shoulder (but unsure if she landed anything) before making an attempt to dart away and out of his reach as she was taught to do with bigger opponents, an impish grin on her face.

Truthfully, he wasn't feeling much up to a spar — he'd rather talk more, find out what drove her and maybe talk some more about this Rannoch kid or about her experiences with bears and what more she wanted to know about them. The way she nipped at his shoulder reminded him of Amekaze and incited a 'challenge accepted' thought within him.

After looking thoughtful a moment longer, he turned round and galopped after Hydra in the direction that she'd gone, though his heart — and mostly his head — wasn't entirely in the spar.

Off they went to spar, Hydra none the wiser to her fathers disinterest in the moment as he sparred well with her. Hydra's own passion was much to her benefit, and she learned plenty more this day with Charon as she always seemed to. Once they tired of the activity, Hydra departed his company to follow the call of Lyra who stated she had found something interesting.