Noctisardor Bypass newanen

there was always time to spare for any one of the many children inhabiting rivenwood. heda took the evening patrol and let @Gideon accompany her. they would stay close, she explained, and she would show him the place where she and druid had once found a little snake called bracelet.
her eyes watched him; she fell into a playbow, inviting him from the rendezvous by the great tree as she assured the boy he could stay out after dark with her, if he wanted.

At first, the notion of accompanying Heda on evening patrol sounded absolutely dreadful to Gideon. As much as he loved his mother and cherished time spent in her company, patrol to a three month old wolf puppy who wasn't especially inclined toward guardianship amounted to the following:

"Stay on the path, Gideon."
"Keep an eye out for wolves, Gideon."
"Stop putting those weeds in your mouth, Gideon."

But then Heda promised he could stay out after dark with her, and that changed everything.

Are there big scary monsters? he asked as he tagged along after her, tails a-whirring and paws a-bounding. What about bad guys? Oooh! Oooh! What about Snargledegrumps?

Gideon had recently seen a badger waddling about the edge of the rendezvous, minding its own, and learned just how grouchy a badger was when he tried to approach it and it grunted and growled at him. Ever since then he had christened them Snargledegrumps, some mangled amalgamation of snarling and grumpy.

getting after him bemused heda, reminding her that there was far more to life than the chaos which had marked her own thus far. her eyes were warm on gideon, watching him prance at her side. his two tails hardly warranted a glance these days; they were uniquely gideon, the same way his deep beautiful eyes were his own. not her. not anselm. but bits of shining sunny gold swimming up every time he grinned or laughed or shouted.
heda chuckled. "well, if we run into any of these snargledegrumps, you're here! gideon of rivenwood. they wouldn't try anything against how brave you are. bad guys too," his mother assured with a nod.
she brought her plucky little son to the old rendezvous where she and druid had spent a lot of time together. "your aunt brought me a little snake, right here," she said, turning her head to look toward the towering yellow oak trees. "named her bracelet."
what an eternity ago that had been.

Yeah! said Gideon with a proud little huff of air. He splayed his forelegs and pushed out his chest and flung his tails high in the sky. No Snargledegrumps ever beat me! Except that one time. But no more!

Truth be told, Gideon wasn't very brave, he just pretended to be. Being out in the evening was both super cool and a little scary. The shadows were longer and deeper, and Rivenwood felt heavier somehow. There were dark swooping creatures in the orange-tinged sky when he looked up. They didn't look like any birds he had ever seen. He wanted to ask what they were, but didn't want to shatter his mom's belief that he was very brave, so he strutted along full of false bravado and silently wished Ezra was with him. Ezra was much braver.

Curiosity got the better of his trepidation when Heda motioned to the tree and told him about the snake auntie Druid had brought. He scampered forth to sniff around the log where Bracelet had been found, but he hadn't the faintest idea what a snake smelled like, so he couldn't really say whether that musty and sort of fungal smell was a snake or something else. What's a bracelet? he idly asked, squinting to try to see into the dark belly of the log.

"it's something that goes around your wrist, see," and heda bent a thin stem of rosevine against her own ankle. "bracelet was a snake, and she'd wrap all the way around aunt druid's wrist. snakes don't have legs. they're like — have you ever seen a worm curled all up? snakes are like that, but larger."
while he looked in one direction, heda found the faintest reek of badger, and followed its musky strength down into a little gully. "oh, dear," she murmured to herself, motioning for gideon to keep back. "badgers are nasty with a bad bite. look," toward a ramshackle pile of deadfall over a wide-mouthed burrow, "that's where he's made his set."

If there were any worms or snakes hidden away in the log, Gideon was unable to make them out in the gloom, even when he shoved his head in to try to see better. He wondered what it felt like the wear a worm on his ankle and decided he wouldn't enjoy the sensation. Auntie Druid sure was weird!

His mind switched from bracelets to badgers as he awkwardly backed out of the log and turned to Heda. I bet I can bite harder, he boasted, but his nose caught the reek when he wandered closer to his mother and a warning shudder crept down his spine. Snargledegrump!

Hardwired into him was the ancient knowledge that this was not a creature worth messing with unless he had a very good reason, and from experience he knew they were grumpy. The burrow had a narrow entrance that took Gideon several seconds to recognize. That looks really small, he remarked. The Snargledegrump was bigger than that! Or perhaps it had only seemed so when it was growling and posturing.

"bigger than that? well, we shouldn't go too close then," heda crooned, though she could tell gideon already understood the perilously mortal lesson against badgering a badger. "i'm certain you could bite harder, too, but let's try it another time."
while she could not hear any growling or clawing from inside the set, heda didn't want to try the animal. she nudged her little son and turned him on their way. "you know, badgers are pretty good to eat. but you should never try to hunt them without someone else, even when you're older." she paused. "do you think the snargledegrump could get a badger, gideon?"

Gideon agreed. As much as he wanted to puff his chest out and prove he was more than a match for any badger or Snargledegrump, it was all just false bravado. Should Heda have suggested they go after it now, he didn't think he would be able to keep up his facade.

Today it was only pretend, but he vowed that someday he would be brave. Someday he would be strong.

The Snargledegrump could get all the badgers, mama, Gideon said with a giggle as he pranced back to her side. His tone suggested she had said something truly silly, like whether he thought a shark could eat a fish or a wolf could eat a baby bunny. Whadda badgers taste like? Oh! Do they taste like rabbits?

"all the badgers? that's very reassuring," skaigona grinned to him, nipping playfully at one of his gunmetal cheekbones. gideon posed a question that she mused over for a moment. "the flavor is heavy. gamy, is the word. but it fills you right up, and the hides are very thick. you collect a few of those, you will be very warm in your den in winter."
"now rabbits, those taste much better, i think! and they don't stink like badgers or have big sharp teeth to bite you. i think if i had to choose, it would be a rabbit. what do you think?"
a breeze rustled the leaves; she smiled, feeling the greatness of peace around herself and gideon.