Bramblepoint red-hawk for dinner

In truth, it was more likely his mother's coddling that limited him than anything else, but there was more to it. He was growing faster than the rest of his body could keep up, leaving him feeling weak and fatigued. He knew that it would catch up with time, but it was difficult to do much. I don't want to only go out at night. His entire body seemed to frown now, a vision of pure misery. All I want is a normal life with a role in a pack and familiar faces. Was that too much to ask for?

My mom does all the hunting, she chases off any threat, and makes all of our plans. So basically, he had none of the basic skills that made a wolf. It's easier that way. She doesn't want me to wander because I might miss a threat until it's right next to my ear. For a moment he glanced back to the bushes, his mother hadn't reappeared yet.

..I don't know if I can make you understand, I'm sorry. It was difficult to descirbe his experience, because he had nothing to compare it to. This is how it had always been for Delos.

Aureli's head tipped to the side. He supposed he could see why it might be a hinderance for someone so young. He gave a little shrug. "So you will be sore and scabby. There are ways to make that more comfortable, if you insist on afflicting yourself," he replied, his tone even. "You cannot change the way your skin reacts to the sun. In this way, you will never be normal. Your hearing will likely remain impaired for the rest of your life as well. You will simply have to learn to live with it."

He did not have much in the way of comfort for the boy. Aureli had once been a small and sickly child, too, but he didn't imagine Delos wanted to turn out like him.

"You can still learn to hunt, and to fight," he said, speaking each word with care. "Certainly, you can learn to think strategically, and to make plans. I have seen wolves with similar impairments live good lives."

The problem, Aureli thought, might very well be the boy's mother.

"I can teach you about a few herbs," he told the boy. "Something to help with the burns. It won't be much better than mud — but you ought to learn all that you can about your condition. You will have it all your life."

Aureli gave it to him straight. All Delos had ever recieved was comfort, but comfort provided no solutions.. this might. For that, Delos preferred it.

He wasn't so sure about the hunting and fighting. He could learn, yes, but he needed a teacher first.. and while his mother had tried, she was far from a good mentor. He missed having Soto and Kemal to learn from.

But, not all was lost. If you'll teach me, I want to learn. Despite the usual delay, this response came quicker than the others. Anything was better than mud, and with this he might gain just a little bit of idependence.

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.

You can feel free to skip over Delos!

It was a brief, tense moment before Leto reappeared. Sorry, She spoke clearing her throat.

Admittedly, she had wandered away, but just to take care of some personal business. Sometimes a girl's gotta pee. What did I miss? Delos appeared significantly less tense, which was a good sign. Now she was glad that she hadn't been too mean to Aureli - he seemed.. alright.

His anxiety built for all of a moment before the mother appeared once more. Aureli's relief was such that he gave a few genuine whips of his tail.

"I have determined how to help young Delos," he toned. "Please, be seated."

He sat as well, looking between mother and son to be sure he had both their attention.

"First — I will teach you about a few herbs and their uses. It won't be hard to use or remember. This will help him with the pain and itchiness of any burns that he gets in the sun.

"Second — he must learn to hunt without his hearing. He will likely lose what little hearing he has with age.

"Third — I must urge you to find a pack that will take you both."

He waited to see what they thought about that.

Leto listened intently, but her rather expressive face betrayed how her hope seemed to crumble as Aureli went on.

The herbs she could understand, but what was she to do for the rest? Leto had no idea how to hunt without hearing or how to teach it -- was she meant to go crawling back to Towhee? And in the same sense, she wouldn't be caught dead back in the caldera. Leto was intent on making her way to the Taiga, and she would have to hope that a pack still lingered there.

..Alright. I can do my best. She pushed out a breath, shaking her head. I've never had a good head for plants, so I hope Delos will remember better than me. Eyeing her son, he now appeared more hopeful than she had. That was some comfort.

You're a good man, Aureli. I really do appreciate your help.

Aureli hadn't been quite sure how his "plan" would be received, and in the aftermath, he still wasn't quite certain. He thought he could see her disappointment, but she was bearing up in front of her son. Mostly.

"Let us hope," Aureli agreed, his patience thinning. He transferred his attention back to Delos, having decided that it would be the boy and not the mother who would be in charge of said treatment plan. Pointedly, he ignored her praise.

"You should eat," he said to the boy. "You will need your strength. We will be traveling to find some of these herbs. Moke."

The last word was said to the cat, summoning her from the brush.

"Come," he told her as her head popped back out of the brush. To mother and son: "I will find you in the morning. I must make my own preparations."

Which was code for eat — but he preferred others to assume he had no bodily needs of his own.