Moonspear even would i know in my lifetime i will be

arcturus caught that flashing look -- its life was brief, yet arcturus knew intimately its meaning. dragomir believed he had failed. the mountaineer felt a sting himself, of guilt perhaps -- but he knew that often, failure was the most thorough teacher.

dragomir would learn - and in time, he would smoothly outplay arcturus. of that, the beta was sure.

he waited for the boy to re-situate himself, marveling at the new glint of frustrated determination in the boy's gaze. for a moment, he wished to speak - to say something encouraging -- but he did not want dragomir to lose the steely resolve that he had seen in the boy's hardened eyes -- so instead, arcturus squared up his opponent in silence.

he had his suspicions that now, dragomir was going to try to stand over the stick and not move. this was not a horrible tactic in arcturus' mind, and was more promising than seeing his student try the same thing over and over and over again each time and getting more frustrated with each failure. this change of tactic meant dragomir was thinking critically, which meant in turn, he was learning.

arcturus circled the boy slowly. in a few months time, dragomir would likely outmatch him in pure strength alone - arcturus would be smart to play his strengths rather than his weaknesses here. he circled once, and then changed his direction -- all the while holding dragomir's gaze.

he was looking for a weak spot, watching how the boy pivoted and turned -- when he thought he finally saw a chance worth seizing, arcturus strode forward with a snap at the boy's front paw, meant to pinch but not harm.