Duskfire Glacier ground zeroes

Veteran bounded joyfully toward Meerkat's voice. He found her near the place where she liked to sleep, which-- come to think of it-- probably should have been the place he checked first before he started doing all the shouting. 

Oh well. 

He galloped up to Meerkat, fully intending to barrel into her chest and leap up towards her mouth with adoring licks, as was his habit. However, he stopped himself at the last moment before making contact, realizing that his beloved Coach Meekah seemed shorter than usual. Or.. was Veteran taller? Either way, the realization stopped him a hair short of tackling her. 

He still did the little bounces and licks, though. She wouldn't get off that easy!

"Can we do warrior training? I wanna know everything you've taught Wayfarer and Makatza." The children were well into their fighting-for-dominance phase, and these were the two siblings that Veteran viewed as his most challenging competition. No way was he going to let them gain any edge on him!

"Or.. do you want breakfast first?" Veteran forced himself to slow down a little, recalling that Meerkat had just woken up.