Redhawk Caldera tadpoles

backdated to feb 19! <3

when teya and ponyboy had spoken, the riverwolf sought @Bronte. her daughter had suffered a great deal of loss and her reaction had been understandable.
another fish, a grayling, would make its way as a meal for the girl, young woman anymore. teya lay it down and called for bronte now, eyes searching the evening.

Teya's voice reached her, beckoning daughter to mother. Bronte answered. Through the shadows of the dark, her bright form emerged. Coming rushing at a brisk trot, amber eyes alive and on Teya, by the water side. 

Tail whisking low, brushing at the curve of her hocks, she greeted her mother with soft nudge to her cheek. Bending down, she inspected the fish, but did not move to taste it. "What species is this?" She inquired. And then she came out with it. "I think I might wanna take up fishing, like you, mother. Will you show me?"

"of course," teya said, surprised and touched. and — the raven could not help but compare this to her relationship with sorana, and so it came to pass that each soft interaction with her younger daughter resulted in a small glissade of shame.
but she shook it away, and smiled brightly. "too cold to swim," teya mused. "ice breaking. we go to lake. eat first," she urged, motherly even in her vagueness about such things. "and this is called a grayling."

She had been considering a lot lately. Mainly about the role she wanted to play in the pack. She would be a year old soon and it was time to start taking on something serious. "Thanks! I always saw you had a natural talent for it and I wanted to see if I got it too!" She beamed.

Before going to the lake, she would fill her belly with the catch Teya had supplied for her. "A Grayling huh. They common?" She could see why the fish got it's namesake, with the silver to gray scales lining it. She saved her other questions, biting into the flesh. Letting it split beneath her teeth, feeling the texture and flavor with her tongue. A fine introduction to the art of becoming a fish master.

"very common," teya assured, contented by bronte's swift interest in what she had to teach. "best to hunt at night, when raining. harder to see but not as easy for fish to sense," she explained, settling into her milieu. 
"fishing is — lot of waiting," she chuckled gently. "good to be still for a while. let mind wander. you practice, eventually your mind wander while your paws fish," the raven promised, smiling at her daughter as she ate.

Although fresh, Bronte found the meat to be mushier than she expected. Quite bony too, but that was a given with any fish you'd sink your teeth into. Once she picked her way through the bones, she licked her lips clean. "I don't mind waiting. I want to give it a try. To experience it, to see what it is like!" 

She padded up to Teya, sliding her side along hers in a touch of mother-daughter affection. "I'm ready to give it a shot."

bronte was exuberant, and her mother laughed. "go on, then," teya encouraged. "i wait back here. watch for shadows on water," she warned. "scare fish."
wading from the shallows, teya held off giving more advice, only nodded encouragingly at bronte and waited to see what would happen as the fading sunlight shone down upon them.