Silent Moon Plateau go forth and have no fear

For @Phineas - dated 9/12

Hungry.

She was so hungry. Perhaps this was the problem, Kyna decided, with not following her mother around this morning. If she’d stayed with the alpha, the woman would have been able to feed her when the pup’s belly began to grumble. At four months old, the child was certainly weaned, but had yet to experience actually catching any prey herself. Despite all of her flaws, @Aponi had generally made sure her child was fed. (Fed, watered, and groomed – truly, the only child had little complaints with the Aquila’s parenting style, even if she wasn’t yet old enough to know any better.)

Huffing softly, the princess made her slow return to the den she shared with her mother, each step deliberate and thoughtful. It was a bit foolish of her to hope that her dam was back at their home, but what else was the child to do?

So when she found the hole in the earth dark and empty, it came as no great surprise. Kyna would be forced to fend for herself this day. The blond girl viewed this not with excitement but great trepidation, a lump already forming in her throat as she turned away from her home, seeking taller grass to hide her small body in. This was where the little rodents played – she’d seen mice many times before. She’d even eaten them, and with nothing else to ease the ache in her empty stomach, the young girl was forced to wait it until the field mice became curious again. It seemed to take hours on end – finally, one of the creatures came within a length of the pup, and she leapt.

The mouse scampered out from underneath her paws with a terrified squeak, and Kyna crashed onto the rocky surface, sprawling with the failure to launch her landing gear. A horrified wail went up as she cracked her bottom jaw against the stones, sharp needle teeth biting into her own tongue. The taste of her own blood was terrifying, and in that moment, all the child wanted was the comfort of her mother’s touch.

(This post was last modified: Sep 18, 2015, 12:45 PM by Kisla.)

Aponi was a far superior mother than he would have originally thought possible – not because he felt her lacking in compassion, but because the silver she-wolf had always seemed a little lost to him. Yet now, she had risen to the top – albeit, at the suspicion of their subordinates, and the death of Aesire. He had yet to determine how he felt about the woman’s demise. He felt no loss in the sense of comradeship – but he never would have wished such a death upon her. No, he had simply wanted her to take her children and her mate and leave.. settle elsewhere.

Now, her mate had vanished, and they had two orphans upon their hands.

But these thoughts were unpleasant, and like many times in his recent past, Phineas simply tucked them away to the dark recesses of his failing mind. The large beast was instead moving to the den, primarily to check in with Aponi and Kyna – despite his presence not necessarily being welcomed.

He came upon what appeared to be an unfolding hunt. As silent as ever, the male attempted to catch better view, but seemed to miss the maneuver that would allow the mouse its escape. What he didn’t miss was the wail that seemed to erupt birds from the nearby trees, and his eyes flashing wide, the pale man loped forward, concern etched upon his features as the scent of blood teased his nostrils. “Kyna,” he murmured gently, his eyes glancing around for sight of @Aponi. All he needed now was for her to decide he was abusing their daughter. “Hush, small teeth,” he tried to soothe, his nose dipping down to attempt to brush his muzzle across the top of her head. “What can I do?”

Kyna was utterly unaware of her father’s presence, senses not yet trained enough to pick up on peripheral sensations when she was so focused on the task at hand. Though he was as silent as a stone, perhaps an older pup would have been able to detect the faint change of scent on the wind. As it were, the child remained isolated in her own mind until someone murmured her name. Startled from her misery, her blond crown jerked up, watery eyes searching the familiar face with an unreadable expression. Her jaw hung open at a slight angle, trying to keep the pressure off her bitten tongue as a trickle of blood slid from the pinpricks her teeth had created. Fear warred with desperation, and while she instinctively flinched at the touch, it did not stop the child from chasing @Phineas muzzle for a fleeting moment as it was drawn away. After several speechless moments, she finally found her words. “I w-wath h-h-hungry,” the princess stuttered, still favoring her stinging tongue. She was hungry, and her mother was busy – that much was obvious. With no idea that the alpha had noticed her failed hunting attempt, she looked back to the patch of grass mournfully, all the little field mice long since scattered by her pathetic cries. “Moutheth,” she tried to explain again, a smell tremor still in her voice. She’d not much spoken to her father before – he was so different than Kyna last remembered, the princess spun of burnished gold found herself wondering if the last encounter had been a night terror she had begun to believe. But what would she do now? Would Aponi be upset, to see them like this? “I am hungry,” she finally decided, slowly lifting her flame licked eyes – she was careful not to meet Phineas’ gaze, but studied his muzzle instead. Still too frightened to actually request help of the lord, the pup could only hope he’d read between the lines and assist in her quest to fill her empty belly. KYNA AQUILA-ARGYRIS

A wild dissertation appears!

He could not heal a tongue, nor even truly get a good look at it. The male’s gaze was soft as he studied his daughter, and at her announcement of hunger, the ivory wolf was quick to react. Once more, his muzzle would bump against her, but this time, to her side, nudging her gently forward as he swept past her. A hunt was not likely to happen, but he did not something that could help her.

Leading her only a few minutes, Phineas found the fresh cache from only a few days ago. His eyes drifted over to study her once more, feeling remorse that only now, after so many months, this was his first few moments truly spent with her. Shaking himself mentally, the Argyris man leaned his muzzle down to the looser dirt, nosing at it before pulling back up. “This is a cache,” he noted to her, in case she had not had that lesson yet. “We store food in caches sometimes for moments like this – and if you unbury it, you can have something to eat,” he offered, and as if to demonstrate, the man began to gingerly swipe his paws along the top, pulling back the dirt and letting his daughter investigate further if she so desired to.

There is a rabbit\'s nest nearby. +1 Health

 

Whatever she’d been expecting @Phineas to do, it wasn’t this. For a moment, his daughter sat in surprise, her side tingling where she’d been gently nudged. This was not at all the white wraith she remembered at her doorstep on that full moon night – perhaps everything Aponi had said about the man simply wasn’t true? Why would she lie? To build a barricade of fear between Kyna and her father seemed purposeless to the child, not yet versed in the depth of intrigue and politics. It puzzled her well, but quickly the golden girl realized she would be left behind if she didn’t get her feet underneath her.

Without a sound nor a complaint, she shifted, gathering herself up and loping to catch up. Once at the alpha’s flank, the princess fell into a jog, the sting in her tongue forgotten as her mind raced and curiosity gripped her. They traveled in silence, though not a heavy one, and when they stopped, the girl’s nose began to twitch. Curiously, she lifted her head, ears pinning forward as the man began to explain just what they’d come across. “A cache,” she murmured quietly, glancing down to the soft earth as she commit the word to memory. Prior to this, her mother had always hunted for her (or so she assumed, as Aponi simply appeared with food). That she could unearth a meal was an absolute revelation, and she huffed softly. Had she been lied to?

There was a time when men were kind, with their voices soft and their words inviting. Phineas was being nothing but a parent now, and again Kyna wondered where the monster had gone – or if it had ever existed at all. After a moment, she began to follow suit, using wide paws to gently carve away the topsoil as her father did when the meal was revealed. Then, she paused, glancing back up at the alabaster wolf. “…for me? …I…can have it?” she asked uncertainly.

A wild dissertation appears!

The caches were lower than he would have liked, but the moment served it’s purpose as a lesson to the girl. His nose would bend down as she asked about the meat, and gingerly, he rolled it toward her paws, the gesture something he deemed more of an invitation than words could be. Pulling his muzzle back, the ivory wolf waited for her to satiate her hunger, his own eyes drifting from her lovely features to note the surrounding area. A pack hunt was something that should have been in order – and yet Silent Moon Plateau was in complete chaos for the moment.

“You can,” he reiterated then, allowing his bright eyes to fall once more upon his youngest child. The only child who would have anything to do with him – and minimally, at that. “But as a pack wolf, we must also replace what we take form the cache, so that your next hungry pack mate can also help them in their time of need,” he murmured quietly, his ears perking forward a she wondered if she understood. In truth, her own hunting lessons should begin soon.. and he found himself hesitant to pull the other two pups in to such antics.

The lessons and resources should have been reserved for his own children – not those of a woman who had snuck behind his back without even giving the courtesy of warning him of her plans. Had Aesire been around still, he would have made a point to teach only Kyna – but now, her children were alone.. and they had no others. “Would you like to learn how to hunt so you can help with the caches?”

 

Only once she was absolutely positive that her father meant for her to eat the kill that had been cached by another of their pack members did the girl slip forward, nibbling daintily on the kill offered to her. Hungry as she was, Kyna retained some of her finest ladylike qualities – perhaps it took her much longer to finish her meal than a wolf her age should, but the girl knew nothing of this as she slowly polished off the meat she was offered, silent still as she cleaned her muzzle and her paws of any remaining blood. As she did so, the alpha began to speak once more, and she tipped her head to one side, fire bright eyes studying the man even as she worked.

Once finished her task, she nodded once in understanding, and then the princess nodded again in agreement. It only seemed practical, she thought, to replace what she’d taken. She’d been so hungry, and while it was impossible to know who left this treat, perhaps leaving one of her own was an appropriate way to say ‘thank you’ to the mysterious benefactor.

“Yes, please,” Kyna requested, moving from her spot back to her father’s side. “Yes. I want to hunt. For myself.” So I do not need to rely on anyone else, she didn’t have the words to say. So I am not a burden, the girl wasn’t quite mature enough to understand. Instead, she added, “I want to hunt. For the caches, too. To help.”

A wild dissertation appears!

I'm so sorry, love. The time you had to wait for this is inexcusable.

With her hunger seemingly satiated by the leftover morsel, Phineas studied his daughter quietly as she finished eating. She was quite similar to the Argyris clan – the rich agouti of her pelt, the spun honeys.. even more so, it was her eyes that were most telling. He felt a surge of pride – he had not expected to have another child after Evy, Celandine and Takis, and yet here she was – and she, like her half-siblings, seemed to have much to offer the world.

And she was eager to learn. Offering a nod of approval, the pale wolf dipped his broad muzzle down, sweeping the dirt in to the cache hole once more—tidying up the area they had disturbed. With this completed, the regal stood up, his tall frame still as he scanned the area about them. His nose quivered as it tested the wind, and canting his muzzle to slope downwards and study her thoughtfully, the wolf gave another nod. “Let’s test that nose of yours then. How about you lead us to another cache?”

Hunting would certainly come in time, but for now, he wanted to test her tracking ability. It was something that could at least take up the rest of their day together, and then in the evening, he could begin to speak to her about the ways of hunting.

(This post was last modified: Jan 13, 2016, 06:37 PM by Phineas.)