Oak Tree Bend Black, white and red all over

For @Corsair RE: Migrating geese are making quite the racket.

saw you in the village playin' mandolin

Ayla Donata

Ayla rolled her shoulder, gingerly setting her paw down in the snow and jerking it up again when a shooting pain ran up the length of her leg. She hissed through her teeth but persevered. The sooner she could work normally again the sooner her mother would stop forcing the bitter plants down her throat. The whole experience had left the child with a scowl on her face. While the snow did ease a considerable amount of the pain, the longer she spent laying around the tighter the limb grew and it wasn't like she could relax anyway with all that infernal honking in the distance. She wanted to see what was making the noise, not lay there staring at the same old oak that she had stared at all her life.

With a heavy puff of dragon's breath she put her paw on the ground again, gritting her teeth through the pain and forcing weight through the leg. She tested it once, then twice before heading towards the distant noises. Her steps on that foot might have been shorter than the other three limbs but she was up and moving, and the more she walked the easier it got (though she'd probably pay for pushing herself tonight - but that was a problem for future Ayla).

He and Mabel were on Ayla-duty, and it was his shift. It wasn't that he didn't like being her babysitter, because the truth was that he really enjoyed her company. But he liked her company better when it wasn't forced on him, and he liked it when he was allowed to leave her side and go places. Like, say, a small adventure south. And out of Oak Tree Bend. But here he was, stuck babysitting. Ayla didn't do much, so Corsair usually tried to sleep through his shift, or find something to talk about. Today he was napping a few yards away from his little sister, soaking up whatever sunshine could reach him. Even the loud, constant honking couldn't wake him.

He snorted and jolted up, not seeing his sister in the spot he'd left her. He sleepily asked for her, finally waking up enough to find the girl wobbling in some dumb direction. "Hey! You're not supposed to be going anywhere," instantly awake now, Corsair bounded off after her. It didn't take him long to figure out what she was after. His ears swiveled every which way, trying to pin point what the sound was. "It's just a goose, Ayla." Or maybe more than one. Gooses, or something like that. He'd fought one before, but had yet to really take one down. The boy smiled, "I bet I can catch one."

saw you in the village playin' mandolin

Ayla Donata

The red girl curled a lip in her brother's direction. "I bet I coulda caught one if someone didn't stampede a caribou herd over me." She snapped back as she continued to limp towards the honking. But, then again, maybe it would be amusing to watch her brother try, he might even face plant in the stream... So she goaded him in the way that only a sister could. "I bet it'll bite your nose and box your ears for even trying." Her nose tipped skyward to make sure the birds weren't going to take flight before she got there. Besides, how was she meant to go all the way to the vale if she couldn't even make it to audible geese?

She was right, and he knew it. He'd be beaten up by a goose before, and would probably be beaten up again. It hadn't been so bad the first time, and maybe if he put on a show for Ayla, it'd lift her spirits and she could forgive him and Mabel for the whole almost killing her ordeal. "Nah, they're dumb," he said, deciding not to rush ahead just yet. "I've got experience with 'em. Did you see those feathers back in the den? I caught those feathers. So that means I've got experience, and experience means I'll do better this time," he was confident in himself, not considering that the first time his fight had been with one goose. "So we'll sneak up on 'em, and you pick out the fattest one, and then I'll go catch it."