Beaver Dam if you don’t learn then you will never know

@Jacynth ^^

Ran was still not sure where to go. He’d been wandering, eating scraps of food where he could find them and if he was successful in whatever brief hunting excursions he attempted. He hadn’t run into anyone aside from the one boy and the older lady, but there was a pack somewhere around here, he was certain. It was both exciting and nerve-wracking - he wanted a place to stay, of course, but there was this lingering fear of gnashing teeth and foamy slobber, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to face that fear yet.

So he lingered. Pacing around the woods, walking up and down the rivers. It was a pretty place, he had to admit - far unlike the plains he was more used to.

It was actually a strange break in the stream that caused him to halt in his tracks today. A weird structure - sticks and branches all shoved together to stop the water. Curiously, the yearling approached it, sniffing cautiously at the base.

For the first time in a long while Jacy wandered beyond the borders of the Backwater. He didn't have a goal this time, except that he wanted to clear his head. He missed Sage, he missed his littermates, he missed his dad. Viorel was a little more present these days, and there was his new cousin to consider... though he hadn't spent much time with her.

He just wanted to be alone for a little bit, figure out what he wanted to do in life. He was old enough now to find a purpose in his back, but he didn't think he was much good at anything. Maybe they would allow him to become a scout. He could look for missing pack members, or find herds, or carry messages... it wouldn't be awful.

The sound of trickling water met his ears and the yearling looked up. A stranger stood before him, curiously sniffing the beaver dam. "Spot the beavers yet?" he asked. He could go for beaver, maybe take some back for his mom or Vanadis, and the fur would make a nice lining for the den.

"Speech" Thought

Whatever made this… thing… smelled pretty weird. It was an animal, he figured, but he wasn’t sure what it could be. He’d never come across anything like it before, and maybe he should’ve been more cautious than he was, but nothing was immediately coming out to chase him away, so he figured it was fine. Besides, it could be his next meal… if he was lucky.

Ran jumped a little, turning to face the voice. It was another boy, around his age, a little taller. Tawny fur like the other boy he’d met, starkly different than Ran’s own.

Confused, he tipped his head to the side, ear folding over on itself. “What’s a beaver?” he asked, taking a step away from the pile of sticks. “Do they make these weird pile things?” His stomach growled then, loudly, and heat crept onto his face. “And… do they taste good?” Even if they didn’t, he was probably willing to eat them. It’d been a while since he’d had a good meal.

Jacy didn't mean to scare the other boy, but it appeared he'd startled him none the less. He tried not to laugh, just as surprised by the sudden movement. He glanced back at the dam before considering the stranger more. He looked small, so couldn't be much older than him, if he was at all. And how did he not know what a beaver was? They were everywhere?

<b>"Yeah, they make them to stop up the water. It's where they live,"</b> he said. <b>"I don't think I've ever eaten one, but I think they'd probably taste okay."</b> He'd thought the oysters would taste weird, but he'd had so much fun cracking rocks with Sage that he'd had to try one and it hadn't turned out too badly. His gut clenched; he missed his friend. He missed his sister, and his dad, and even Dacian...

He shook it off. <b>"We can try and find one, if you like,"</b> he offered, noticing the way the boy's stomach had rumbled. <b>"If we can't, we can always try and find something else to eat. I know a few places."</b> He remembered being hungry when he'd been roaming alone and he didn't like it. Why was this kid out by himself? <b>"I'm Jacy,"</b> he said.