“Couldn’t sleep?” Tiksu said, offering her a bowl.

Kaara took it, “Yeah, what are you still doing here?”

“They needed a smaller hunting party. Apparently there’s an ambushing Malaki nearby, so thing’d either hide seeing big numbers, or get people caught in a trap it set. Easier to surprise them with less people.”

Kaara wolfed down the stew; she'd only had Ingen fruit yesterday.

“I know! Why don’t I take you to Yvian today with Rorik and Arik? There’s a tournament happening there. It'll be good entertainment.”

Kaara remembered her curse and the nine people who were injured, “No thank you.”

“Hm, I suppose those two are more interested in watching fights than you are.”

“Can you teach me how to hunt?”

Tiksu raised an eyebrow, “That’s new, you rarely ever ask about that.”

“Well I’m getting older, so I wanna learn. Plus, I can help cook new cool things if I hunt for cool new things right?” Kaara needed to be more useful. She had to be.

“I suppose you can follow me and Tadios during our shifts, but are you sure?”

Kaara nodded. She’d never been more sure in her life, “It’s been too long since I saw Tadios too!”

“He’s about your age if I recall, I guess your schedules have been different for a while. But if you follow us you might not see Rorik or Arik for a while.”

“That’s fine!” Kaara said with undisguised enthusiasm. If it meant she wouldn’t have to tell her friends about what she’d learned this morning for a little longer then it was all the better.

“Are you fighting with them?”

Kaara shook her head, “They’ve both wanted to focus on their training as hunters lately, and I’m falling behind, so I gotta improve on my own too!”

“Ah, that’s where this is coming from. I understand. Then in that case, we’ll start tomorrow night and I’ll let your mother know.”

Kaara thought about telling Tiksu keep it a secret, but decided against it. It would be better to put her mother on the spot if she denied her hunting request than to raise Tiksu’s suspicion.

“Regardless, you’ll be alone today if you don’t come with me. I’m also going there to meet with some of the nobles. They’ll be sending their heirs to travel with us in a month for about a year. They wanna size us up and make sure we’re not incompetent savages, so I’ll be there to represent us.”

“Oh, the Zoink-sus?”

“Xirxus,” Tiksu corrected, “and don’t let them hear you pronounce their name like that. They’re one of the houses, yes. I figure if you, Rorik, and Arik are together you three can explore the city while I go and tend to that business.”

Kaara pondered it for a moment, “Alright, but only if you buy me the kinda food that you can only get in cities!”

“Huh? Why are you haggling me all of a sudden? You trying to threaten me? If you’re gonna make trouble, then I’ll leave you behind!” Tiksu said in a lighthearted tone.

“Aw cmon! I never get city food, and it’ll be the last time I spend with Arik and Rorik in a long time!”

Tiksu pat her head, “I’m just kidding. I’ll be sure to pack some extra money. We’ll be leaving in a couple hours on wolfback.”

“We get to ride the Wulviir?” Kaara said, her tail thumping about excitedly.

“Well I’m not gonna carry the three of you on my back! Rorik already knows how to ride, so he and Arik will share. You don’t know how to ride yet so you’ll be with me.”

“Can I pick them out?”

“Sure, sure, let’s pick them out while the other two are asleep.” Tiksu said, walking towards a large tent near the northeast side of the camp.

“Try not to be too loud. The last thing we need is to get all of them howling up a storm and waking the entire camp.”

“Okay.” Kaara whispered, already tiptoeing.

“Well, you don’t need to be that quiet either.” Tiksu said with a laugh.

They made their way to the tent. Kaara had only been here a few times to help with feeding them. Much like the members of the Tibur tribe, the Wulviir often ate any Malaki they hunted. In some ways, it made Kaara happy to think they got to enjoy more meals because of her.

Each Wulviir was about as big of a horse, ranging in color from black, to white, to blue-gray, and even bright orange or brown like a fox.

Some of them were already awake. Keeping a watchful eye over their pack while the rest of them slept soundly. Tiksu’s scent was familiar to them, so none of them made a fuss.

Except for a single blind pup who had wandered a little too far from its mother. Squealing and crying out. It was crawling around, fidgeting and trying to find its way back, but going in the complete opposite direction. Its fur was a beautiful pitch black aside from a single red-orange diamond patch of fur on its forehead.

Kaara instinctively moved to help it, but Tiksu grabbed her shoulder, “Watch.”

Only a few moments later, the mother woke up, delicately pawing over its pile of pups and grabbing its mewling child by the scruff of its neck. It had the most beautiful silvery white eyes Kaara had ever seen. After a few grooming licks it once again curled defensively around its litter and went back to sleep.

“Nothing’s more frightening than a mother protecting their young. Remember to let the mothers take care of their own or you might get a nasty bite. Even if the pups are cute.”

Kaara could hardly contain herself with how cute they all were. Her tail thumped so much, she had to coil it around her leg to keep herself from disturbing them.

“The ones we’ll be taking are already awake, let’s leave these be.”

Kaara nodded, following Tiksu to where several massive Wulviir stood. Each one had a specialized saddle hanging from its stable gate, and they all seemed pretty happy to see Tiksu. “Alright boys and girls, I’m gonna need two of you for now, so sit!”

The row obeyed without question, some of them panting happily as they awaited their next command.

“That one looks like Arik!” Kaara pointed to a wolf with a mottled fur coat of white orange and black. Even its eyes were different colors just like Arik.

Tiksu nodded, “You know, I see the resemblance. I assume that’s the one you want them to ride?”

Kaara nodded, “And the one I choose for ours…” She scanned over the rest, they all looked so regal and cool in their own way. Some had thick stripes along their backs, while others had strikingly beautiful glossy coats. Their neckfur was almost thick enough to be a mane. It looked so soft Kaara wanted to dig her face in it.

“Noblemen might see our wolves, so I gotta pick one who looks really poisoned and so-fist-the-catered”
“You mean poised and sophisticated…”

She finally pointed to a snow white wolf with deep purple eyes and a blackpatch of furl over its breast, “That one looks noble to me!”

Tiksu laughed, “Sure, that one will do! Let’s saddle up and get the others. Come along.”

Unlike a horse’s saddle, a Wulviir’s saddle was more of a harness with handholds and an opening along its back. Their long fur was more than soft enough to ride on top of without discomfort, and a normal saddle tended to pluck hairs from their coat.

Their harness was far more suited for the maneuvers they could perform during battle, and would allow the rider to stay mounted even while it ran up trees, or flipped through the air.

Tiksu helped her on top of the white Wulviir and sat her in front of him. The sun was cresting over the horizon, “Today will be the last day that you get to spend with Rorik and Arik for a while , so live it to the fullest alright?”

Kaara looked up, “I know, but we’ll see each other again. And I’ll be a lot stronger!”

Tiksu nodded, “You know, me and your father made this same journey when we were your age.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’ve got plenty of stories to tell you about him on our way. Oh! One time we…”

Kaara stared at the horizon as she listened along. There was still so much she hadn’t seen yet, and far more that she didn’t know. This morning had given her several things she felt she should be more sad about, but today she chose to be happy.