Nootau felt limp and at Jagger’s gentle nudge, it was easy for her to push his shoulders away from her slightly. From not having proper meals in months, his shoulders were boney, and he was surprisingly light even though he was apparently a small male for this area. He glanced at Jagger when she spoke, half of him wanting to believe her, but the majority of him rejecting her claim that this wasn’t his fault. However he looked at the situation, it all came back to him. If he hadn’t played this prank, the lynx wouldn’t have chased him, and if it hadn’t have chased him, Nootau wouldn’t have needed protection. It was so messed up. Nootau, now determined to make sure nothing like it happened again, felt a bit easier.

He wouldn’t be able to fix this, but he could prevent the same thing from happening again. He’d learn everything he can if he could protect a life. Nootau breathed in relief when Jagger agreed to teach him. His ears perked forwards at her terms, and he looked back at the stiffening body of the lynx. He had already decided that he wanted to protect others, and that’s just what he was planning to follow. Nootau looked back at Jagger with a high head and swore, “I promise.”

In the future, he wanted to be a wolf respected by everyone he knew. Acknowledged as an individual and trusted to be a leader. How could he accomplish that, though, when he could even protect himself? He knew he could learn this from Jagger. Nootau nodded to her and then turned to leave, to put behind this awful scene for the day (because he was sure in his nightmares, he would see the lynx again and again), but Jagger spoke to him again. The use of his new nickname “Tau,” despite his somber mood, sent warmth into his chest. He had never had a nickname before.

Nootau’s ears twitched at her question. A home? Nootau wasn’t sure he had ever had one of those. A den? Kind of… he slept in a lot of different nooks and crannies in the forest. Some he went to more than others, but it all depended on what was easiest to get to. “No. I usually jus’ sleep where there’s shelter,” Nootau told her. Nootau briefly wondered if Jagger had a nice den to sleep in? Come to think of it, though, Jagger smelled a bit different than when he had first met her.

He could smell the pack on her, now, he realized. She hadn’t smelled that way when he first met her with Adina, so she must have been away from her pack for a while. That, or she had joined one recently. Nootau’s tail wagged happily for her. She must have a good den if she had a pack. “You’ve got a good den with your pack, right?” he asked. A cozy one, filled with lots and lots of soft bedding and an extra rabbit to eat just in case. Nootau blinked, realizing that he was daydreaming. Guess he knew what he was going to try hunting next. Rabbit.