Now there was a delightful speaker! Nootau grinned and wagged his tail. Ain’t nothin’ nicer than some ol’ redneck drawl. Perhaps others would be annoyed by the improper speech, but Nootau found it refreshing. It seemed to invite an easy relaxed state rather than that stress to be all nice and gentlemanly (like around pretty females). He could be just a young adult out to find a bit of trouble. Heck, it even felt easier on his brain. Although others might find the red legged pup hard to understand if they weren’t familiar with the common language, Nootau had been around all sorts of “country folk.” He had never picked up much of the sloppy lip talking, but every so often when he was feeling at ease and was with other pups, he found himself using a bit of slang.

Azrael had a son too? So that white and grey spoiled brat, and this nice guy? Wow. Talk about complete opposites for his pups too. Maybe it was genetic? Azrael was the opposite of Isola and Gaurdian was the opposite of that she-pup that Nootau didn’t know the name of. Nootau stored the name Andromeda into the files of his brain with the note of her relationship to Az and Gaurdian and Spoil She-pup. He supposed he wanted to meet her now that he had met Gaurdian (his hope restored of the family’s nature). Nootau also listed King’s Guard under the ranks list in his brain for later consideration. It seemed like an awesome job to have! In fact, Nootau wanted something of a similar rank. Perhaps the difference was that he wanted to be the wolf commanding all the other guards and warriors. Whether that put him in the alpha position or not would be up to how the time line fell, but his dream was to be a commander.

Already feeling comradeship with Guardian, Nootau was happy to hear about his ultimate goal. He hadn’t had a friend to share a dream with before. Although Nootau felt competitive, he was ecstatic to have a buddy. Nootau nodded and commented, “Cool rank.” Well, the future had better watch up for this upcoming group of talented youngsters! It sounded like Diveen was going to be inherited by some remarkable leaders. Achilles and Guardian. Talk about an intimidating pair! They both had the names of warriors.

Nootau loped after the longer legged wolf. Over a longer distance, Nootau would have struggled some to keep up Gaurdian’s natural pace because Nootau had survivalist training where Gaurdian seemed to have trained ever day of his life. But for the distance they went, Nootau easily kept pace with the larger pup. As they ran, Nootau’s ear flicked towards his new friend when he began informing Nootau on what he planned. So this Starfall was going to be another wolf Nootau had meet. The list kept growing and growing! That sounded like a good plan to help a relationship. Nootau nodded and said, “Sounds like a plan. I haven’t hunted birds before, but I’ll give it a shot.”

It wasn’t long before the scent of bird filled Nootau’s nose. He immediately dropped into crouch and his gait went from and easy lope into a long stalk smoothly. Hunting was one of the few things Nootau was better than the average two year old at because of its necessity since he had been a loner essentially for a year and a half. Guardian had done the same and together, they slipped through the grass unseen and unheard. The only thing working against them was the lack of wind (though it was better than being up wind from the prey Guardian had chosen). Nootau hardly even noticed that Guardian took a moment to make sure the area was clear of strangers because he had zoned in on the birds they were approaching.

Nootau nodded in response to Guardian. His tail waved just barely so as to avoid making the tall grass around them rustle and alarm the birds. Nootau whispered, “Yeah. Sounds like fun.” Then, he slowly inched forwards, using his nose to navigate how close he was to the birds. In a few feet, Nootau was lost from untrained eyes because of his camouflaged fur. Then, finally, Nootau’s sharp blue and orange eye caught sight of a brown, nearly undetectable hen. With his individual target spotted, he slunk forwards.

She stayed on the ground until, she suddenly realized his approach. Nootau’s eyes widened when he realized he had been found and he leaped for her. His paw landed on her wing, but he had missed the rest of her. She started struggling and squawking loudly. She furiously pecked at him with a sharp beak. It dug into his paw. Ouch! The heck?! Birds were ferocious?! Nootau flinched mostly in surprise and lifted his paw off of her, his face the perfect representation of confusion.