One red-backed ear turned to angle back towards her now, the girl evidently in possession of far more fire then she had appeared before. Honestly she had seemed mildly impatient earlier, impatient and dull- like her coat. Now she seemed at least a little more awake, my teasing seeming to have a woken a far more engaging creature then the one I had been presented with before as my lips pulled into a grin all the same. At least her attitude was more interesting then it had been before.

“Teacher is fine. I’m actually not a Master yet, though I will be in time. You can save Master for then.”

There were precious few who ever attained the rank of Assassin Master, although Ankh surely believed it was Master Scout I spoke of, my assassin ways a little more…..hidden from most. As for Assassin Masters, Heyel, Devil, Malina, Ava, Azrael…..They were the only ones I think I ever knew or heard off despite the countless Assassins that had trained within Trenus in its early days. It was a shame, truly, that so many had either died or disappeared or like Azrael, held no interest in teaching any longer. If Ava was still alive perhaps I could seek her, although truly there never seemed to be any glowing reports about her. I shook the thought off for now, returning my attention to my own indignant apprentice. She was a Scout, not an Assassin, so I suppose I could leave a little of the extra training out. I moved at last to leap down from the warmth of the boulder I had found, stretching my pristine white form as I did, each hair tipped in silver capturing the taint of the light while my apprentice rolled her eyes. Truly if she was this easy to annoy she would make poor Scout. After all, we often spent our days dealing with all manner of bizarre wolves in an effort to find or barter information and if she insulted them so openly she would hardly get far. At least she had some attitude behind her though. The best Scouts always seem to. They are never easily cowed, fiery, determined and at least mildly clever. Her intelligence seems passable at best.

I asked after her desire to actually be a Scout, waiting for her to dazzle me with some no doubt cut and dried response about wishing to follow in her parent’s footsteps r being allured by the bright lights of scouting. Honestly I was yet to see the bright lights of it myself. All I seemed to do was run around and tie up the loose ends others so seemed to fail to see. Oh well, it offered me the chance to find my own answers more often than not and I did find some value in that. Her assurance that she had dreamed of becoming a Scout, literally, so one eye lift ever so slightly. Hmm- that wasn’t the sort of answer I got every day, how very intriguing it was- Ankh grinning as if it was the most superior answer ever. I allowed my shoulders to roll in a loose shrug, the gesture decidedly dismissive if not non-committal in itself.

“Did you also dream about this conversation? Because you would know how it ends if you did.”

I chuckled softly once more lifting abruptly to my paws to lope smoothly away from her, leaving her to follow in my wake, assured she would. After all, how would she ever learn anything, her final words not lost upon myself as my ears rotated backwards.

“Honestly, no, I’m here to tell you whatever I feel like telling you for the day.”

If she wanted to mock me I would mock her right back. Well, it was true enough. I could do entirely as Achilles desired and instruct the girl, or I could tell her a story about fish. It really didn’t matter to me, she was the one who needed me, not the other way around and the sooner she came to such a realisation the better. For today however, I was at least mildly determined to teach her something. I halted my motion slightly, allowing her to catch up until she loped beside me, moving in silence for several moments before the violet of my gaze frowned.

“Spread your toes more when you lope, your fast and light, but you are louder than even me when you walk, you can be softer, that is important- sometimes the information we need is not given willingly, so we have to be a little more clever about getting it. With practice you should be able to run the same way. Make your footfalls firm, precise but silent.”

See? I could teach something when I chose too. My gaze however, remained fixated ahead and more towards the centre of the pack and the large boulders we were approaching. My ears pricked forward, the sound of voices on the other side clear enough, though the words were muffled, to far away yet to hear clearly. Hmmm. Not what I had in mind but I suppose we can use it. I allowed my paws to come to a halt, regarding Ankh now as I gestured towards the boulders.

“Guardian and his son Hektor are just over there. Why don’t you see how close you can get without them being aware of you? See if you can come back and tell me what they are saying.”

I already knew the voices, but then again, I’ve been a scout a lot longer and I’ve been around Guardian enough to know his drawl anywhere. What I was more curious of, was entirely how Ankh would approach the situation. She would make mistakes, I knew that already, but which mistakes she made would be the far more telling thing.