The change from spring to summer was gradual and not quite as progressive as in past years. Maybe it was just Iromar but it felt like perpetual spring with a few days of hot weather thrown in. His machinations had begun to settle into the cranium of the boy, at least, and he had taken to spending a short amount of time around the children each day. Lecturing them, teaching them, goading them, even when the deaf girl annoyed him to no end. The princeling boy seemed to keep her in check for the most part, his worry over her much like a mother hen, and the Darkbringer scolded him often. She must learn or reap the consequences, he told Aspis, lest the princeling do the reaping for her. It seemed the boy was still stubborn but he grew less and less unresponsive. In fact, he even seemed to be listening, despite the odd times his nose scrunched up and he seemed to want to retort angrily.

He had taken the boy away from the girls this morning. It was too distracting for Aspis to focus if he had to watch over the other two (mostly his sister) and Blackthorne had cajoled the boy into a small hunt. It was more of a test of sorts as he took the boy along a rather winding and dangerous route near the edge of the marshes, the hissing of gators a reminder of what could hide behind thick cattails. "Find a baby alligator and kill it. If you can kill it, I will allow you to hunt for extra food for you and your companions for the next week." They were growing fast and their appetite with them. It wasn't as if he was starving them but he did not go out of his way to make sure they were fed fully, mostly out of means to break them and to test Adrian's loyalty. So far she seemed persistent.

He had been waiting about fifteen minutes when Siren's call went up. "If you haven't got one by now, you won't be getting one. Come on." The Darkbringer demands and waits, time ticking slowly until finally a rustle and the black head of Aspis peeks out, his vibrant white chest making him stand out. His snout was dirty from looking through fronds but between his teeth was an egg. An alligator egg. Delight flashes across the eyes of Blackthorne as he sidles closer. "Close but not quite. You may eat the egg but no extra rations for your companions. I gave you instructions and you did not complete them. Come on."

A low snarl is given around the egg and in a swift move Blackthorne spins around, paws slashing, claw knocking into the boy's tooth and cracking the egg open in his mouth. "Did you say something?" The words are hissed as he presses his nose into Aspis's face, dripping with the yolk of the alligator egg, and for a moment the boy considers attacking. Finally, he shrugs, and when Blackthorne heads towards the call, he follows at his heels with a disdainful expression on his thick snout.

It is quite a surprise to find the obsidian female at his border with three pups sitting or playing around her heels. Charcoal eyes slide across them, settling on the boy. "The frog is poisonous. Better count your minutes, boy, as they are fast running out." A lie, but he tells it with such disgust in his voice that one might believe him. Games were paramount to him. His eyes slide back to the mother, ignoring the pups, and a wicked grin blooms across his maw. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Bringing me some more pups, are you?" Aspis steps to the side of Blackthorne, his body growing fast at a year and a half old, already large and thickly muscled like his granddam. Emerald eyes blink unnervingly at them all, a big of worry there flashing - he couldn't afford to look after more than Whisper and Archana.