It was adorable really, the way she questioned him, or rather, the way she questioned whether or not he was related to Vladimir based solely on his appearance. She was so carefree and naïve, something that had been robbed from him when he himself was a pup – he had seen too much too soon. But he remained still and patient while she examined him, an amused smirk on his face. He was patient - the hunt could always wait, especially if it would give him time to bond with his niece… Half niece? But eventually, she relaxed and beamed up at him, before describing and explaining that she had not necessarily been hunting the rabbit, but had been following it. Aindreas cocked his head to the side, confused for a moment, until she explained further… She was studying the rabbit. Aindreas immediately found her interesting - he had never thought about studying his prey before. He always made note of their numbers and which one seemed weak so that he could go for those, but he never before thought about studying them as a species. Had never thought about why they did the things they did… And yet here was this pup, hardly more than a newborn, and she was questioning the entire behavior of rabbits. In fact, it was like nothing the titan had ever heard of before - he never heard another wolf talk about studying prey… And so he stored that bit of information away in his mind, and was about to ask her more but she changed the subject to hunting instead, how she did not know how to but would want to learn. Aindreas grinned down at her.

“If you would like to learn, I would be more than happy to teach you. However, you need to do as I say as the prey we are hunting is dangerous, and you are still quite a little and a single kick could be fatal to you. Your father would never forgive me if you were to be injured on my watch. We are hunting injured caribou - that is your first lesson. If you have a choice, you should always go after the prey that is injured. Not only is it easier on us and less dangerous, it is better for the rest the world - those that are injured are usually weak, and cannot contribute much to a herd, or are old and have already lived their life. Whenever possible, we should allow the strong to survive so that we continue to have plenty of prey in the future. While we are one of the top predators, yes, we still need to respect the rules of nature and always be thinking about the future.”

She gave her name, and then showed her enthusiasm for the hunt. Aindreas gently reached down and nuzzled her slightly before grasping her scruff and picking her up. He set off at an easy lope, and picked up the trail again. The steps of the caribou were shorter - his prey was getting tired, but it was also a fresher set of prints. They were not far behind now. His twin towers swiveled, making sure that nothing snuck up on them, and also that they were not coming up on the rest of the herd… But he heard nothing. As a great copse of trees came up in front of him, he slowed, then peered through the bushes, careful not to swing Ziva directly into the bramble. His bright arctics saw past there the caribou - an old doe. Aindreas breathed a sigh of relief, glad that it was not a buck, and gently placed Ziva on the ground in front of him.

“Okay little one, I need you to skirt around this opening and go to the other side. Once you are opposite to where I am now, howl with as loud of a voice as you can - you will send it running toward me, into my waiting jaws. Don’t run after it though - they have a very long distance for how they can kick. Do you understand? Any questions?”

He waited patiently for her to answer, and then got into position, hunkering down, and hiding himself beneath the foliage. He rolled in the dirt there, covering his white pelt so he would not stand out as much, and also covered his scent so that when the caribou fled, it would not notice that he was there. His muscles tensed, and he focused his power so that even through the bramble, he could see the outline of the aura of the soul… And he waited, patiently, for Ziva to do her part. He could’ve done it without her, but this way she could participate, and could learn - it was never too early to learn how to hunt, to provide for yourself and your family.