Wed Dec 04, 2013 2:19 pm by Songhue
They were officially far too cute - literally too cute, she had to take a good step or three back as they whirled around.
"I'm hungry!" her son declared, only to be countered by his sister shouting "Let's save the cosmos!" almost on top of him.
Before a spat could really begin Songhue cleared her throat, bringing them both to a dead standstill.
"Why not start with a snack," she said, keeping her voice low enough to make sure they had to pay attention just to hear her, "and after that you can take some with you while you run off on a grand adventure to save the cosmos - the poor things you save would probably appreciate the nibbles."
She blanched as they shouted "yeah!" in tandem, but grinned as they shot off towards the woods, shifting down to half-grown wolves in mid-stride. Oi, she was glad it wasn't her turn this time!
"They have a minor magic and some small sentience," she said to her brother, keeping a weather eye on the two cubs that were sniffing around for some sort of prey, "So they do make a wonderful challenge; they call them the ones with the horned-faces, as some of them seem to have an armor of horns sprouting from their unicorn's spot. Don't hunt them too much though; they are bright enough to know resentment and start to hassle you for it. Not much brighter than that, in all honesty, but pretty gifted as far as prey goes. Might make a good pet for your cub, if you think about it."
"Found something!" her son howled, and Songhue rolled her eyes as her daughter groaned.
"No fair, I was just finding that!" she cried - she hated that her little brother had the better nose. Of course she got even by shooting ahead, tossing him a tongue-lolling grin as her longer legs were put to good advantage.
"Hold!" Songhue cried, and they froze again. "Here," she ordered, and they trotted over to sit in front of her, each of them looking abashed. "What," she said, her voice threatening a smack if either spoke out of turn, "have I told you about dashing after things? Hmm?"
"That not everything is to be chased," her son said dejectedly.
"That it can be dangerous," her daughter muttered.
"You do. Not." Songhue grunted, "dash off. Not before checking, and not before we know to keep track of where you are. You know this. For shame, the both of you! Why do you need to check, hmm? Do you remember that?"
"Because some prey is too hard for us to lead a chase on," her daughter said bitterly - it was a sting to her pride to admit it, yet she knew that if she hadn't said it first she'd be made to repeat it.
"Because we aren't masters at energy trails," her son added, sounded about as forlorn as if he'd been kicked.
"They are and you aren't," Songhue confirmed. "If you chase something that can hurt you and don't have an Adept to lead you, you'll get hurt. If you wander too far you can't trace your way back to the den; you haven't that skill yet. If nobody's following your trails and keeping an eye on you, we have to start tracking from scratch. If you really want to put yourselves in danger, make me mad again!"
Neither of them said a word for a long moment, the pair of them trying (and failing) to resist squirming under her glare. With a dismissive snort, she gave a jerk of her head and said "Go find the trail again. This time, wait for your uncle. I don't care how fast he can be on your tails. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Mama," they muttered, and slunk back to the edge of the woods.
Heaving a sigh, Songhue shifted her wings and flopped down in the grass, turning her face skyward. It was very much a "what am I going to do with them" motion if ever there was one.
"Work 'em hard," she said to her brother, a mischievous glint of her own lighting her eye, "make them put in effort for the hunt. Just don't get 'em killed, eh?"
