@Triptune
Another long day had gone by in the Icefields for the Wolf Pack. At first light, the four young warriors had exited the Keep into sometime of a cloudy day, scattered flakes drifting to rest on their scales. lazily turning back to water and rolling off, and melting clumps into the imperial's fur. Pollux was utterly unbothered, likely because his mane was alight with fire as it oft was, and he was the first to extend his leathery wings and shoot up into the sky. Rigel was next, arcane nature adapting quicker than her mate's nature core, waiting a few yards from the other imperial as the two waited. Arcturus finally lazily extended his own wings and joined them in the sky, Lionheart only following once her pack was in the air.
After that, they had combed the air around the Keep in growing circles, attacking beasts getting too close to their borders and chasing off outsiders who appeared devious- though Pollux another of his typical fashions mistook a poor merchant for an assailant in his battle-fever and had to be stopped. Arcturus now nursed a few scratches in his taken before he could stop the other imperial- Pollux was longer than he, but Arcturus had a slight bigger wingspan and an ever so slight weight advantage, and managed to rein the berserker back in. The day had gone on, battle, miss, battle, miss, lunch, battle, battle, battle…
It just another day in the life of the Wolf Pack. Only this day had cleared up, an odd thing in the crags as it was usually at least always misting in the lower valleys and peaks, and so they had taken to soaring up to greet the sun- they were not the only warriors out, after all, as Nyx had planned a training expedition with the newest batch of exaltees preparing to go serve the Icewarden. It was relaxing to simply glide along the currents and close one’s eyes. The Keep was removed enough from other clans that accidently flying into anyone besides one of your teammates wasn’t really a concern.
And following the hours of goofing off, they’d returned home. Lionheart had led the way back into the Keep in a hurry, wanting to try and sneak into the hot springs without being caught by the pirates now residing there- her reasoning being that if she came in alone, they might not be expecting her as she’d be without her pack alongside. Pollux had been next inside with Rigel on his heels, both heading for the storerooms to get some food and then some rest. Arcturus was the last to light on the soft earth that lead to the stone pathway spiraling away to the entrance, and he cared less to gaze on the opening of his home, rather focusing his deep green eyes on a batch of fledglings.
Kelpie seemed to have brought the little ones outside to stretch their wings since the skies were calm and the breeze gentle, and so in a patch of grass a few dragon-lengths away, the babies played and flapped and hopped, some with more success at catching the wind than others. And away from the main group, sitting alone on a rock and watching with lowered shoulders and a curled up tail, sat a small Snapper fledgling. Arcturus frowned and made his way over, recognizing the young one as one Nike had found on a return voyage from chasing storms across the sea. He lowered his head, trying not to scare the fledgling, and let out a greeting rumble.
The fledgling started immediately and stared up at the far larger imperial with wide and honestly terrified eyes. She recognized him as one of the members of the Wolf Pack, and most of the adults who visited said they were just as dangerous as pirates. But looking hurriedly and panickedly back to Kelpie, the Nocturne seemed unconcerned and even a little amused by the Imperial. So she managed to raise her eyes back up to Arcturus’s, ice meeting nature. She gulped. “U-Um, hi there, mister Arcturus…”
He let out another rumbling, but this one was laughter and he gave a smile. “Hello there, little one. Why are you not playing with the others?” The snapper gained a crestfallen look and quickly looked down at her paws, teeny tail wrapping around her side.
“Snappers can’t fly.” She mumbled, and Arcturus quickly saw through to the root of the problem. The thing the other fledglings all had in common- practicing their flight techniques- was something that the small Snapper could never hope to join in with. Arcturus did not know what that felt like, though he knew the feel of loneliness coming from others being scared of him, and quickly decided that while he could not rectify this problem, he could do something at least to lift the child’s spirits. Giving Kelpie a quick look- he doubted she could, or would stop him from pulling the stunt he had in mind- he then leaned closer to the fledgling, giving a conspiratorial grin.
“Snappers can too fly.” Arcturus declared, removing his helmet in a swift movement and dropping it to the soft earth, he shoved his nose under the child so that she now rested on his muzzle, and he unfolded his leathery wings and launched himself into the air, ignoring the sudden and angry noises of the nocturne that he left behind. The Snapper squealed at the sudden rush of air past her as he rose, and she smashed herself as much into his facial plates and nose as she could.
Finally, he hit a comfortable crushing altitude and leveled off, deciding to coax the small into letting go of the sides of his muzzle. “Little one, I’m not going to hurt you… you can let go now. I will not let you fall.” After some minutes of coaxing, she finally did, and he was rewarded with a gasp as she looked down one side of his nose. And promptly was blown into his eyes as her wings opened. Arcturus just kept flapping and coaxing until she was once again standing upright, now drifting a few meters above his nose, gliding in the strong wind with Arcturus to catch her. Up here, Arcturus thought, most anything could fly- at least a little.
The teeny Snapper and the giant Imperial stayed up until supper time rolled around, at which point Arcturus had been expecting Kelpie to have sent an army after him- or at least Sorbet- and when the two landed back at the front of the lair, Snapper squealing as the air rushed by, Kelpie was waiting for them at least with a sour look and the clan leader at her heels. The tundra gave Arcturus a curious look, and he sheepishly lowered his face so the fledgling could get off. Kelpie snatched her up to look her over and herded her back inside- but not before the snapper could call back, “Thanks, mister Arcturus!”
Nike gave Arcturus another look, but then she smiled. “Well, no harm done, it seems… Though you should have sympathy for poor Loch’s ears. Kelpie is patient yes, but you should not mess with those in her care…” Arcturus gave a cautious laugh, and then followed Nike back within the Keep as she switched topics to his report of their findings and battles.
Just another long day for the Wolf Pack.
