☽ Zinnia ☾

    Wing ushered Zinnia and Juhan toward the river, shaking her head and chuckling as her pups left muddy paw prints in the leaf-litter behind them. Zinnia was quite proud of the mess they had made in the training hollow. They had really scrapped, and even though Juhan was angrier and stronger than she was, Zinnia had won. She walked with her chest puffed out ridiculously and her head held high.
    "Juhan, you really have to watch that anger of yours. It'll get you into trouble worse than this if you let it get the better of you in a real fight. Zinnia, you saw your brother's weakness and you exploited it to get the advantage. That was very good," she smiled at her daughter and son both, "you both did very well. Now get into the river, I'm not bringing you back to the hollow like that."
    Juhan glanced sheepishly at Zinnia who only smiled at him. He said, "I'm sorry I got so angry. It's not at you, it's just at losing."
    Zinnia nodded, "I know. I forgive you," and jumped into the river to clean the mud off of her fur, splashing Juhan in the process.
    The little black and golden pup roared, playfully this time, and leaped in after her, splashing her and howling with laughter.
    Wing watched from the riverbank as her pups frolicked in the gently lapping water at the river's edge, slowly and joyfully becoming clean once again.

—

    Zinnia strode into the hollow alongside a couple fellow hunters. She was in the middle of a story when Idrit, a scout and somewhat of a lone wolf as far as she knew, passed them by. Coorah and Thorn each nodded in his direction as he tagged along and he smiled back. He was sort of the odd wolf out most of the time, being quite a bit younger than Aleifr and the alpha's peers, but older than many of the other younger wolves in the pack. He seemed to do just fine, though.
    "How's scouting coming along, Idrit?" Coorah asked him as they walked.
    "It's coming along alright. I just have to watch out because sometimes Rasp follows me and causes trouble," Idrit chuckled good-naturedly.
    "He's really something, that Rasp. I don't have too much trouble with him personally, but I remember he used to really come after you. I think after Juhan left he just had no one to fight with anymore, don't you think, Zin?" Thorn mused.
    Zinnia smiled as she thought of her brother, who had left the pack to keep the peace with another, "I suppose so. I would suggest that maybe he admires you and wants your attention, but I'm really not sure Rasp likes anyone."
    "Well, anyway, I didn't mean to make it about him. You know, the other day I found a great hill with this big, wide open view? I can show it to you if you like!"
    The three she-wolves looked at him with smiles and nods, and he started off at a run toward the hill, not wanting to miss the sunset view.

—

    Zinnia called after her young brother tiredly, " Song, please! Don't go too far ahead! I can't see you when you... go too far ahead."
    The young wolf predictably disappeared into the underbrush ahead, excited to get to the training hollow for their lesson with some of the other young wolves. He was no doubt running ahead to find his friend Fiadh, who he liked to cause all sorts of mischief with. It was always odd mischief, though, Zinnia thought as she hurried to catch up with Song. Her brother was a quiet pup and Fiadh wasn't too much more outgoing, so their fun always consisted of stealing whole nests from dens, or putting the horrible tasting herbs into the fresh prey when no one was looking.
    'It would be much better if they just ambushed us like the other pups do,' Zinnia thought as she finally caught up to Song at the edge of the training hollow.
    Several young wolves were already waiting for her when she stepped out of the trees, and she straightened up right away, gesturing for her brother to go and join the others. Then she cleared her throat and spoke, "hello, all. Ready to learn something?"

—

    Zinnia bumped her forehead to her uncle's in greeting as she and her mother were finally able to make their way over to him. After he had returned from the fog, Thorn had veritably attacked him, and the two golden she-wolves had wanted to give them a little space before interrupting. Peregrine smiled at Zinnia before moving on to his sister, spending a little more time there. The siblings checked in with one another as if he had been gone far longer than a few weeks. Zinnia smiled and thought of her own brother. It was probably about time for another visit, she thought with a smile, and now that the fog was gone it was safe to go out there and catch up with him again.
    Thorn sidled up to her and said as if reading her mind, "thinking of Juhan, are you?"
    Zinnia turned to smile at her friend, "of course. Always. Imagine if you were separated from Coorah. Wouldn't you think of her all the time?"
    "I suppose I probably would," Thorn nodded thoughtfully, "well, when you decide to make the journey let me know. I'd love to come along and say hello too."
    Zinnia smiled and nodded to her friend, appreciating the gesture and looking forward to the trip.

—

    Zinnia sat with her mother and brother, enjoying a meal together for the first time in what seemed like ages. They had all been quite busy recently, and so their time together was usually too abrupt for a meal or any talking. Now the chatter was incessant as Wing spoke about her recent appointment to be a mentor of pups along with Nila and the rest of the retired hunters, Song talked about finally becoming a full member of the pack, and Zinnia herself told of her recent hunts which had been fruitful again after a long and relatively difficult winter.
    Song wanted to know what hunting was like, and Zinnia suggested he try it and see. "I would be happy to take you along with me the next time my team heads out."
    Song grinned at her and nodded, "I'd like that a lot! It'd be nice to see how it goes and what to expect. Outside of what I learned in training, of course."
    Zinnia nodded and Wing smiled at her pups. It hadn't been too long ago when the two of them weren't very close. Zinnia had always compared him to her other brother, Juhan, and it hadn't been fair of her. The two were really nothing alike, and each had admirable qualities and quite a sense of humor. Zinnia was glad that she and Song had become close. She had even taken him along to meet Juhan one day, and the two had gotten along better than the golden she-wolf would've expected.
    "It's settled then. On tomorrow's hunt we'll have an extra teammate."

—

    Zinnia sat with Coorah and Rasp in the training hollow as the older pups of the pack battered each other around them. The trio would have been a rather unusual one in times past, but now that Idrit and Thorn were almost always busy with their duties the three Wise wolves had taken to spending time together while they completed their own daily tasks. One of those tasks was pup training, and at that Zinnia excelled. She hadn't been surprised when Rasp had asked for help connecting with the pups and retaining authority, but when Coorah had done the same the golden she-wolf had been bewildered. The silver she-wolf was a former beta, and she had pups! What advice would she need from Zinnia?
    "You've been pup training far longer than either of us have, and you had the guidance of your mother who was a great teacher!" Coorah pointed out encouragingly.
    Rasp just nodded brusquely, "right, that."
    Zinnia gave a small chuckle at Rasp's usual 'charm' and then shrugged. She supposed she could train pup trainers if these two really thought she could.
    "Right. Let's begin, I guess."

—

[491 Starting]