“How good’s your nose?” Kirrik grumbled at her, his voice low, which made his deep tones even deeper.

They were making their way into the forest, moving very quietly, but at a decent pace. She was impressed. He moved almost as silently as she could, and he was wearing boots. And was significantly larger.

Shadow wasn’t really sure how to answer his question.

‘A lot better than a human’s?’ she tried, looking at him uncertainly.

Kirrik snorted.

“That’s not sayin’ much.” He muttered. “How bout…” Kirrik sniffed the air a bit.

“Can you smell the fox markings?” he asked.

She looked at him in shock. He had a good nose too!

She took a turn sniffing the air as well.

They were on the fainter end of the scent spectrum, but she could definitely smell them.

‘Yes!’ she wrote, nodding at him.

“Anything fainter?”

She nodded.

‘I smell some squirrels and some old scent from a...’ She paused. She didn’t actually know the word for this one. ‘I don’t know the word, but It’s furry, small, has blue eyes, and likes to eat rotting wood. It’s kind of long and wiggly. Short legs.’

“Sounds like a wood-grom. I’d have to see it to be sure. You’ve got me beat nose-wise. I’m not even going to ask about hearing. Given those ears, you’re miles ahead of me. How’s your vision?” he asked her quietly.

She thought about it again, and decided to mimic what Kirrik had done with smell.

‘Can you see that tree with the hole in it over there?’ she asked, pointing at a tree with a hole bored into it she could see a decent distance away.

“Yup. Can you see the bluebird on the branch a few trees behind it?” he queried back at her.

She tried her best, but she really couldn’t make anything out. Her vision was a lot worse during the day. You’d think more light would help, but on top of making her eyes hurt, it also made everything seem to bleed into everything else when she started looking at stuff at a distance.

‘No, I can’t… I can see way better at night though!’ she answered, feeling a little disappointed she’d lost out. But only in the day time. She was sure she’d see better than him at night!

“Right,” he nodded, then stopped walking, nodding to himself as he looked around.

He looked down at her, looking… devious? “How about you try to track us down a rabbit from here. Should be about the right size if we catch a large one. We can get two if we need to.”

Shadow nodded at him, but felt a little bit suspicious. Why was he smiling? Or, doing his crocodilian equivalent at least. Shadow supposed it still counted. If she called what she did a grin or a smile then his expression certainly counted too.

She supposed she better get to it. She wasn’t exactly excited to eat more rabbit, but they were plentiful and not overly large. She smelled the air and picked up on the sent of one immediately. The smell was a little old but there was a clear trail.

She set off following the scent for a few seconds before Kirrik made a clicking sound in her direction.

She stopped and looked back at him, confused.

“Why are you going that way?” he asked, this time looking properly smug.

She blinked at him and tilted her head, even more confused.

‘I was following the scent of the rabbit.’ she stated.

“Oh? I thought I told you to track us down a rabbit, not to follow a scent trail.”

Her brain broke a little.

‘Isn’t that… the same thing?’ she asked.

“If the trail was fresh, perhaps. But this one is almost two hours old. Sure, you might find a rabbit at the end of it, but that can hardly be considered hunting.”

She was still lost.

‘but… how else am I supposed to find a rabbit?’ she wondered. She only smelled the one trail.

He shook his head at her, giving her an exaggerated disappointed look.

“Your nose has shut off your brain.” He said with a sigh.

Hey!

‘My brain is fine!’ she wrote, glaring at him.

“Then lead us toward the rabbits.” he ordered.

She… they… the rabbit was in the direction of the scent trail. But clearly, that wasn’t the right answer. She got up on two legs and started looking around, her ears flicking in various directions. She even turned on her ear-sight. She was determined to figure this out.

She still didn’t find any rabbits. She had no idea where the rabbits were if not along the trail she'd found, but she didn't want to look stupid. She started to wander around, hoping she'd spot or smell something if she got closer.

Kirrik was softly chuckling at her, shaking his head again.

“No brains at all.”

Agitation bristled down her spine. She turned and hissed at the laughing beastkin.

He turned, his posture instantly becoming aggressive, as he drew a knife from his belt.

She stumbled away a few steps, anger rapidly replaced by fear. Kirrik was very big. She stared at him with wide eyes.

He stopped himself, forcibly relaxing with a breath, and put his knife away.

“Be careful with that.” He said in an even voice.

She gave him a meek nod.

He went back to laughing.

“Alright, let me explain why you were being stupid.” He started, turning away from her, acting like nothing had happened.

Shadow took a moment to let her heart rate to slow down.

He certainly had her focus when he started explaining things.

That had been… she wasn’t sure what that had been. One part of her felt like she deserved it. She really needed to stop hissing at things just because they annoyed her. The sound was scary for people, and that... could end poorly, as she'd just seen. Another part felt like it was an overreaction on his part. She’d seriously thought he was about to attack her. She wondered if that was an instinctual thing. It almost looked like a reflex. He did seem to be rather quick to threaten people with weapons. He'd done it twice in the short time she'd known him.

But they were past that, and Kirrik had just continued the hunt. He'd explained that she should have been heading into the hilly area, that was in almost the opposite direction of the trail she’d been following. They were way more likely to find a fresh scent trail there, because it should be filled with rabbit burrows. She still failed to see how not knowing that made her stupid. How was she supposed to know that rabbits made their burrows in hills! No one had taught her that!

Although… She supposed she'd already know enough to have figured it out. She admittedly hadn’t really thought much about rabbit behavior once she’d worked out a functional strategy for hunting them. Mostly following a scent to a game trail, and waiting for one to pass as she hid. Kirrik's methods were a lot faster.

She ended up getting excited again, despite what had happened. Kirrik was showing her all sorts of new things about hunting. he'd explained how you could read the lay of the land and find rivers. He'd showed her how wind affected scents, and all sorts of other strategies for finding and killing prey, as well as navigating. She learned that she really was over-reliant on scents, which could be a big weakness. He told her about how all of the senses were valuable tools, but you needed to use them all, in combination with your brain, for the best results.

They’d already picked off two rabbits, and were headed back. She’d eaten hers and was nice and full now. Kirrik was saving his for later. He said he didn’t mind eating meat raw if he needed to, but preferred it cooked.

He’d also saved her outfit from ruin, which earned him some goodwill. She’d been about to dig in when he mentioned that blood would stain clothing, and she may want to be careful about that. She’d taken the advice to heart, and had been very careful as she ate. She was used to just being messy and cleaning herself up after. It’d have been terrible if she ruined her clothes because of something so preventable.

She looked over at his bow again.

She'd been looking at it from time to time as they walked back. She really wished she could use one. Kirrik had killed the rabbits so easily. All he’d had to do was spot the prey, and then he could shoot it from right where he was. No need to sneak up close enough to pounce. She didn’t really anticipate ever being able to shoot one, though, given her build. She supposed she'd have to be content with her normal pounce and bite. Although... maybe magic would help with that? Annie had a spell that could summon fire and shoot it, after all. Shadow'd never seen her use it though. She was very against using magic when it was unnecessary.

Shadow thought it would have been fine if she used it to start a campfire or something, but alas, Annie had not given in.

She stopped walking when she felt a faint rumbling under her paws. Kirrik saw her stop, and must have read something in her posture. He stopped too, and seemed to notice something as well.

‘What was that?’ she wrote in front of him.

He just shook his head slightly, and started looking around slowly.

“Hear anything?” he asked, whispering.

She strained her ears, but she couldn't hear anything aside from the slight movement caused by the rumbling. It was actually too quiet, it seemed all the animals in the area had stopped whatever business they were on as well. Ear-sight was just making it very clear the ground was moving. She tried smelling too, but didn't sense anything unusual.

Kirrik didn’t look happy.

“Let’s pick up the pace. Get back to the group.” He instructed, starting to hustle. His steps stayed surprisingly light despite his increased speed.

She hurried after him. The only time she’d felt anything similar was when she’d gotten close to the tree-eater. Its massive steps had shaken the ground too, although this was less a series of impacts and more of a drawn out rumble.

And then there was a distant crashing sound, and she heard screeching echo through the forest. It was similar to Shadow’s, but far deeper in tone.

The sound was joined shortly by the shouts of Annie and Jonas, just barely close enough to make out, even with her hearing.

She took off at a sprint.