Hydra observed, near enough to intervene if need be. The woods had gone quiet, and the matriarch knew what this meant. But she had observed the reason why, and so this time lingered in the shadows. In restful repose, and remaining terribly still herself, she was noted by neither. Her daughter was curious, and Hydra was aware curiosity killed. Perhaps it was unfair, having not taught the lesson in its entirety, to let her daughter learn in a trial by fire. Die, too, if that was what The Eagle determined.
Cruel, yes, but Hydra found herself more irate by Ara's demonstrated curiosity, which was true to a childs nature, being acted on than the unrealistic expectation that existed within her. That Ara would simply know better.
The Eagle came down. Hydra awaited a strike, knowing her own mulling it over would kill her daughter right with The Eagle. He did not act, which was of some surprise to the mother. Her feelings on the matter were not revealed as she rose and swept toward them as The Eagle articulated, in His way. Teaching Ara, himself.
“Ara,” Hydra drawled, “do you hear the quiet around us?” she paused, so that Ara might note the eerie, unsettling quiet around them then. The birds, the chipmunks, the squirrels, and all of the rest hid from the mighty presence that presented itself here. “It is The Eagle that causes it. He could kill you,” she drawled. She knew he would have, normally, and even despite her plea that he very well might have. “And any other of his kind very well might,” never mind his protection that ensured they would not. “This one knows and has hunted with me. We have killed together, and fed together. I have asked him to spare you each in his hunting,” she informed, “but that does not mean he always will. You are easy to carry now,” she drawled, and gestured toward his talons, “and we as wolves cannot take to the skies. If you were not within my reach, there would be nothing that I could do to protect you from this danger. I may not always be there, as I am today. And so it is important to know that when you hear this silence,” she hummed, “that you are in danger, at your size. Do as the rest do,” she hummed, “fall silent. Hide, as they do. Go to the nearest place where you are not within reach. Here and now, it is our den,” she gestured toward it.
She sighed. “Your curiosity can kill you. It should have,” she drawled, “but The Eagle has shown mercy. Do not make this same mistake twice,” she forewarned. Should she, Hydra would know that The Eagle was warranted to do as he would with her. Now, Ara had learned the lesson. Before, well... Hydra recognized that she had not been instructed. All the same, she worried for their instinct; she pondered if, at this age, curiosity overtook that.
Hydra was learning too, still, it seemed.
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