It wasn’t often he made his way into this section of the pack. That’s not to say he’d never been here, but certainly not so often as to be comfortable. Sure, he had come to tell stories to the young pups from time to time, but that didn’t mean he was a regular. Besides, he wasn’t here now to regale adventures to pups.
No, his current reason for venturing here had to do with the not-so-little chick perched on his head.
Cadenza was growing quickly. When he’d first brought her home, Arawn had had to speak with some of the pack nannies on how to best care for her. After all, he didn’t have pups of his own. He had no idea how to raise a youngling. But the nannies had simply laughed and gave him pointers, told him that he would figure things out. All new “dads” did.
They were right, in the end. Cadenza was now a flourishing little chick, with brilliant plumes of feathers and a pretty little voice to sing along with his stories.
However, he had recently come across a problem - she refused to fly.
He had tried to get her to, of course, had even asked some of the other birds in the pack to teach her, and while she indeed learned the basics, she still refused to do so unless she had to. That... that was a problem. No bird should stay grounded, at least in his opinion.
So here he was, returning to the nannies’ current abode to ask for some advice.
Cadenza, meanwhile, was more than happy to stay where she was. So what if she didn’t like to fly? No one said she had to always be in the air!
Now if only she could convince Arawn of that.
With a sigh, she watched with a pout as he started sniffing out for one of the nannies. She liked the nannies. They were kind folk, always willing to play but still strict when they needed to be, and she couldn’t imagine how much patience they must have to be able to put up with some of the more rambunctious pups. Oh sue, she loved to play with them too, but god help her if they decided to try and pull on her feathers, or use her as a ball. Things that would quickly be stopped by their nannies... yet another reason why she liked them.
Come to think of it, perhaps they could even help Arawn stop worrying! That was an idea. Perking up at the thought, she raised her head and looked around them.
There! Tucked back behind a pile of furs was the familiar sight of a bushy tail. It had little adornments on it too, which looked fascinating to little Cadenza. Leaning down, the chick poked at her papa to point out her discovery.
With a short glance up at Cadenza, then a look over at her gesture, Arawn smiled and started approaching. “Excuse me, do you have a second?”
Brynn had been in the middle of some late season cleaning when the voice spoke up. Jolting, she yelped as the movement caused the pile of furs she’d been sorting to come tumbling down on her. What, how....
And then the owner of her voice must have panicked, because the next thing she knew, there was someone pulling the furs off of her and apologizing far too much. As each fur was removed, she eventually managed to poke her head back out, and came face to face with deep purple eyes.
The two wild dogs stared at each other for a moment, before the male started blubbering out apologizes once more.
With a laugh, Brynn shook her head, “Oh, it’s fine! I’m used to much heavier things landing on me.” Which, if pups, was very true. While they were cute, they also grew quickly. “What was it you needed?”
He had not been expecting to cause an avalanche of fur, nor had he been expecting the pretty female he had uncovered in her mess. Admittedly, part of his shock was pure panic on how to talk to her, which was entirely a new feeling for him. He’d never had trouble talking to girls before this....
At her question though, Arawn cleared his throat and tried to gather his wits once more.
“U-uhm, I just...” He was having a difficult time with this, wasn’t he? Giving himself a shake, he brought himself back to the problem at paw. “It’s Cadenza.” He lowered his head slightly to show off the chick nestled on top. “She’s refusing to fly. I know she knows how but she just... doesn’t.”
That got a disgruntled chirp from on top of him. Cadenza puffed up as the attention was brought to her, and she hopped forward until she could jump off and land with a tiny flop on the ground.
“I just don’t want to!” She looked up at Arawn, “I don’t need to fly all the time, you know!”
Then, turning to the female wild dog, she waved a wing, “Right?”
Brynn watched with amused eyes, though she was also analyzing the chick for signs of discomfort. After all, the little one could have been masking some other ailment.
However, she looked perfectly healthy, which led the wild dog to nod. “It’s true that you don’t need to fly if you don’t want to.” She smiled slightly at the smug look the chick shot her companion, “But you’re young still, and you do need to be practicing. Some day you will grow bigger, and you’ll need to muscle to be able to keep yourself afloat.”
As Cadenza gave her the saddest look she’d ever seen on a chick, Brynn turned to Arawn, “You don’t need to panic about it, but it would help if you did some exercises with her. Perhaps it could even teach her to enjoy flying if she’s with her partner.”
Exercises, huh? He wasn’t sure how a dog could help with that, but if it got her to fly more, then he wasn’t complaining. Whether he’d be any good at it was another question.
His ear twitched uncertainly, before Arawn glanced back bashfully at the pretty female. “That’d be great, but um... would... would you mind showing me them?”
He looked down at Cadenza, “That sound good with you? I won’t pester you so much about it, so long as we practice for at least a little bit each day.”
Cadenza gave him a narrow-eyed look, but she was thoughtful as she nodded, before perking up and fluttering up onto Arawn’s shoulder. “I guess... but it’d better be fun!” And then she settled down with a chirp against his neck.
Brynn observed them for a moment longer, then nodded with a soft smile, “Of course! I don’t mind at all.”
He was thankful his fur was so dark. It hid the short enthrallment he had with that smile.
Giving himself a shake, Arawn smiled back, “Great!” And if this was also a good way to spend time with the nanny, all the better. The nanny that... he didn’t even know the name of.
With a jolt, he realized that he never introduced himself. “I-I’m Arawn, by the way, and this is Cadenza, though I guess you already knew that....”
She let out a chiming laugh, “Indeed. I’m Brynn. Let’s go work on those exercises, huh?” With a flick of her tail, the white wild dog started padding away.
Arawn shuffled nervously in place for a minute, and then began walking quickly after her.