Spirit shook her long white fur, which had become heavy and restrictive with the rainwater that had soaked through the coarser guard hairs to her softer wooly undercoat. Omehn summoned a glare when she sprayed him with a mist of drops, but his long tail gave a twitch of amusement as he looked her way. "Mud," He stated, picking carefully over a thick ooze of liquefied dirt beside the riverbank. "Really is your colour."
Spirit shot him a glare back, but her bi-toned eyes gleamed with fun for a moment, and she raised a dirty forepaw and flicked it at him. He growled when a dob landed right between his eyes and wiped his face along the line of his foreleg, leaving only drops of rain clinging to his dark fur and the crimson mask over his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something further to Spirit, but it was then something else caught his attention and both ears flicked upright on his head. "What was that?" Spirit immediately perked her ears as well, though she'd not heard anything. Omehn, neck stretched out, and muscles stiff and taunt, started to stalk forwards. Spirit took her place at his side, keeping half a pace just behind him, matching his pace expertly. After about twelve steps Omehn stopped and looked up. Spirit relaxed before he did, her sharp eyes making out movement in the branches of a maple tree above. "It's a parrot, Omehn." She spoke into his ear, and he grunted and allowed the bristling hair over his scruff to fall flat. The faintest hint of a smile touched his muzzle. "Ever wonder if we're getting too paranoid?"
"Must be our old age." Omehn chuckled at the thought, but Spirit was still staring skywards. "That's funny. I don't recognize the species at all. And this isn't exactly the season for migrating birdlife."
Omehn sat down on his haunches and flicked his ears. "And what do you intend to do, climb – Spirit!" The last word came out as a protest as Spirit grabbed a low-hanging branch and leapt up into the trees. Omehn jumped to his paws and stared up after her, scowling. "Spirit, it's raining. You're going to slip and break you neck, and Jean's going to break mine for letting you."
"I'll be careful, you old worrier!" She peered down between the dripping branches, her eyes sparkling. Rain apparently didn't dampen her spirits any. Omehn growled and remained standing, swishing his tail to and fro. Spirit had long claws and clung to the bark each time she moved a paw, stepping agilely with her weight evenly balanced by her long legs. To further aid her trek through the boughs she stuck her tail out behind her, which flicked and twitched as regularly as Omehn's as she changed directions. After she had scaled skyward for about five minutes, carefully picking the best track up through the falling rain, she reached the forked perch chosen by the parrot.
"I knew it. It's just a baby. It looks exhausted, too." Spirit was standing with her weight on her hindlegs, her forepaws braced neatly together on the higher part of the fork. Omehn tilted his head and growled under his breath, calling up to her. "That's great you risked your life for a baby bird, Spirit. Think you could come down now?"
"I'm bringing it with me. Hold on."
"I think you should be doing that." Muttered Omehn, flattening his ears. Really, Spirit could be so damn infuriating.
Spirit bent over the softly cheeping parrot. She still couldn't recognize it, but it looked nothing like the reddish, long-billed raptors airaxes that were common in the area, not the drab green parrot she saw flying overhead at dawn and dusk. Its colours, muted and dulled by its soaking feathers, were spotted with the grey fluff of down. It hadn't even fully molted into its adult plumage yet. It was slightly larger than an airax, which presented Spirit with a problem. She had seen Airaxes ride clinging to a shoulder or perching on an outstretched paw, but this poor weary bird obviously could barely hold onto the rough tree branch. In the end Spirit was forced to scoop it with her left forepaw up against her body, where it nestled miserably against her warmth, shivering. Spirit maneuvered carefully around on the forked branch, so her hindlegs were higher than her free foreleg and she hunched awkwardly, peering down at Omehn and blinking in amusement. "Hmm. Well, this is comfy."
Omehn stepped closer to the tree, his head so far back his ears nearly brushed the back of his neck. "Be careful!" He yelled as Spirit pushed her weight back further in order to swing her foreleg to the next branch down, stretching her body out and moving her hindlegs down one at a time. Spirit moved down carefully one more step and pulled a face at Omehn below her. "Honestly Omehn, sometimes you're-" She was cut off when her claws came into contact with a smooth branch with very little bark, and her forepaw scrambled desperately for a proper hold while at the same time she tried to pull her weight back onto the last branch which her hindpaws still rested on. There was a crack. "Spirit!" Yelled Omehn in warning. Spirit's eyes widened as the branch under her hind end snapped off near where it met the tree. She plunged downward, slowing her decent for a moment with the forepaw that grasped desperately at the smooth, barkless bough. Omehn leapt up and rested his forepaws against the trunk, barking a last wordless warning, far too late. The terrified parrot squawked in horror as Spirit lost her grip completely and fell.
Omehn grunted, lifting his head as far as it could be lifted with Spirit lying over his neck, and turned so he was staring into her face, which was upside down. Spirit attempted a weak grin. She had managed to spin herself so she landed on her back, and the little parrot had landed softly on the fur of her chest. "Good rescue." Omehn commented, gathering his forepaws under him and propping them both up. Spirit slid down his back, rolling onto her side so she could land more or less on her own paws. She dropped her muzzle and sniffed about until she found the parrot, which nibbled curiously at her dark nose. "I think he's ok," She said with relief. Omehn rolled his eyes. "Oh, good." He growled. "See! Broken necks."
"Omehn, I'm fine." Spirit replied in placating tones. Omehn put his ears back at her and for a first time she spied the faint teasing gleam in his eyes. "I meant my neck. You fell on it." She held back a giggle at his indignant expression, waving her tail and reaching out to head-butt him, which he ducked with an even fiercer scowl. "Drama queen. Come on, I want Jean to have a look at this little guy." Once again she scooped the parrot up against her body and set off on three legs towards the gardens. Omehn laughed to himself, shaking rain and clinging mud form his thick fur before bounding after her. It would probably be a poor defenseless snapping turtle next time… or maybe a school of piranhas.
Author's notes.
Spirit is a Lupe of my own creation, the daughter of noted warriors and a follower of that path. Omehn is a werewolf-based Lupe created and (c) to my good friend Doberz, I'm simply theifing him for the duration of my fan-fics. snuggles on him
Spirit has long since been a member of the joint packs the Fire Eagle Lupe Pack and the Mt. Desri Lupe Pack, her father being a member of the former and her mother the latter. Spirit and Omehn have teamed up to fight a vigilante crusade against the ruthless enemies of their peace-loving packs, the Evil Shadowed Lupe Pack (ESLP). Omehn, new to the area, unsocial and wary by nature, has Spirit as his single ally in the world, volunteering to help her packs when he heard some of the worse crimes the ESLP committed against them – but mainly, he joined Spirit because her sister had been brutally attacked recently, and the one family member Omehn cares about is his sister Sendei, whom he has not seen since being outcast from his family pack.
Finding myself constantly intrigued by the developing relationship between them I am constantly writing ficlets about them. There will be many more following this chapter.
NB: Jean is Spirit's aunt and a noted Healer of the Fire Eagle Pack.