Jackal woke up only a few hours later, when the sun as still up. He felt exhausted, but instead of falling back to sleep he decided he could try to get some food for the others.
He wasn't very skilled at hunting. Not only would the tactics be different in marshes as opposed to the desert, but he couldn't hunt while anyone was around because he didn't want them to know he could see. He guessed that as long as he kept in the shadows and didn't go too close to the other MudWings, he should be fine.
There'd be better prey near the rainforest anyway.
He tried his best to catch at least one rabbit for all of them. He came up one rabbit short, though—he decided that Spectrum could catch her own food if she was hungry.
He walked back to Mallow's mud mound, proud of his—although small—catch. When he went back, Caldera was up and roaming around a little bit. From the slight movements that Mallow was making, Jackal guessed that she was awake too. Spectrum was the only one that seemed truly asleep.
"I caught us some food." Jackal announced.
Caldera stopped walking and looked at Jackal, smiling. "Thanks! But…there's only three." She said.
"Spectrum can catch her own." Jackal replied. Or starve to death, he thought. He walked over and dropped one of the rabbits in front of Caldera, then he walked over to Mallow and did the same. The smell seemed to make her decide she wanted to wake up, because her eyes opened and she sat up a bit straighter.
"You caught this?" She asked.
"Yeah." Jackal said.
"There's barely any claw marks. Just the killing hit." Mallow remarked. "Good job."
Jackal beamed inwardly, but smiled visibly. He flicked his tail and settled beside Mallow to eat his own rabbit.
…
They finished eating shortly, and after a short debate they decided they should continue going.
"Who's going to wake up Spectrum?" Caldera asked. "She might bite."
Jackal wasn't sure if this was a literal statement or a poor attempt at a joke, but it seemed like no one wanted to wake up the still-sleeping NightWing.
"I can." Jackal offered. When no one protested, he stood up and walked over to Spectrum. He showed no signs of lightness when he poked her. When she didn't move, he poked her again. For a second, he thought she might be dead, and an odd surge of joy came from the thought. But Spectrum moved after the third poke.
"Stop that." Spectrum growled. She slashed at Jackal, tearing a small section of the fabric over his eyes. "I'm not a cow."
"Really? 'Coz you look like one, sleeping like that." Jackal joked.
"Shut. Your stupid. SandWing. Mouth." Spectrum said. "Or so help me, I swear I'll kill you."
Jackal just walked back over to Caldera and Mallow, and waited for Spectrum to get up.
"We decided to start heading back now." Mallow explained.
Jackal suddenly remembered something. "Uh, guys… I just remembered something." He said.
"Is it important?" Caldera asked.
"If we're going somewhere close to the Bay of a Thousand Scales, then we might be heading straight into a scavenger den." Jackal replied.