Disclaimer: How many times do I actually have to say this? Not mine. Rinse. Repeat.
This next prompt is JesSickUh's prize for correctly guessing Nightcrawler from the first ficlet! She requested something "fluffy" from Cain's perspective!
Wyatt Cain was of the school of thought that a man led by doing. He'd never been able to respect the kind of commanders who sat around on their asses behind a desk somewhere, and when he'd been granted Command of the Royal Guard, he'd decided he'd make damn sure that he didn't become one of them. Not to mention, he'd be bored as hell as a desk jockey within the week. Thus, he made a point of putting himself on the guard rotation- taking over protection duties for each of the royal family in turn off and on, as well as his other duties. Frankly, he enjoyed those little breaks from the dreaded paperwork, and he figured it did his men good to see their Commander taking on the same tasks they did.
At the moment though, he was seriously reconsidering this opinion.
He'd been amused to discover that the young men of the Guard's least favorite assignment happened to be the youngest princess. He'd never have expected the boys to actively avoid the company of a pretty young woman. Not that he'd noticed she was pretty or anything. In any case, when he'd begun inserting himself into the rounds, he'd been more than a bit surprised when one guard after another came asking a favor.
To a man, they all wanted one thing- to be kept as far as possible from DG's magic lessons.
Wyatt tended to think they were overreacting a bit. Yes, there had been that one fireball incident, and true, she had managed to levitate that freckled rookie Clay Simons instead of her textbook, but those incidents should hardly generate outright terror. In fact, on a scale of 1 to DG's first week of exploits, they were down right tame.
This little stunt, however, he mused looking down into those bright blue eyes, was rating pretty damned high up there. DG blinked long lashes, and whined. With a tired sigh, Cain lifted his gaze to Tutor. "What the hell were you thinking?" The older man was looking rather frantic- definitely sweatin' in Cain's opinion.
"This was the next logical progression in her lessons." Tutor pursed his lips. "It's not that difficult of a skill, and DG should have easily been able to follow the process from start to finish."
DG tried to hide behind Cain, her head hanging low in shame. Cain glanced down at her before raising an eyebrow at the other man. "Not that difficult, huh? And how many other people do you know that can actually pull this off?"
Tutor shuffled his feet nervously. "Well, it does seem to be a lost art these days…" He cleared his throat. "It may just be an issue of exhaustion. She'd had a rather long lesson before this." He pondered his student a moment. "Maybe Azkadellia can give her a push in the right direction."
"You better hope she can." Cain looked down to study his charge again. She was a mess of dark fluffy curls and those long limbs. He decided to ask the question that had been bugging him. "So what exactly do you think she is?"
The shapeshifter almost looked proud. "A northern icehound. They're rather rare, actually."
"Uh huh." Smirking, Cain leaned down and gathered the gangly dog into his arms, sneezing a little as her long tail swished across his nose. "Alright then. Let's go see your sister, kiddo." DG barked happily and licked his face.
Damned if she didn't make him blush.
Ok, so I took her a bit literally. I just couldn't resist! And, in case you were curious, the O.Z.ian icehound looks very similar to our Other Side huskies.
Reviews make me squeal!