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Early morning had always been the best time for hunting, at least, that was of Delta's opinion. Just before the day creatures had fully awakened for their new day, and just as the night creatures were heading to bed. It was the just right time, as the night sentries of the herd of deer he had been watching had been just getting tired. Soon, they would have a change of shifts, and rouse the herd, the perfect time to panic them, and get the one that splits from the herd just before it comes fully awake. Delta's green eyes looked out of the tree's leaves as he looked down on the herd of deer that he managed to follow up until this point.

Delta was one of the lighter males in the Chimera tribe, not as small as Zeta was but not much bigger. He kept himself lean, and light, to allow himself to crawl and climb all over the place as he hunted, to get to the adventagious positions, and pounce, or attack, from surprise positions, or just to hide from his prey, so as not to be noticed. Definitely not one of the strongest, but Delta preferred to set up traps, and hide, before he attacked, using surprise tactics and the like to take down an enemy, rather then speed or strength. So, holding back a yawn, since it was an all night hunt, Delta watched his prey.

Delta was different from most of the tribe, cutting his mane back a lot. He trimmed his fur, and made sure that it allowed him to be slick, and slip through the leaves and brushes easily, so he did not make a sound while hunting. As the Village's primary hunter (and teacher) he had to make sure that he could catch the food to feed the tribe, since they were defiantly carnivores by their build, with strong jaws and paws, with razor sharp teeth in their mouths. For now, Delta looked down on the herd of deer, and smiled to himself. The night sentries were waking up the rest of the heard. Time to make himself known.

Shifting, the rather large weight of the chimera was heard from above, causing all of the deer to freeze for a moment. No matter how skilled he was, his size made some noise on the branch when he was about to pounce. Waiting, his muscles coiled and gathered, he waited for the deer to settle down, before he lept out of the tree, heading for a deer he had noticed was limping the night before. Delta always taught his students to pick out the oldest, the sickest, or the injured as the target, and to single that one out, so that the herd could live, and grow, and survive. Never target the youngest, nor the mothers, unless you had no other choice.

Landing practically in the middle of the herd, they scattered from him, fleeing in all directions for the moment. Delta landed hard, on all four legs, catching the surprised, and injured deer by surprise. The herd started to gather, springing away through the underbrush a good deal away from Delta as his massive paw stretched out, and grabbed the leg of the deer. Muttering a prayer under his breath, thanking the Mother for his luck, and the kill, he reached up, and broke the neck of the deer with a simple squeeze and a twist. He stood over the creature, green eyes watching it curiously as its last few moments passed. He gathered up the creature, having not spilled a drop of blood in this kill, and turned to the herd. "I thank you for this meal." He said softly. He bowed his head at the herd leader, and then started off, carefully gripping the deer carcass in his mouth, as he then loped off towards the village. He was a bit surprised by the size of the deer, now that he had gotten a better look at it. It appeared that it had been injured in a fight several weeks ago, and had just never healed completely from the injury. It was a large deer too, Delta was just noticing, have underestimated it. Maybe it would be good for more then just one day's food. He smiled around the carcase. IT would be nice, at least.

The village was near by, and he headed to his hut that he shared with his wife, and his son, Little Climber. Delta was pretty sure that they would be asleep, giving him time to clean the carcase, and store it in the specially made storage containers in the storage building. They kept the meat cold, so it didn't spoil. Fishing a knife out of a chest he had outside, but on the back side of his hut, away from the main part of the village, he started to take care of the dead deer.

He turned his head back to her, crimson eye dropping to where her tail rested between her talons. Zeta watched her as she toyed with her tail, a nervous habit of hers. He wondered idly if she realised she did it, more so lately of course. He gave a small grunt and wrinkled up his nose.

"He is not like us. But yes, we hunted them well, sister. Down to the very last one." a small smile seemed to curl up the corners of his lips for an instant as he clearly spoke of Guyy's mother. Their mother.

He shifted a little, allowing his weight to drop down to the floor to rest. Gamma had asked for him, despite all that Zeta had done to him and the shame he must now feel for being so cruelly used.
"What parts of me can heal are healing well enough. And I should not fear, he may not be bright but he learns from his mistakes. I would not attempt to do such a thing again. It was... wrong of me to take advantage of him." Zeta replied, glancing away. "Alpha was very lenient to him. He knows he has already served his punishments and shall continue to be punished without any need for Alpha to enforce one."

Gamma was beating himself up far more than any punishment from his leader could, from what Zeta had heard so far anyway. He had not really seen the other male since their return to the village. Both of them had been too busy healing and Gamma had spent his time on his feet trying to make amends. Especially for Iota, when Zeta had last seen him he was following closely behind her.

"He is welcome to visit, if he is permitted to." he nodded, glancing up at Iota. His eyes lowered to the tip of her tail, being teased by her dangerous claws. "If you wish to be alone in the temple for a while, I can leave." he raised himself slightly off the floor as he spoke.

"Hmph." he snorted in reply. "He would not have been alone for long, if it had not been for this." he waved a paw at his blinded eye, stolen when Guyy's mother had defended her son. "And as for realising the truth, as I said, I speak it more often than you seem to realise."

He raised himself onto all fours, not yet snarling but more than ready to defend himself should she turn on him angrily. Just because he was injured did not make him defenseless entirely.
"Oroborus seems to have done pretty well taking care of himself despite being so young. He is leader of his own tribe now. It seems he didn't need us any more than we needed him."

He moved, slowly and stiffly, making his way into the corner quietly. He would not give her the satisfaction of him striking first. He was too smart for that. She could easily overpower him in his current state after all. Not that she would get away unscathed.

"I wouldn't worry too much about me replacing Alpha. I have a prior engagement." was all he said as he settled himself away from the door, one long claw tapping the vial that hung around his neck.

--

When Cloudchaser awoke it was already past dawn. He could hear the birds in full chorus and the muted sound of movement outside. Gentle voices trickled through the air like a babbling stream. He stretched, his teenage figure still supple and lanky, betraying his youth.

He unwrapped himself from his comfortable furs and slowly peered out from his room. The main hut was empty, though he could hear the rhythmic sound of his father sleeping. His mother had slipped out early. She was probably out gathering firewood or breakfast or something.

He padded softly through the hut. A quick exploration of the jars turned up a few apples, one of which he selected. He bit into the crunchy, juicy flesh of the fruit. He took it with him as he stepped out of the hut, planning to check in at the temple. His mother was out here talking to Alpha it seemed and the basket of vegetables and fruits, freshly picked, suggested that Iota had been here also.

"Hrm. Good day, sister." Zeta replied from the shadows as she slipped away into the daylight. He waited a moment before painfully and slowly following her, though once outside of the temple he turned away from the village and began to head to a small clearing just behind the temple.

He located what he was searching for easily. He was far too familiar with it and supposed he could find it even in the darkest of nights. A rock sat in the clearing, slightly covered with some of the faster growing creeping vines. He tore them off with a snort. No matter how often he tore them they always came back too quickly. The rock, revealed, showed the simple marking, μ.

A pair of heavy cuffs, scratched and dented, lay in front of the rock. Despite having clearly been there a long time they had not rusted, being of a non corrosive metal. The cuffs were marked with the same μ symbol.

Mu's grave, well tended even after all of these years. Zeta cleared off the rest of the weeds and invaders, going as far as to move a spider that had taken up residence there. Once done he sat back in silence and quietly contemplated the monument.

--

Iota had returned from gathering water and she busied herself putting it in its correct place in the stores before stepping back out into the light of morning. While she was busy he finished his apple breakfast and disposed of the small sliver of core that was left. The scavengers of the forest would have it.

"Oh! Good morning Aunt. I haven't had much of a day yet I am afraid. I was just about to go check in at the temple. I am sure there is much that needs done. Though Uncle Zeta has been very helpful there, when he can be." he ducked his head slightly in submissive greeting, as usual. "How has your day been going. You are up early today, Aunt."

His eyes, keen and a bright golden that seemed to miss nothing, darted over to where the basket of vegetables lay between Alpha and Theta. Clearly Iota had been awake long before any of them.

Iota mimicked the same bashful little dip of her head her nephew had just given her in greeting with his question as to how her day had been so far and mentioning she must've been up early. Amethyst orbs glanced over to her large basket of carefully fresh picked veggies, fruit, herbs and spices for cooking that was her gift to Alpha, more so to his mate Eta.

From the basket her gaze quickly shifted from Alpha to Theta and back to her nephew, "Well.. in honesty... one finds herself a little restless, it's nothing to be overly concerned for..." she down played the thoughts that had kept her up for most of the night, smiling sheepishly. Somehow she felt like she was under some sort of interrogation. It wasn't as though she had done anything wrong...

Still, she felt guilty as hell for what her mate did. Why she wasn't sure. It wouldn't really matter much to her if she was consoled for the matter, she should have been able to stop Gamma or should have at least realized what was going on... She should have had some sort of information she could have passed to Alpha, but she hadn't known. She felt as though she failed the pack leader and nothing she did now could make up for it.

"It's not difficult to prepare such a basket." she was good at it obviously and even enjoyed it, of them all, she considered her job easiest, it just took time, patience and care. But she waved it off dismissively. She wasn't about to mention openly that she had been to the temple herself and even spoke with Zeta. Perhaps it would be best to avoid him altogether from now on, the last thing she wanted was everyone to mistrust her. Mother only knew if they did already and were just putting up with her when in direct contact.

She wondered what was said about her behind her back. Paranoid? Perhaps... and maybe even for good reason. And maybe she was being completely silly. Still, right now at this point, she wanted as little attention on herself as possible. It wouldn't be difficult with Eta about to give birth and the celebrations to follow, but she couldn't bring herself to want that kind of attention for herself... which led to other problems... especially with Gamma.

The thought of him ripped her in two, half loathed him, the other half (the buried half,) still loved him. She was patient and kind only when caring for his wounds. Iota helped him with his injuries, mostly because that was what was expected of her and she was tolerating it to the best of her ability. But when he followed her around like a lost puppy while he was awake... that just annoyed her. Her sleeping patterns were just beginning to shift... while he was up and about, she'd be snoozing, and visa versa. For now she was getting the peace and quiet from him to cool out her nerves, but she knew it wouldn't be long before either someone noticed or Gamma refused to let her have her peace entirely.

She was in effect running from facing her problems.

"It looks to be a hot day, would be wise for a swim." she mentioned off handedly lifting her nose to delicately scent the air and looking in the direction of the sea, after mentally shaking herself from her frustrations once again. "One would hope that Wavedancer would accompany her later on." she stated rather than questioned looking forward to playing with Alpha's delightful child who's strength was catching fish. It was fun to watch as she chased after them with apparent ease and even went so far as to make them leap from the water, the child in tow.

Although she still felt that if anything should go wrong, the loss of two hunters, and potential protectors of the village was a concern, she allowed Alpha’s dismal of those worries, and did her best to forget them for now. She was not, however looking forward to the enforced rest that would follow childbirth. Beta had barely allowed her to leave their hut for the first few weeks after she had given birth to Cloudchaser, for fear she would overtax herself. She hoped that he would be a little less over protective this time.

Theta blushed at Alpha’s compliments to her son. “I thank you for your kind words, but I cannot take too much credit. Cloudchaser’s diligence is due to his own devotion to the mother to a much greater degree than it is any sense of duty that Beta and I may have given him.” She smiled, proud of her son. In some ways she was glad that his destiny seemed to be that of a shaman, rather than a hunter or fighter. She supposed it made her a coward, but she was grateful that his path was not one that involved physical danger.

Theta’s mouth watered as Alpha offered her one of her favorite fruits. She tried to resist the temptation, after all, Iota had gathered the fruit for Eta, not her, but before she could refuse, Alpha reminded her that it was not only herself she was denying the treat. That tipped the balance, and she took the proffered fruit gratefully. She ate it slowly, savoring every single juicy bite, and when she was finished, carefully licked the remaining juice off of her fingers.

She had just finished when she heard a cub’s squeal. She turned, worried that something was wrong, and saw Wavedancer, in no apparent danger, and with a happy expression on her face. Relieved, she returned her attention to Alpha, smiling. “Thank you for the fruit. You are right; I do need to make sure that I take good care of myself for the next little while.” Her tone became thoughtful. “Now that Cloudchaser is up and about, I should probably take the opportunity to wake Beta and share the good news without an audience.” She nodded to herself, and went back into her hut.

Alpha gave a low rumble of amusement as Theta seemed to struggle with the idea of taking the fruit. It was not as if Eta would miss a single fruit from such a generous basket, in fact Alpha knew well that if it were his mate currently in his place she may very well have insisted Theta take half of the entire basket. Eta would be delighted by the news, the cubs were her main passion, but he decided it would be best to let Theta share the news with her in person when she felt ready.

A high pitched noise assaulted his sensitive ears and they swiveled to point behind. So, his firstborn was awake. That was not a surprise, she usually rose early. It was all that youthful energy. It was also quite annoying sometimes when he was trying to sleep, or enjoy a little time with his mate alone. There had been countless times he was glad she was still just a bit too young to realise what she frequently interrupted, though it still caused the adults quite a bit of embarrassment. He could not feel resentful to her in the slightest though, he cherished her entirely.

"You better take care of yourself, or else I shall order you to take bedrest and I am quite sure you would not enjoy that in the slightest." Alpha teased Theta with a good natured smile. He gave her a wave of one of his massive paws as she left. "Give my regards to your mate."

He had barely finished speaking when the ball bounced off his tough hide and a childish giggle danced on the air. he turned around to give a mock-chiding look to his daughter and was met by a playful pounce as she hopped up at him, eager to play. He grabbed her with his paws, large enough that it seemed he could crush her with no effort and yet with the gentleness of any adoring father. A small bit of effort tossed her into the air a couple of feet and skillfully caught her again.
"Now then, little monster, have you had any breakfast yet?" he asked as he toyed with her easily. She shook her head and her ears flattened to her skull as she realised she had been caught not doing something her parents always told her to do. Alpha wagged a finger at her and placed her on the ground.

"Tut, tut, daughter. You know better." he chastised lightly. "Here, help yourself and then you may go play." he picked the basket up and held it out to her, waiting patiently as she pondered over the excellent selection. After a moment or two she plucked out a large mango, sweet and juicy. He smiled and hoisted the basket higher. "Good, now go find your ball and play. And do not forget to come home for lunch! Don't fill up on berries and fish again." He instructed her over his shoulder as he made his way back to his hut to deliver the basket to his mate and see how she felt this morning. He paused only to return the greeting to his sister.

--

"No special arrangements need to be made, aunt. There is plenty of work and meditation that needs to be done outside of the temple that Zeta is ready to attend to. He has been particularly diligent over the gravesite, as always, despite his discomfort. I should take him to the waterfall for a day. You would be more then welcome to use the temple then, I shall be sure to let you know." Cloudchaser nodded with a relaxed and easy motion.

His shining amber eyes drifted to the site of all the noise, focusing on his young cousin. She was almost the opposite of him in many ways and yet he had always found himself particularly fond of her. She showed a delight in the Mother's world around her that seemed to echo his own devotions in many ways, though she was yet too young to appreciate the intricacies of such dedication.

His eyes returned to meet his aunt's and his ears pricked up, giving him an almost startled expression for a moment before they sank again to their usual almost flattened position.
"There is much we do not yet understand. For all we know perhaps she does hold some sense we cannot comprehend. Though I am sure the Mother would gift her with something a little more useful than good timing." he tilted his head slightly, the statement meant as a sort of joke, though humour was yet another thing he had difficulty with. "Perhaps I shall join you, it has been a while since I have admired the ocean properly. I must not allow myself to take such things for granted."

--

Wavedancer looked down at the fruit in her paws. She enjoyed the sweet, fleshy taste of mangoes. She studied the one she held for a moment before splitting it with powerful jaws. She made short work of her breakfast, leaving nothing but the single massive seed from the center and some very sticky claws. She licked herself free of the stickiness and then as an afterthought did the same for the seed. Perhaps her aunt would like it back so she could plant more of the delicious fruit!

On bouncing legs she hopped over to her aunt and cousin with a wide and cheerful grin on her muzzle, holding up the fruit stone as though she were offering up a valuable gift.
"Look, look aunt Iota! You can have it if you want!" She giggled cheerfully.