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Red waited for the Baowi. Impatient as always, and in the cold besides, seconds became minutes and minutes became hours. In all honesty, though, she was out there, waiting, for an hour at most.

Finally the first large shape emerged from the snow nearby, shaking off the snow that covered it and revealing the it's furred bulk. It was clearly a baowi as it slouched towards the litter of offspring, who chortled and churred in greeting.

It stopped, sniffing the carcass of the adolescent Baowi and, raising it's head to the sky, it howled, a mix of anger and grief.

Two other shapes emerged, prowling, their muscular backs tense. They dropped what appeared to be several chunks of meat into the cave before, noses to the ground, they began to snuffle. Red knew they were seeking her scent, and she tensed, her axes ready in her hands and her stone knife loosened at her side.

She knew she should wait until the exact right moment when her victory would be assured but, again, she was impatient. She threw one of her axes, leaping out of hiding with a battle cry as it landed with a meaty 'thunk' into the side of one of the Baowi. She laughed as it staggered and roared, it's fellow Baowi turning towards her.

There was violence in their eyes: Not only had she attacked them personally but the scent she bore was clear: she had killed one of their own, a promising member of their pack who had managed to survive the rough early years. To lose even one member of their family would hurt them all. Normally, they left magescians alone, but this time, they wanted vengeance. They wanted to eradicate the threat.

Red's eyes, too, glittered with ferocious excitement. She was pumped up and ready to fight, grinning widely as they growled at her. Three Baowi, each at least three times her mass and armed with sharp claws and teeth?

Sure. She could take them.

She let the other axe fly, stabbing into a Baowi's paw as they charged at her, leaping over the head of one of them to come to rest , for a moment, on their broad back. “Ha Ha!” she crowed, “Can't catch me!” She leaped away as the Baowi swiped at her, landing amidst the braying cubs, who bared their frightened little teeth at her.

She thought it was cute.

The adults growled, scattering the cubs out of the way before charging her. Her axes clattered to the ground from their wounds, and she dodged away and picked them back up. Thus properly armed, she faced off against the Baowi, smirking at them cockily.

One of them remained with the cubs as the other two approached, their paws weighty and direly threatening against the snow that had fallen into the rift. “Come and get me” she challenged, and they seemed to take it, their slow padding becoming a rolling, thunderous pounding of paws on snow as they barrelled towards her, mouths open, teeth bared. Red tried to slash at them with her throwing axes as they got close, jumping away just fast enough to evade their jaws. Blood dripped into the snow from a tear along her arm, from their exposed, sharp teeth, and one of the Baowi licked its maw as they converged on her again, threatening, their claws ready to strike her down and smite her for what she had done to their pack.

“Red!” shouted a voice from above. A piercing beam of light smote the ground between her and the beasts, giving them pause and leaving behind a crater of cracked ice. A rope tumbled down from the lip of the rift, “Grab this and get out of there!”

Red looked up to see Rangion's glowing eyes peering down anxiously at her, and she shook her head petulantly. “No!” she shouted back, taking up a battle stance, “I ain't goin up. I can do this!”

“No, you can't!” he said, “You stupid, stubborn girl, you can't. Get out of there!”

“I ain't stupid!: she hollered back. The Baowi huffed, scrutinizing the newcomer at his perch. One of them barked, and the other chuffed in return, a strange conversation that neither magescian was privy to.

“Yes you are! Stupid as a friggin stone! Now get your a** up here before I drag it up!”

“No!” she said, showing him a rude sign with her hands, “I've got this, Rangi, I can do this!”

“Idiot!” he called down, “Fine! Dragging it is!” The whole icy rift suddenly flashed a brilliant, blinding white. Red closed her eyes, protecting them with her arm, as they streamed, the tears of pain freezing on her face.

She felt someone grab her around her waist and haul her up, and she struggled but couldn't summon up the effort to do more than protest and kick, actions that did little. Finally, after an interminably painful moment, she was able to open her eyes. She was held on Rangion's shoulder, moving quickly over the tundra away from the rift with the Baowi. She squirmed, but, as a swordsman, Rangion was strong.

“Put me down!” she hollered, boxing his ears. To her surprise, he did.

“You've got the claws, don't you?” he asked, arms crossed and expectant.

“'Course I do!” she said, showing him the claws from the juvenile Baowi defiantly, “Just wanted some extra. I'm gonna go finish the job.” she said, before storming off towards the rift.

“Hold up there.” he said, grabbing her arm. The injury and she growled, glaring at her friend. “That mean's you're done.”

“No it doesn't.” she said, trying to wiggle out of his grip, “I ain't done with 'em! I gotta beat them up!”

“Nope.” he said sternly, “You got the claws. You did the mission. They're too much for you, Red. Let them go. “ He knew though, that that would not do him any good. She wouldn't let them go, not if he told her to. He switched tactics; “... At least wait on taking on a pack of Baowi until you choose your clan, Red. How about that?”

Red growled. She could handle it, especially if he said they were 'too much for her'. She'd prove his stupid face wrong, she would. But... he did have a point. Wouldn't it be much better for her to take them on when she had magic of her own? She yanked her painful arm out of his grip.

“Fine.” she muttered at him, shoving him aside and stomping off towards the village, “I'll do it later.”

Rangion smiled in relief. “That's all I wanted.” he murmured, sighing in resignation, “Just a little consideration.”

After all, if he let her get herself dead, her parents would kill him too.

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