AN: I use [] when the nestlings are speaking in...parseltongue.

--------------

Painful howls, hisses and scraping sounds bounded off the cave in waves as numerous snake bodies, worn from repeated practice and exhaustion, leapt from the walls to the ground.

From the raised bed that used to be their nest, an iridescent white snake with no pattern or scars - Aurelia's female guard, oversaw their progress with an exasperated look. 

Some landed perfectly, others in awkward, tragic positions that even made the female snake wince. 

This practice that had been going on for days was much more maddening than training brainless animals to follow orders. 

Since their leader had 'abandoned' them, she had quickly done away with all traces of comfort, turning the cave from a warm gathering of helpless snakes to bare surrounding akin to spartan training grounds. The previously smooth cave floor was now marred with deep gouges and traces of blood, sweat and tears. 

Yet, it wasn't enough.

Overall there were only four snakes besides herself that could execute the technique properly. Abysmal results after all the effort she had put in to teach them something so simple. Perhaps she should have listened to her brother when he proposed a more practical and primal method - throw them all outside to fend for themselves. 

He had already given up on them and didn't want to be bothered. But she wasn't about to give up. If this was a test set by the leader, then she was determined to succeed and prove herself. 

Unlike others, the male guard spent most of his time outside training his own abilities and was often irritable on his return. 

She understood how he felt very well. They shared the same lingering fear and unease since their leader disappeared. She knew his many trips outside were to search for her and his frustrations only increased when he returned with no clues. The uncertainty was frustrating indeed. 

[One more round. Crawl Faster.] 

She hissed out command after command, startling the tired snakes before they could even think to rest.

When their leader returned, she hoped to impress her by the results of her training.

As for those that didn't want to work - the small group of lazy bums that never listened to her instructions and always seemed to linger in the corners doing nothing. She has decided to recommend the leader in evicting them when the time came. Those who refused to work hard and only thought of obtaining the benefits, did not belong in their Pit.

Annoyed at the group of snakes pitifully huddled together, she breathed an exhausted sigh. If it wasn't for their leader's instruction to look after them, she wouldn't have bothered with them either. Aside from her brother who was very dedicated, they were all disappointingly slow. 

[You can do it, Sprinkles! Focus and don't think about anything else] 

She shouted up at the snakes in an encouraging manner. She had since taken to calling the snakes according to their respective patterns. They were far too many to keep track of and this way she would be able to keep track of each sake and guide them individually.

Sprinkles, the snake poised on the wall - named after the speckled dots on his scales, immediately lost his grip. 

Landing awkwardly on his belly, his eyes met with the domineering ones of his instructor and he immediately shrunk away. At the sight of the smile devoid of warmth, he knew she knew promised nothing but more pain. 

Rather than being disappointed, her eyes glinted with delight as she thought of more methods to make their training sessions more severe. Unknown to her, the slight grin on her face caused every single snake on the wall to shiver. They looked away from their instructor, their every instinct warning them of upcoming danger. 

[What is sprinkles?] 

The trembling snake gathered up the courage to ask, but it had its eyes closed in fear of meeting hers again.

The iridescent snake looked at it with an innocent smile. [It's something sweet. What else?] 

[Sweet?] [What's that?] The exhausted snakes all hissed as one.

The smile vanished from her face and she shook her head in irritation. Unsure of how to answer the questioning gazes of the many orb-like eyes staring at her, she tried to retrieve the faint memory but doing so only made her feel exhausted. 

[It's something to eat.] 

[Food?] [Meat?] [Sweet?] [Scary Snake?] [Meat?]

Their repeated questions only served to annoy her. [Is eating all you know how to do? Get back to climbing!] 

The snakes immediately scrambled away to resume their training and she observed them for a while. Waves of vibrations battered her senses as she observed their movements, before leaving them alone to look for her brother. 

Climbing the wall had become second nature to her and she quickly found her way outside the cave, to the forest where she knew her brother would be. 

The deep vibrations in the earth told her there was a creature moving close so she concealed herself immediately. It took a while to spot it, but between the leaves a short deer-like creature with pointed horns was chewing away at the leaves. 

She slithered through the shrubs drawing close to the creature with the intent to strike if it attacked her. So focused was she on the creature that she overlooked another snake concealed in the leaves just like herself.

It was silent and with an stillness so terrifying, it moved through the shrubs without revealing its presence. Before she could notice him, her brother was already beside her, startling her at his sudden appearance. His mastery of [Stealth] was already so advanced, unlike hers that still needed some work.

She was about to say something when the snake glanced at her, its pitch black eyes flashing dangerously in the dark, and then back to the grazing creature. And like an unknown signal in the weighty silence, she knew exactly what he expected her to do.

Silently moving through the shrubbery, she climbed up the nearest tree, while her brother's outline melted into the trees, vanishing like a formless shadow. The deer-like creature kept on eating, unaware of the predators steadily encroaching on it.

She slithered ahead of the creature's location, peering down at it from high up on a sinewy branch while her brother shadowed it closely from below. Completely focused on attack, they coordinated as a single entity, surrounding the hapless creature in seconds with all escape routes cut off.

The moment it came into range, the female guard flattened out her body to form a threatening hood that made her appear twice her size. Moving quickly in a flash of blinding white she suddenly revealed herself to the creature by hissing out a threatening taunt. 

The startled creature looked up at her, giving her brother the opportunity to attack it from below, launching a quick strike of venomous bite on its leg. 

Once bitten, the frantic creature immediately looked around itself for its attacker, its leg swelling painfully, but it found no trace of its attacker. And right at that moment, the female guard used the opportunity to strike with rapid speed.