A/n hello and howdy folks! to new comers to the story a big Welcome! anyway, just a lil note to how i operate, I'll be posting ruff chapters (smaller and faster this time) with only a brief proofreading first, then I'll fix things as I read it over again the next day. things can always be improved, nothing is set in stone.

Howling Thunder 2: They grow so Fast

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From my view on top of the barn, I can actually see out over the tall and lengthy wooden wall shielding the entrance to our enormous cave we use as a den.

Within this cavern are four buildings, the large mansion with halls going deep into the cave, a store house with attached workshop, an armory with a lookout tower on the second floor, and this barn.

Down below I can hear the other pups laughing.

Grey, Red, and the wild one of our white furred, twin cousins, are racing in attempt to catch a stray chicken we let out of the pen.

Grey is taking the event way too serious. I’ll show him the consequences of trying to show off for the girls.

They round the store house and are heading straight to the barn, Grey the clear leader.

As he circles the barn and comes back to the front, he finally manages to grab the feathered prey.

I jump down without a sound.

Grey only got out, “Hey I caught WUAAAAH!”

I landed right behind him and grabbed his tail to give him a good zap.

After catching the thrown airborne bird, I turn to grin with victory at the girls.

Wild White stops to laugh but Red charges forward with a hungry grin. I’m tackled to the ground with such a force that my breath is knocked away.

Looking up I see Red, cheerfully straddling my chest, chicken hanging limp by the neck in her mouth.

With tail wagging she raises the bird into the air, “Haha I win!”

“Um sister dear, we weren't going to kill it.”

Her eyebrow raised and head sideways, blood drips on her chin, “Then why chase it?”

Grey walks back over, “How was that remotely fair brother?”

“I dunno, how are you so fast?”

“Hey!” shouts a loud angry man, an adult...brown and black tail?

Ah, this must be Ptah the blacksmith. Mother always complains about how his hammering away in the smith ruins her drinking time in the study.

After walking over he sighs at the scene, “It had to be you pups?.... Your mother is going to yell at me over this…”

He examines the chicken, “Hunting isn’t for sport, that's a human thing. We of the beast race must be fast, sneaky, and strong all at once to bring down our prey as fast and efficiently as possible and only as much as we need for food. Now, all of you inside and clean up before dinner. Black one, you stay.”

The others laugh as they run in.

Ptah looks down at me with a stern face as if sizing me up, I straighten my back too but coming in at only waist high to him is kind of depressing.

Cutting him off completely, “Hey what tribe are you from? I haven’t seen any other black tails.”

Once more he sighs with slumped shoulders, “What your mother told my wife might just be true. I’m from a Jackal tribe, you should've seen my nephew around somewhere in here by now. I just want to make sure you're not hurt, I saw you jump from the barn roof.”

“Oh, I’m a bit dusty but I’m just fine.”

He raises an eyebrow, “How?”

What do you mean how? Ah, I suppose three floors is pretty high up, “I’m just light?”

He grabs the scruff of my jacket with one hand and lifts me up to eye level with him, “No, in fact you’re a bit big for your age.”

Slightly nervous, I accidentally send a shock to his hand, he drops me of course. My frizzy black tail turns fluffy like a black cloud and my fall is broken just before hitting the ground.

By the time I’m on my feet again my tail is back to normal.

He looks over my shoulder at it, “Can you do that at will?”

What’s with all the questions, “No, it just sort of happens.”

“Hmm, and the shock?”

I have no idea how that works, “Um, I can’t do it a lot, and I have to touch someone to do it.”

He nods his head, “Instinctual magic huh, given your parents I suppose it would be more surprising if you couldn’t do this much at least.”

Yup, he’s lost me.

Seeing the confused look on my face he laughs, “Don’t worry about it, keep practicing and I’m sure you’ll be a big hit at the academy in Yoden. Anyway, hurry up inside, I have a chicken to sneak to the kitchens.”

I nod and run back to the main hall. The large wooden doors are a pain to open alone.

My lonely struggle is interrupted by Mother.

"You, you smell like chicken blood too. Hurry up to the bath."

I avoid looking at her as I abandon the door. I take off up the stairs towards our family's private hall.

At the end of the hall is a sliding paper door framed by a wooden square archway painted red, a tori, mother calls it. The bath chamber is decorated in the style of mother's homeland.

Just inside is a large, stone fox statue, the guardian of mother’s private hot spring. Vents to the outside keep the air breathable, adjusting them lets the steam build up. It feels so natural to me, like I could join the swirling clouds.

A giggle from my sister reaches me.

She is laying on a warm rock watching Grey try to hold his breath under water. The white twins are here too. The wild one counting on her fingers while the shy one admires Grey.

I sneak up and grab Wild's shoulders, "Hey! What's he at?"

She jumps a little from surprise, "You jerk!"

So she said but she is smiling at me.

"Ah I lost count!"

As she looks back at the pool I plop my chin on top of her head, "meh, the show off will get over it."

The other twin mumbles, "He’s not a show off."

Red cuts in, "Hey what is it called when you do a trick in front of others watching?"

My thoughts exactly, "I believe it's showing off."

Wild giggles under me.

Grey pops up, taking a deep breath, "how long was it?!"

He frowns seeing my position.

Mother speaks up from somewhere behind me, "Too long, you're not done washing yet?"

Red hops up, "We're done!"

"Then get to dinner, and next time little miss, don't kill any of my chickens"

"Yes mother!"

Red scurries out the door, the shy twin following behind.

Their personality is the only way to tell them apart but it is surprisingly easy.

The one under me reaches up and pats my head to signal she's leaving. I try to hold back the wag in my tail.

The moment she is out the door, Grey declares, “Black, they’re mine!”

“Huh?”

“The twins, I saw them first.”

He’s staring me down, but no matter how serious he seems I really don't get it.

“Brother, they’re not slices of meat or a new toy.”

Mother cuts in, “Exactly, now hurry and get dressed Grey. Really you're too young for this argument. And I doubt your grandmother Hyndla will allow you both twins in the future anyway. She’s always thinking in terms of what's best for the bloodlines.”

Grey angrily splashes his way out of the water and dries off to get dressed.

Before leaving he turns back to address mother who is trying to get the dirt and blood out of my hair, “Mother, what makes the best hunters?”

Her fingers stop scrubbing my head.

Really Grey, just go eat already, I was enjoying that.

She blows a strand of her red hair out of her face, “The silent predator of course, the prey never has the chance to flee or fight back. Hurry up; you're going to make me late. I’m supposed to be the image of a perfect woman...never mind that nonsense. 200 years I’ve overseen this den and I can’t believe how unprepared I was for my own children.”

She returns to helping me get rid of the chicken blood smell while muttering to herself, “This is your fault Skoll, you should have knocked up your stupid, feather headed wife…”

I can’t hear anymore as she pours water over me. She’s careful to sit to my side in order to avoid the small sparks discharging from my tail in the water.

Grey is gone, I ask mother while the water runs down my bangs, “Will I be going to the Academy in Yoden?”

Mother sighs once more, “Go rinse off.”

As I hop in the warm pool she answers, “That sort of thing will be decided once you leave this place, which won't be for a few more years at least. Worry about your first day of lessons tomorrow instead.”

“How much longer till I get a name?”

She takes a seat on the warm rocks alongside of the pool, I guess she’s given up making it to dinner on time. She lifts the bottom of her flowing red kimono and dips her pearl white legs into the pool.

“I’ve told you before, you forgetful pup, you’ll be named once you pass the den’s ritual for all noble born pups.”

Ah...I heard instructor Ragna whispering about this recently, ‘it's easier to get over the ones that die if they don’t have a name.’

She looks up at me with a new intensity, “Don’t you dare fail my fuzzy little troublemaker, you'll break your mother's heart. Ragna has a big mouth.”

Dipped in the edge of the water are mother’s...tails?

Three reddish tails with glowing white tips are swishing the water’s surface, small white flames dancing above them. The flickers take the shape of small fish as they spread out over the pool. The slight shifts in the flames colors from white to blue and red give the fish the feeling of living things.

Trying to pick one up as it hovers along the surface near me, I cup up the water below it. The fish makes a small circle in my hands before fading away into the steam from the pool.

Mother is smiling brightly at me from the side, “You won't learn that in the Academy my little darling.”

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A/n hope you are enjoying the story, I should get a couple more chapters out this weekend. lastly,there is something fun I just added to the last post in howling thunder so check it out if you read that story.