Gale was the first to stop splashing in the pools at the new scent. Yvette would never have noticed it, her nose so close to the water, and her youthful focus not on the risks but on the moment. The gladiator stopped his movements and looked up, his aquamarine gaze hard on the pup. His golden brows furrowed as he listened to her puppy speak, having some difficulty understanding her mangled up diction. He had been used to Yvette's babble, but her words were always mixed with some sort of foreign language he knew better than English. He listened to the words, deciphered them and almost cringed back in horror. He knew something about killing, though there had never been any Naumachia at the Colosseum. It as such an old building that one would risk it and no one really knew how they were done. But he knew a thing or two about killing and the thought brought back dark memories.
"Yvette," he said once, a gruff call to his niece to cease her movements and hold still. By now she was at the bank and had all four paws in the murk once more, though her back was still covered with water as she peered out of it. "D-daddy?" she said hesitantly, looking back at him, then following his gaze to the pup peering at the two of them. But she saw another child, not a member of the pack he had been careful to avoid, because he had simply not known it. But it was the only way through to the other side and he would not drag his niece over a mountain. "I'm no pet rock!" she cried out getting out of the water with mud trailing after her. "I'm Yvette!" she yipped, caution easily thrown to the wind. There seemed to be nothing wrong with this pup, nor was she a threat to the hulking gladiator.
"You're from this pack?" he asked, rising to his feet, body drenched in water that fell off him in torrents. "Could you help us?" he asked, unaware of the laws of the packs here. He had grown up in something different than a pack, in a place ruled as a monarchy. There a slave could get help and orders from anyone in the family, child or not. It would never occur to him that he was better off looking for an adult.
Images credited to Jason Pier. Table style inspired by Kitty.
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