You can bring in Assholey the Asshole Hawk whenever you want to, either next post of go for a couple more before he swoops down to begin his Assholery XD
Word Count → 393
Neela rose gratefully to her feet at Jace's gesture, taking several nervous steps backwards as she did so. Despite the gesture Neela's body language remained tight, her ears low, her gaze rarely rising above Jace's chest and the air of openness she had been putting off earlier was entirely absent. The thought of making a powerful enemy this early into her stay with the clan was disturbing to Neela and so the collie had retreated into herself, falling back into the meek persona that had served her so well in her earlier years.
Still a bit of fire stirred within her at the way Jace spoke of Grynn, as though her companion was some beast and not the intelligent bird that she was. The assumption made Neela angry, but not enough to risk displaying that anger, though when she spoke her voice was devoid, both through anger and wariness, of the earlier warmth and friendliness she had freely displayed to this stranger, replaced with supplication and caution. "Grynn has been raised with wolves ever since she was old enough to fly, she would no more hurt a wolf pup than she would a falcon chick. Hell, she practically adopted my son when he was born, started bringing him food and wouldn’t let anybody but me enter the room." Another half truth. Grynn had in-fact done this, but between Leon's fear of her and the unsuitability of the food she was brining him the arrangement was short lived, though Grynn always remained protective of the boy, despite his reluctance to accept it.
With a low, quiet sight Neela tried to raise her head, getting as far as Jace's neck before her instincts forced her to stop, "I… I, look I apologise for any distress Grynn caused you. Once again you have my word, she is no threat to your daughter." Unable to think of anything else to say Neela began to back off, slowly taking steps backwards. From in the distance behind her a screech echoed quietly throughout the air, her mind absently categorising it as a hunting call. Evidently Grynn had decided to take Neela's advice of going hunting literally while she was away from the conversation.
Neela was so distracted with the canine in-front of her that she never noticed that the screech she had heard wasn't that of a Peregrine Falcon.
