bend the branches

[Claudius Aston]

Claudius is Pavlov's dog!
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[/html]Claudius turned when Ulilohi stepped forward. He noticed that she had retreated when he’d been speaking, so she slid off to the side when she moved to speak. When she gestured at Io, Claudius shifted his stance and turned in time to see the woman emerge, the scent of blood thick on her fur. He was anticipating a tasty meal, since sheep were a delicious treat. They were tough to find, since they didn’t fare too well in these parts—not without help, that is. They had a very strong taste that he really enjoyed, so he was glad Io had taken it upon herself to tend to them. He really was quite impressed with her skill, since animal care confounded him.

Of course, then Io promised even more good things to come and Claudius felt like he was on the verge of drooling just thinking of it.

After Io spoke, he noticed the older wolf –Aranck, he thought his name was – spoke up. Claudius was glad to have the older wolf’s support. Having someone who knew a bit about farming would be a huge help to them, since Claudius’ knowledge was mostly restricted to the actual plants, their properties, and how to tend to them. He hoped that Aranck would have some suggestions for them along the road, so he nodded encouragingly to the wolf.

“Guh-great,” he replied. “Wuh-we’ll… need the huh-help,” he explained.

When Frodo piped up, Claudius found his grin widening. Frodo seemed just as excited as Aranck to help. He laughed in reply and then responded quickly.

“Suh-super. Wuh-with all of yuh-your help, we’ll guh-get this done. We may cuh-call on some… other packs… for aid… since they d-di-i-id come by… rece-e-e-ently… to tr-a-a-a-de… perha-a-a-ps… we ca-a-a-n dee-ee-puh-en the… bonds… with… our… neighbours. Puh-please invite… any fuh-friends… you think… could luh-lend a hend.” [html]

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