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Word Count → 421
Hati listened intently, quietly filing away the information. He did not know any wolves that preferred to den in caves or holes, not in the kingdom. But admittedly he did not know many outside of his own family, and Niro had just proved that even his relatives were not all cut from the same cloth. He had a lot to learn still about personal preferences and cultures, and only experience would teach him. Terra was capable of shifting, but still preferred to run around on all fours whenever she could. Hati didn't quite understand her way of thinking either, but perhaps that made him the oddity. He hoped not; he would rather be the normal one walking on two legs and living in a fancy house.
Niro shared a disturbing story from their past, and Hati gaped, pale eyes wide. "Shot?!" he asked incredulously. "An archer was hunting her? But why? Did you find out who did it?" He bit his lip, glad that the story had a happy ending after all, because the proof was flying before his eyes. But it was upsetting to imagine Niro raising the little eaglet from an egg, and then finding her broken on the ground... it must have been horrible. "So she is free, but... that comes with danger, doesn't it? The pigeons are restricted, but safe..." Which was preferable? He wanted to believe that a free animal would be happier, but if a bird could lose their ability to fly so easily, maybe the answer wasn't so obvious. He would want to keep his animal safe no matter what, even if it meant keeping them close to him all the time.
"Your sister raises birds too?" he asked quickly. He knew next to nothing about Orin, other than she was due to have pups soon. Perhaps she had already, although he assumed she would come to visit Ayita when she did. "Is falconry something your family is known for? Do you think Tasha and Heiro will be good at it, since Marahute is their big sister?" It was interesting to think such a talent could be hereditary, and it made him wonder if there was anything in his Catori and Haskel ancestry that would lend itself to him. The only skill he shared with his littermates was fluency in French, and that was a result of their bilingual mother's insistence that they study both languages equally. It was nothing so grand as taming creatures of the sky, and learning to speak with them...
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