Mud squelched underneath all four paws, and the blond wolfdog clenched his jaw against the dead grouse as he proceeded to splatter his limbs and belly with the brownish gunk. Traversing this great mucky landscape, draggling his prey through it, was not his idea of fun—though he had vivid memories of the days when mud was the funnest substance in the world. He remembered bouncing around with Hati, and Lottie’s pink nose skewed up as she got messy, and more than everything else tackling his mother into the mud and listening to her growls and musical laughter ring up as she tended to her children.
The memories burned in his chest, but Skoll pushed them away stubbornly and continued to make his way toward the hotel. The changes in the pack, and his grief, had prevented him from contributing like his high rank expected him to. Now that the hurricane had passed, however, he wanted to work hard to make up for it; feeding a muddy grouse to a pack mate was just a small step in the right direction.
As the sun prince approached, however, a plain of mud before him produced a wriggling puppy-form from its center. He blinked, his jaw tightening slightly, but drew on his reserves of warmth and managed to smile as he trotted to the edge of the mud. He knew he’d played like that when he was much younger.
“A mud monster!” Skoll proclaimed, taking a seat just shy of the great puddle and dropping the grouse. He continued to stare at the happy pup as if he were on showcase, pantomiming awe.
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