"Nice one, Dribble."

I glared at the dark-furred pup, standing by the trunk of a pine with several forms of tawny prey at his paws of coal. Then there was my own catch: a big fat pile of nothing.

A sharp pain dug into my side. I picked myself up off the ground, wincing as the thorny branches tugged at my tangled fur, tufts of gray still hanging on their boughs after I pulled away. I shook the rest of the thistles from my pelt, muttering my annoyance to the sky as I stared at a knotted mess I'd be gnawing out later. My fur had just fully grown back from all the scrapes and scars I'd arrived with.

"Back so soon?" The sarcasm dripped from my jowls, just like the saliva forming on my tongue each time I glanced over at his cache of food.

Why had Mist paired us together if he was just going to go off and hunt on his own? At first I'd been thankful––that I wouldn't be burdening Cloud, and I ignorantly assumed my time with Spruce would be awkward and silent.

Awkward? Yes. Silent? I wished.

I ignored his grumbles in favor of the woods. The evergreens were sparser on this side of the forest, downriver from the cave and approaching the vast, open meadow. Where my real hunt would soon happen.

Plenty of trees still filled the space around us, offering shelter to more opportunities to prove I could catch something on my own. To myself, and to the bratty pup.

"You can leave. I'm not done yet." I turned my back to Spruce and strode a couple limping steps further into the greenery. It would help if I could hear something other than his snorting laughter.

I tipped my muzzle upward and breathed in the scents the wind had to offer. Bittersweet like the pines, as always, but it had started to grow on me. Among the sour, leafy weeds and spring's sweet blossoms, I pulled out the distinct smell of something edible. Just a mouse, but it would do. I pointed my ears in its direction and hobbled onward.

My steps were stiff and jerky after wasting all my energy keeping up with Spruce––only for him to dump me and go off on his own––and also the many fruitless chases I'd already pursued.

I tried my best to be quiet, creeping closer to the sound of the rodent's small and erratic heartbeat. I couldn't see him yet, but he was hiding beneath the cover of some tall grass, munching away without a care. It's pulse quickened, pounding within its tiny chest. The green stalks parted at the mouse's rounded body, and it darted away, bound for the safety of a burrow at the roots of a tree.

For stars' sake––I wasn't even that close. The breeze tickled the back of my ears, and I sighed. I'd used it to help find my prey, but I'd forgotten to take into account the rodent could use it to find me just as easily.

With a groan, I lifted my snout again.

The next scent was fringed with the nose-tickling smell of oily feathers. I knew I had little chance of catching a bird, but I'd wasted so much time already. Maybe if I timed it just right.

I let the gentle breeze bristle through my fur and determined which way the wind was going. That wouldn't be my mistake this time. I followed the scent drifting from the opposite direction. The white-bellied bird was perched on the branch of a young sapling, and the brown speckled feathers of its back faced me.

My chest and haunches hung just above my paws. I prowled closer, each step slow and meditated. The tree was right in front of me.

I focused on the bird and centered my body. I just needed to be a little closer.

A crunch beneath my paw jerked my eyes to the ground. Several rotting twigs blended in with the rest of the forest floor, and they snapped beneath my weight. Flapping wings shot upward, a blur of pale feathers that nearly gave myself a start, but I leaped after it.

My teeth closed around a single tailfeather, then the rush of air beneath my belly slipped away. The bird let out a frantic chirp as it flew into the safety of the trees, and its former perch dug sharp, curling branches into my underbelly. I scrabbled backward off the spiny sapling and flopped backward on my back. Why did everything have to be so painful?

I lay there for a few motionless moments, trying to catch my panting breath.

"Hey Dizzy, are you done yet?"

With a heave, I was back on my paws. I walked past Spruce and his groans without a word. Trying my luck with my nose to the ground, I took to uncovering another scent. Eventually, I stumbled upon the trail of a hare.

This time, I would do it. I could show them all I wasn't just a burden.

Drawing any focus I'd wasted on the pup, I turned it all to my prey. With a few strides in the direction of the scent, I planted my paws against the prickly straw that littered the ground. I could see the hare now. Its nose twitched as it ambled out of the underbrush and into the open. Its brown pelt blended into the forest floor, but my eyes were already trained on its tiny, heaving chest.

I made sure to place each paw extra quietly, eyeing the ground closely for any branches or prickly pine cones. Finally, I was a perfect bound away from it. The hare had yet to notice me in my concealment: the grayish, swaying branches of young trees. I perched myself atop the raised mound of a root, gaining some height over my prey. Its burrow lay right beneath my feet.

Then, another tan nose poked out from the hole. I couldn't believe my luck. I'd kill two hares with one lunge.

Rocking back on my hindquarters, I balanced on the tips of my paw pads and readied myself to pounce. When I pushed off, jaws closed around my paw.

My muzzle smashed into the ground. A howl formed in my throat, and wispy claws of darkness wrapped around me.

From the shadows emerged piercing yellow eyes. His laugh was like the crushing of stones. The dark wolf sank his teeth into the flesh of my forepaw. One that shouldn't have been there.

I snarled and tried to pull myself away, thrashing with my hind legs. His grip didn't loosen.

Crimson flowed from the wound, his jaws severing the muscle, and with a crunch, the bone. I collapsed again and shut my eyes tightly, blocking the stinging tears. A tremor of unbearable fire shot up my leg––from the place where a paw once lay.

"Drizzle?"

I shook my head, thrashing again. I had to get away.

"Are you okay?"

I flattened my ears. I didn't want to listen. Not to anything he had to say.

"Drizzle!" he shouted.

My eyes snapped open to find the yellow irises. I blinked again and again, begging for them to just go away. But these were less sharp. The wolf they belonged to was younger, his voice was less hoarse. Concern sparkled in his rings of marigold.

"Hey!" He poked me sharply with his nose. I let out my breath. There was no danger here. Spruce's brows arched in worry. "What happened?"

I shook my head, forcing away the images of darkness in place of a lesser pain, a splitting headache.

"Nothing," I murmured, standing up as a wave of nausea crashed over me. I couldn't explain this to him. He wouldn't understand. Spruce would only think I was even more pathetic.

His concern wasn't real anyway––probably just pity, inspired from his talk with Cloud.

I walked away, my foreleg still throbbing even though there was no paw there. "It was just a... cramp or something." The lie didn't make me seem any less weak, but at least he wouldn't think I was daydreaming about monsters and crying over my lost foot.

It burned, even as the cool air touched the fully healed knub.

"Ooooo-kay," he chimed, a scoff on the end of his word. There went any sense of concern, replaced by more mockery.

Maybe I should've taken advantage of his attempt at kindness while it was there, but I didn't want his sympathy. I was just ready for this hunt to be over.

Spruce went back to the spot where he'd left his prey to watch me try again. Of course, now, he wasn't rushing me.

To my luck, a chipmunk stood nearby, stranded on the forest floor away from any trees. It was paying little attention to his surroundings. This was my chance.

I took a deep breath. I checked the wind. I made sure there was nothing loud in my path as I approached. I didn't get too close. With a leaping distance between my paws and its furry tail, I held my eyes shut and exhaled. There was no wolf in the darkness.

My feet left the ground.

I landed loudly just a hair's breadth too short, then I scrambled forward in a desperate attempt to hook a claw around the scurrying mound of fur.

The only thing I caught was a knotted root. My weight tumbled over my paws, and the chipmunk bounded off, leaving me in the dust.

I watched it run with a growl. My clenched teeth began to ache, and I forced my muscles to relax a little, rolling my eyes at another rushing blunder.

Just before the chipmunk could reach the tree it was bound for, a dark form jumped out in front of it. With a squeak, it hopped backward and ran in the opposite direction.

Right into my claws.

I caught it swiftly with a forceful paw, while Spruce jumped up to catch a bird he had startled from the bush. He caught it in his jaws, and I quickly ended the rodent's life in my own.

With the bird in his muzzle, he walked back over to where I still lay on the ground. Feathers hung from his teeth, and he dropped it at his feet, squinting at me. I returned his curious expression. Why had he helped me?

"Thanks... Spruce," I muttered, never expecting those words to leave my mouth.

He rolled his eyes. "I didn't do it for you." Spruce shoved the bird toward me with his nose. "Here, take this too, I can't carry it with everything else I caught."

I sighed, ignoring the obvious brag in his tone. I knew he would never admit it, but I appreciated his help.

Spruce trudged over to his own prey, nudging the small-bodied creatures together so he could lift them all at once. He trotted off without me, back in the direction where we'd split from the rest of the pack. I picked up my sad little bundle and hobbled after him.

Cloud and the others waited for us at the head of the trail. She smiled and uttered a few words of congratulations. I just nodded, using the prey in my mouth as an excuse to stay silent. Mist grinned at the sight of our spoils, but I only wondered what she'd think if I told her how I managed to catch anything.

The hunt had hardly been a success, but at least it wasn't a total failure like everything else. It was false hope to expect things getting any better from here. Nonetheless, my tail hung just a little higher.