the quiet man always had his hands full!

sometimes rio would watch him, pitifully, find tasks for himself. marking, patrol, babysitting — she would believe it if he told her he never slept!
though the girl hardly knew him, he reminded her of her father — he looked the part, and old enough that he could've been. she did not pity him for this, work was good. but she worried she was a drag; if he had sworn duty to lady kaede, he had not sworn it to rio and she was not so conceited to force it upon him.

ah, but she was now lady rio. lady fujiwara. her rank asked if not his loyalty then his duty. it was why she never felt too compelled to assist. it was a lot nicer to sit and learn from kaede than to ruin her pawpads!
today though, she emerges from the wisterias with a fish, clutched tightly in her grip. blood dripped from her chin and it watered her tongue — a deeply unladylike sight but rio hoped she could be forgiven for it.

rio gallops to catch the man's stride, scaly thing flopping with each bounce of her gait and held in a big smile meant for him.

mmrmmr! absentmindedly speaking with the fish still clutched in her jaws, rio realizes her unladylike mistake and sets the fat thing next to the hares, savoring the blood on her lips with a quick swipe of her tongue.
hello! rio repeats. you're always busy, and we have a lot of mouths to feed. the brown lady nods towards the cubs. i figured i could help. puppies are a community effort, afterall. the fish gives one last flop, quickly pinned by the jab of her small paw. how have you been?

of course! i don't think you can be idle right now anyways, there's lots to do around here. it will probably slow down once the pups are older, or maybe not. they'll be bigger and thus need more food, and there'll be a point where theyre too large for just hares and fish but too small for kyoami to assist with the hunts. rio could help hunt but it was unladylike, was it not?

just learning how to be a lady. it's a lot harder than i thought it would be.. lady kaede is teaching me how to make perfume though, so that's fun!