Just Another Day

"I saw some tasty antelope a bit ago. I prefer those over rabbit any day!" she said excitedly.

"Do you need help catching one?" Dai asked, curious as to how she planned to obtain an antelope.

"Help from who? Jakko would probably steal the kill and you don't have claws or wings," she said skeptically.

"I have a bow and a good horse. I've hunted antelope many times that way," Dai said as he stood.

"Prove it," she said simply with a smirk.

"What?" Dai was shocked. She was one of the most brazen cubs, or even children, he had ever seen.

"Show me!" she grinned. "Show me how you hunt! I've never seen one of your kind before and I want to know how you catch your dinner."

I must say I have never seen one of her specific kind either, Dai mused. "There's nothing special about my hunting. I just aim and let the arrow loose..."

"Hey, I'm eight!" she interrupted hotly. "Do I look like I've seen much hunting before!? Teacher took me on one, one, real hunt!" She held up a finger for emphasis, her wings flaring angrily and her ears completely flat by her head. "For a goat! A crippled goat! An old crippled goat that didn't even bother to run away!"

It took a great strength of will on Dai's part to appear to take her seriously at that moment. He wanted to laugh at her childish indignation.

"Katari and Hilael got to hunt deer!" Shanku began to pace. "Stags, with huge antlers! On their own! I didn't even get to touch that stinky old goat before the teacher offed it!" She continued to vent. "I'm not gonna be some ol' middle-aged cub-bearer with beaded hair and dyed feathers when I grow up. My sire is a warrior, my dam is one of the best hunters! Hells, my great-great-granddam was a legend! I am not gonna sit on my claws doing nothing instead of doing what I'm born to do!"