Amiss considered her words. "...Busines-

(( l3 ))

Amiss padded out of the den, a small joy filling her heart. Noticing Inferno, she shook herself, considering her words. "Well..we had to talk about something." she said softly, looking towards Oaki. "You were wanting to hunt, or train for fighting?" she asked, watching the bicker-fight between Monclear and Altair. She watched Monclear run off, but made no move to follow him. She had other things to get to, she'd have all the time in the world with him when the pups were born. Her priority was Inferno at that point in time.

Izue stretched, opening his eyes. Sunlight danced through the trees, dappling his fur. He sniffed the air, frosty late-autumn scent dangling in the air. He stood up, listening to the conversation Inferno and Amiss were having.

"No...it...wait a month, you'll see. Don't worry, it's nothing bad." she said, making sure to be vague. On one paw, she wanted to tell him, but on the other...it just did not seem right. She padded over to Oaki, nudging him with her paw. "Hey sleeping pops, wake up." she growled.

Oaki blinked, groaned and sneezed. "What, what is it?" he asked, looking his interrupters in the eyes. He relaxed, realizing it was only Amiss and Inferno. "What do you want?" he snapped.

"Listen, Oaki...well, Inferno needs battle training, and...I can't do it alone. Hunting training too, whichever you want. Would you...maybe be able to...help?" she asked, waiting for her brother to laugh and go back to sleep.

"Fine, fine." he murmured, getting onto all fours. "We'll go to the clearing for battle training." he instructed, padding off towards the camp exit. Amiss followed, twitching her tail at Inferno as a sign for him to follow.

Oaki turned towards Amiss, and she nodded. Satisfied, he looked down at Inferno. "I'm going to demonstrate these techniques, they are the most simple and are the easiest to perfect. You'll attack Amiss, but even though this is practice and we want you to be fierce, be gentle- this is not a real fight. Claws sheathed, teeth will say IN your mouth, got it?" he asked, crouching. "Though this is simple, and easy, you must learn it before the other moves." he said, twisting his body. Taking his weight in his front paws, he pulled his legs in, then kicked with all the force he could get. "Take all your weight in your front paws, and remember, balance!" he instructed. "Judge the distance between you and your opponent, be silent on the ground, and make sure to attack from behind for best effect." he added.

Amiss braced herself for the attack, turning herself around so that the attack went correctly.

Amiss gave a small YIPE of surprise, but nodded. "Fine, fine. No need to worry about me." she said, looking at Inferno knowingly. That /thing/ Inferno had was going to be a bit of a problem...she shrugged. "Why don't we try hunting training instead? We can't hunt all night, but we can fight at night. So lets get hunting training done." she suggested, looking over at Oaki. He was a smidge disappointed, but nodded. "You can take over for hunting, Amiss. Your better at hunting than I am." he said. She nodded, and took off West, where a large tree-rimmed clearing resided, and a river flowed through- the edge of the border. She kept a jog-trot pace, stopping every once and a while to make sure Oaki and Inferno were following. Oaki kept pace with her well, panting in contentedness.

Amiss nodded at him. "Show us how you do it, furball." she said softly, pounding the ground with her paws. The rabbit dashed out of it's hole, bounding towards Inferno in sheer blind panic. Amiss grinned, watching the pray pretty much sentence it's self.

Oaki watched silently, sitting behind Amiss.

Amiss stood silently, dumbfounded and quite scared.
Oaki blinked, then glanced at Amiss. "He..uh..and..the rabbit..and..it.." he stammered, rubbing his eyes with his paws, "I must be in a dream, 'cause you said he needed training. THAT does not need TRAINING!" he whispered harshly to his sister, stirring her ear fur.
"I...well..that was before.." Amiss was at a loss for words. She didn't really feel like telling the entire story of Inferno, but..she didn't want to sound like an idiot, either. "He..he told me he needed training, and..I..um..hrm.." she murmured, not really to anyone in particular. "Training.." she spat softly, "You do not need training. Just...some teaching. Nothing big..just..some correcting, perhaps? Yess.." she turned around, whisked her tail back towards the camp and padded off. "Oaki, take him back to camp. I need some time..alone.." she called back to the two of them, heading off past the camp. She picked her pace up to a jog-trot and pointed her ears backwards, listening for any pursuing pawsteps.
Oaki tilted his head sideways, then shrugged. "Bring what you can of that rabbit back to camp, and..just let her be, I suppose. She was like that when we were pups. Friendly, but needed her space at times." he said briskly, padding back towards camp and his 'sacred' den of sleep.

Izue flipped onto his back and rolled around in the far corner of the camp, which contained things such as mint and wild garlic. Sunlight almost always reached this part of the camp, and due to that it was perfect for napping in. But for Izue, he loved to roll in it- he didn't know why. Perhaps it was just something the healer wolves did. He shrugged the thought away and yawned.

Inferno waited while he watched Oaki and Amiss whisper briskly back and forth to eachother.

Inferno had a sudden pang of guilt. Why was he listening to the darkness still? After all, it had caused him to injure Amiss greatly.

"Inferno.... you must not hold grudges...."

"But I'm not holding a grudge against you. You gave a bad impression, and I know I shouldn't trust you anymore...."
The darkness snarled, and waited till Amiss was gone.
"Either you trust me, or I'll force you to do as I say.... "

Inferno growled "Never...."
The darkness glared at Inferno. It acted as if it was about to hide away inside his head again. Then, it leapt at Inferno, roaring a load snarl only Inferno could hear. It tore at his neck, Inferno squeeling in pain.

"Now, either you do as I say from now on, or die!" it bellowed.

Inferno, his eyes watering in pain, slowly nodded, and the darkness freed its fangs from Inferno's throat, and whisped away into his head once more.

Oaki turned his head around far enough that he could see Inferno out of the corner of his eye. "Come on now. We don't have all day. Are you just going to sit there and look around?" he laughed softly, waiting for Inferno to catch up.

Amiss relaxed, approaching the river, her favorite place to just think. She sat down on her haunches and looked around. The air carried the taint of winter, as well as less prey. "This winter is going to be a harsh one." a voice said behind her. "Who..?" Amiss flipped around and studied the forest, looking for any creature she'd understand even the slightest. A misty white wolf padded out from behind a thicket, and Amiss closed her eyes.
"Amiss..you have done the wrong thing. Having pups was not part of your destiny, at least not for a bit." the creature barked, sitting down in front of her. "Yes..but..I..he is such a nice wolf..and I do love him..and..Inferno isn't the only one who should get to be happy!" she opened her eyes, suppressing an annoyance quite severe. "And besides, it's too late now. I can already, though it only happened recently, feel life inside me. If Inferno is so great, then can't he take care of himself? I don't want to be alone all my life. My mother always told me that having pups was the best thing she had ever done. I deserve that happiness." she sighed, looking down at her paws. She wrapped her tail around herself. "Yes, I always did tell you that. Now, Amiss, honey, I'm not mad at you. And yes, you deserve to be happy. But it's too early. Pups ARE a part of your destiny, but only AFTER all this happens." it said soothingly. "I..but..what am I supposed to do about that? I've already made the choice, and it's not like I'm going to ask Izue for some pup-killing herb..." she tilted her head at the wolf. "I cannot help that right now. You need to figure that out yourself." it said with a hushed tone that faded. As the voice faded, the wolf faded as well. "What am I supposed to do about it..?" she pleaded, with no answer.