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“So you’re the whelp they want me to toughen up? Ehh. I’ve seen scrawnier.”
Anima paced along the edge of the rocky cliff, her calloused paws keeping deft balance between earth and empty air. Her new student sat well back from the danger zone, gritting his jaw like he was trying to look tough. Ember’s cub, and he looked it: They had the same powerful ryno build, the same glowing orange guard hairs, like fire crackling beneath their fur. The same inextinguishable determination glittering in their eyes.
“I’m sure you’ve heard what the other Horns have been saying about me. I could count on one paw the number of former students who’ve completed my full curriculum, fewer still who’ve managed to earn my respect. Too weak, no conviction, couldn’t take the heat. List goes on.
“But make no mistake about this, strength isn’t everything. Resilience, adaptability, a stubborn grit to survive: These are the traits I value in any student of mine. Think on your feet, keep your ears pricked, and even you could survive this.”
Ren nodded. She could see in his eyes that he was ready-- not like some of her other coward students who only said they were ready and then ran off at the first sign of danger, the deplorable creatures.
“Right, enough exposition. Let’s go throw rocks at a god.”
*
“Is this really a good id--”
“Do it already.”
Ren picked up a stone and chucked it into the river. It landed with a solid splash before sinking into the depths. The ryno tensed, but nothing happened… for now.
“I dunno. Waking a sleeping god doesn’t sound like a--”
“What’s the number one risk when you’re exploring alone?” Anima interrupted, speaking right over him.
“Running out of food? Not finding shelter before nightfall? Digging up cool treasure and realising you forgot to bring a loot sack?”
“The random god attacks! Damn things’ll sneak up on you when you least expect ‘em and knock you into next week. Now, obviously, you could try fighting back or running away, but odds are they’ll be stronger than you, faster than you. They’re gods, for gods’ sake! But there’s one thing all domain guardians consistently fail at: They’re too tall to see things sneaking low to the ground.” She dropped down into a crouch, tucking her tail between her legs and creeping with her belly low to the ground. She was still completely visible (they were in the open, after all), but Ren imagined she’d be pretty hard to spot when she was in tall grass.
“And that’s how it’s done. ‘Sounds easy’, you say?”
“I didn’t say anything…”
“Good, empty barrels make the most noise. Now, Danuoc’s pretty forgiving as far as gods go, so as soon as we wake her up, I want you to practice your crouch and leave the area without her spotting you.”
“This sounds… really dangerous for a first lesson.”
“I believe in learning as you go. Right, go get a bigger rock and we’ll try agai--”
A low rumbling rose on the hill just behind them. Anima watched in stunned horror as a wall of white and blue scales trampled bushes and trees as though they were weeds.
“Did, uhhhh… did you know she’d gone out for a walk?”
There was no way to hide in the grass. With her higher vantage point, Danuoc would spot them immediately. The river was no-go, there was nowhere to go but flat plains in a half-mile radius…
“Over here!” Ren hissed. Anima turned and saw that he’d buried himself in the soft mud on the banks, piling plant matter and pebbles over himself. Only the tip of his snout and jaws were visible, and even now, he was scraping more cattails over that.
She bounded over and threw herself into the muck just as Danuoc emerged from the trees, plodding down to the river with thunderous pawsteps. She raised her head and sniffed the air; her tail tip twitched, and her finned crest began to rise… and then she dove into the river and disappeared with barely a splash.
They waited there for a few seconds more before Anima decided it was safe to come out. They pulled themselves out of the mud, a little more exfoliated than before, shaking the dirt and reeds out of their fur.
“So I guess that was a fail?” Ren said, spitting out a mouthful of fluffy white seeds.
“You thought out of the box and fulfilled the goals of the lesson. You succeeded, and you taught me something new. Far as I’m concerned, you passed the test.”
Ren lifted his head high. He clearly wasn't a ketucari with many life experiences under his belt.
“Time enough to celebrate later. First, let’s get out of here before she comes back.”
“Right, that was a thing that happened.”
They high-tailed it out of Messus, but as they ran, Anima gave him a rare Grunt of Approval.
“I think you’ll do just fine, cub.”

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

“So you’re the whelp they want me to toughen up? Ehh. I’ve seen scrawnier.”
Anima paced along the edge of the rocky cliff, her calloused paws keeping deft balance between earth and empty air. Her new student sat well back from the danger zone, gritting his jaw like he was trying to look tough. Ember’s cub, and he looked it: They had the same powerful ryno build, the same glowing orange guard hairs, like fire crackling beneath their fur. The same inextinguishable determination glittering in their eyes.
“I’m sure you’ve heard what the other Horns have been saying about me. I could count on one paw the number of former students who’ve completed my full curriculum, fewer still who’ve managed to earn my respect. Too weak, no conviction, couldn’t take the heat. List goes on.
“But make no mistake about this, strength isn’t everything. Resilience, adaptability, a stubborn grit to survive: These are the traits I value in any student of mine. Think on your feet, keep your ears pricked, and even you could survive this.”
Ren nodded. She could see in his eyes that he was ready-- not like some of her other coward students who only said they were ready and then ran off at the first sign of danger, the deplorable creatures.
“Right, enough exposition. Let’s go throw rocks at a god.”
*
“Is this really a good id--”
“Do it already.”
Ren picked up a stone and chucked it into the river. It landed with a solid splash before sinking into the depths. The ryno tensed, but nothing happened… for now.
“I dunno. Waking a sleeping god doesn’t sound like a--”
“What’s the number one risk when you’re exploring alone?” Anima interrupted, speaking right over him.
“Running out of food? Not finding shelter before nightfall? Digging up cool treasure and realising you forgot to bring a loot sack?”
“The random god attacks! Damn things’ll sneak up on you when you least expect ‘em and knock you into next week. Now, obviously, you could try fighting back or running away, but odds are they’ll be stronger than you, faster than you. They’re gods, for gods’ sake! But there’s one thing all domain guardians consistently fail at: They’re too tall to see things sneaking low to the ground.” She dropped down into a crouch, tucking her tail between her legs and creeping with her belly low to the ground. She was still completely visible (they were in the open, after all), but Ren imagined she’d be pretty hard to spot when she was in tall grass.
“And that’s how it’s done. ‘Sounds easy’, you say?”
“I didn’t say anything…”
“Good, empty barrels make the most noise. Now, Danuoc’s pretty forgiving as far as gods go, so as soon as we wake her up, I want you to practice your crouch and leave the area without her spotting you.”
“This sounds… really dangerous for a first lesson.”
“I believe in learning as you go. Right, go get a bigger rock and we’ll try agai--”
A low rumbling rose on the hill just behind them. Anima watched in stunned horror as a wall of white and blue scales trampled bushes and trees as though they were weeds.
“Did, uhhhh… did you know she’d gone out for a walk?”
There was no way to hide in the grass. With her higher vantage point, Danuoc would spot them immediately. The river was no-go, there was nowhere to go but flat plains in a half-mile radius…
“Over here!” Ren hissed. Anima turned and saw that he’d buried himself in the soft mud on the banks, piling plant matter and pebbles over himself. Only the tip of his snout and jaws were visible, and even now, he was scraping more cattails over that.
She bounded over and threw herself into the muck just as Danuoc emerged from the trees, plodding down to the river with thunderous pawsteps. She raised her head and sniffed the air; her tail tip twitched, and her finned crest began to rise… and then she dove into the river and disappeared with barely a splash.
They waited there for a few seconds more before Anima decided it was safe to come out. They pulled themselves out of the mud, a little more exfoliated than before, shaking the dirt and reeds out of their fur.
“So I guess that was a fail?” Ren said, spitting out a mouthful of fluffy white seeds.
“You thought out of the box and fulfilled the goals of the lesson. You succeeded, and you taught me something new. Far as I’m concerned, you passed the test.”
Ren lifted his head high. He clearly wasn't a ketucari with many life experiences under his belt.
“Time enough to celebrate later. First, let’s get out of here before she comes back.”
“Right, that was a thing that happened.”
They high-tailed it out of Messus, but as they ran, Anima gave him a rare Grunt of Approval.
“I think you’ll do just fine, cub.”