A sea of silver swayed around a quartet of ketucari. Three with creamy coats, the other with a coat like fire. Of the three cream coats, two were cubs. Three months old and wrestling and chasing each other through the silken fronds of shyl. The third, a small but grown kadin who trotted hurridly behind them. "Kaimana--" she called to the smaller cub, a little harpy who's leucistic coat shimmered in the sun, "stop yanking on your sister's tail!" Kaimana glanced back at her, stormy blue eyes dark with mischief, and grudgingly extracted her teeth from Mele's flesh. Alda sighed heavily as the pair dashed off into the grass with delighted squeals. "Thank you again for agreeing to help me watch them." She turned to her companion. She'd chanced upon Daylight while taking the kids for a walk while her partners hunted. "I thought after my last litter I'd be able to handle just two..." clearly that wasn't the case, Kaimana and Kanon it seemed bickered and squabbled worse even than Vasu had with his siblings. -- Daylight twitched his tail and chuckled at the cubs' antics. "It's no problem. I enjoy looking after the little ones. Now, now, you two... It's fine to roughhouse, but if you hurt each other, I'm going to have to get the stingy herbs to treat you." a good natured laugh. The cubs had vanished from sight, but he could still track them by scent and sound and the little ripples of electricity in the air that their activity produced. They weren't far. Still, these two were more capable of mischief than his last charge had been... Best to not leave them too long. He was about to bounce after them when a shriek sounded in the air and the pressure of wingbeats ruffled his fur. That was too close-- He looked up-- "Lythersnitch! Alda, I'm going to try to run it off. Can you protect the cubs? You two, get back to your mother, that big bird will see you as food!" -- "They're chaos incarnate." Alda laughed, pushing past some taller shyl stalks--and spotted the shadow just as Daylight called out. "Kids!" she called, leaping ahead to hook her paw under Mele and pull her close. Kaimana squeaked, skidded to a stop and dove back into Alda's feathers. A splash of white against the sky, the belly of an oasis lythersnitch. Alda dropped down around her cubs and snarled as white paws came down all around her. The bird outsized her by half again, and its beak gleamed as it snapped at her sides to try to steal her cubs. "Back off!" she snapped, swatting at the belly. Crimson blossomed against the white and the bird squealed, rearing back to escape the flash of pain--hind eyes fixing instead on Daylight. A larger target for certain, but not protecting his young. -- The kids were safe under their mother. Mele was squealing in fear, tiny cub down feathers on end, but terrified was an appropriate reaction to the situation. Now just to help make sure their mother was safe as well. The beast was bleeding. That was dangerous, made it more likely to lash out. But also more likely to flee. But its packmates were likely close by. If worst came to worst he could pull all of them through a Rift... For now, he growled to make sure he had the thing's full intention. Had to be precise with others so close, so... Instead of a bold lightning bolt, he lunged forward with an electrified paw. His claws raked just above the thing's razor break, delivering a lower but sustained current to scramble the thing's senses. The thunder of paws spilled around Alda, and she curled tighter over her cubs. The lythersnitch hissed, scrambling back. Not fast enough, Daylight surged forward after it, paws sparking with magic-- -- The creature squealed, shutting its eyes and tossing its head as it stumbled over its own legs, chittering as it was rendered nearly immobile by the attack. When it did find its legs, it spun and galloped off, chirping and squawking a warning to its pack. Alda bristled after it, a growl in her chest and feathers fluffed out to twice again their usual size. Only when the thunder of paws faded did she let herself relax, uncurling to duck her head under herself, rasping her tongue across Mele and Kaimana's frills. "...Thank you." she breathed, to Daylight. -- Good riddance. Daylight snorted after the creature and turned to check on Alda, sniffing at the small, fluffed-up kadin. "Are you or the cubs injured?" he asked, gentle and kind. "...No need to thank me. I have no desire to see you, or your children, injured. We survive by working together, after all. And to you..." lowering himself to look at the shaking cubs. "...This is why you need to be careful about running off on your own in the wilds. We're pretty tough, but we're not the largest creatures on the block. But if the two of you learn to work together instead of bickering, you definitely will get strong enough to fight something even bigger than that."