Shoyan RoD - A Bad Plan

“Sho, are you sure about this?”

Scarlet had asked the same question about fifteen times, and Shoyan had to keep herself from snapping at her best friend. “Look, even my father couldn’t catch a raven when he was doing his Dominance rites. What hope do we have?”

The slender red and white tokota backed up, holding her end of the net in her teeth. “Well, I mean, we could just wait for help.”

Shoyan sighed, balancing on her hind legs as she places the loop at the end of the net around the crown of a pine sapling. “Letty, I know what you’re saying, but...” She trailed off, but Scarlet didn’t ask her to continue. They both knew that Shoyan had found the ‘dominance rock’ while out hunting only days before. The spirits were not known for being patient when it was time to step up to dominance - Uncle Ezov had the stories to back that up. So, when word that a lone raven was stealing various trinkets from a nearby village, Shoyan had more or less snatched a net from the barn and galloped off, Scarlet in tow.

But at the same time, Shoyan couldn’t help but feel nervous. She had only wanted to be a skilled leader, like her father, for as long as she could remember. Now that she was here, she only felt young and unprepared. She hadn’t even told Kaoyan that she was starting her rites yet. In hindsight, she was sure he would have had an idea other than ‘string up a net and chase the raven into it, then give it a stern talking to and take the trinket back’.

She gave Scarlet a guilty look as she thudded back onto all fours. “... this is a stupid plan, isn’t it?”

Scarlet, pulling her own loop on an opposing tree tight, swished her tail in a gesture similar to a human shrug. “Won’t know unless we try, will we?”

“You should probably approve of my plans less, considering they never work.”

“That’s called ‘friendship’, Shoyan.”

“That or you’re just stupid too.”

Scarlet gave a wide, canine smile, wagging her tail. “Why else would I put up with you?”

“You’re the wors-” A yell from the village reached her sharp ears, and Shoyan whipped her head around. Through the trees, she could see a faint black speck in the air, headed their way.

“Showtime, fishbrain.” Scarlet jumped behind one of the trees, anchoring the one remaining loop that they hadn’t secured yet. “Herd the bird!”

Normally, Shoyan would have scolded her for the pun, but there was no time for that now. The lilac tokota leapt into motion, galloping into the trees. Their plan, remarkably, seemed to be temporarily feasible - the raven had a huge, shiny pendant clutched in its talons, and it seemed to be struggling with the weight. Even more remarkably, the raven didn’t even notice Shoyan circling until she had landed right behind it.

They broke into a clearing, and Shoyan jumped as high as she could manage, snapping at the tail feathers. The bird quickly ducked away from her jaws, banking hard towards the trees. It was aiming straight for the net, and in her excitement Shoyan barked.

The raven’s head turned, maybe out of reflex, to look back at her.

When she made the plan, Shoyan had expected the bird to hit the net, gently bounce, and then flutter to the ground - stunned but unharmed. The actual impact was much harder. Before Shoyan’s horrified eyes, the raven’s head hooked through a space in the net, then came to a hard stop. There was a faint, innocuous crack that she only barely heard. The pendant fell, and landed in the snow.

Scarlet slowly came out from behind the tree as Shoyan slid to a halt. Both stared in shocked silence at the lifeless ball of feathers hanging from the net.

Shoyan found her voice first. “...I. I didn’t mean for...”

“I didn’t even think of it.” Scarlet’s voice was hushed, turning to look at her friend. “...We should get it out of the net, and... should we bury it?”