Painted Flowers

Chapter 9 - The First Colors

Zahra and Zain were on babysitting duty, yet again, making themselves "useful" in the most mundane of ways. Cyrah, their foster mother, had left her newest litter in the twins' care before she tagged along with the dawn hunting patrol, trying to integrate back into normal pack duties. She hated being cooped up in the nursery, and it seemed like she just couldn't wait for Bahati, Jabir and Cada to be old enough to fend for themselves.

In painted dog society, all members of the pack care for the young ones, even if the litter doesn't belong to the royal family. They watch them, hunt for them, and regurgitate meat for them. Cyrah was more than happy to place these duties on her foster children as often as she could, as their "repayment" for the care she had provided them as infants, when she had nursed the mysterious pups that had been abandoned at the camp's entrance the previous year.

Zahra shook the memories of their past out of her mind. Zain didn't even seem to mind this chore; he was gentle with the pups, and was more than happy to play with them. She was bored of it already, but sat patiently with him in the shade, watching their foster siblings tackling and nibbling each other as they wrestled in the center of the camp. She stretched out her front legs and lay down next to her brother, pressing her flank softly against his and grooming the fur behind his ears.

The pink sky began fading to teal. It had been a couple days since Layali had taken refuge here, though most of her time was spent asleep and resting her scarred shoulder. Zahra watched as the wanderer poked her head out of the yearlings' cave, the fur on her head messy from sleep and the bandages on her shoulder slipping off. The hollow was totally empty aside from the puppies and their babysitters, and Layali had hardly taken a couple steps towards them before they took notice of her.

All at once, the little ones rushed forward, tackling the visitor in a swarm and pinning her to the ground. Zahra gasped, remembering too late that Layali was hurt. "Ah! Hey, puppies, no! Get back over here!" In unison, Zahra and Zain scrambled to their paws to save Layali from the mass of prodding wet noses and paws.

"Jabir, get off of her!" Zahra scolded. "Bahati, don't sniff her ear. What's the matter with you all?"

Tails between their legs, each of the puppies retreated. Zain reached forward to grab Jabir by the scruff, pulling him off of Layali's back.

"We were just playing..." Bahati explained, blinking sweetly up at Zahra with her big brown eyes.

"Who is she?" Jabir yipped, swinging from Zain's jaws.

"We were defending the pack from a stranger!" Cada retorted, waving her tail.

"She smells weird," Bahati added.

Zahra sighed in annoyance, realizing too late that she probably should have introduced the stranger to her foster siblings beforehand. "Ugh, you pups are too nosy. This is Layali, and she will be staying with us until her shoulder heals. You know...the wound that you three probably reopened."

Still laying in the spot where she had been tackled, Layali smiled sheepishly at her bandage, which had nearly fallen off at this point. It was clearly time for Feoria to change it, though Zahra wasn't sure where the healer was at that moment.

"Be nice to her, like you should be to all our guests," Zahra told them gently. "Now go bug Zain for a while, will you?"

Zain blinked in surprise, unprepared as Jabir went for his ear and Cada swiped at his tail. Gingerly he shook them off and took off running, and the little pack chased after him, begging him to play a game with them.

Layali shakily stood to her paws, and Zahra rushed forward to support her. The injured dog smiled gratefully at her and dusted herself off. "Babysitting duty, I take it?" she chuckled.