Naming is Hard

Writers: Heather
Date Posted: 4th April 2019

Characters: Rothen, Zathris
Description: Zathris and Rothen discuss canines and try to find a name for Rothen's partner puppy.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 10, day 13 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: Karhal

Zathris

Rothen was taking a break and so was the puppy. He was sitting, eating
a snack, and watching the puppy romp about. He still hadn't picked out
a name for her yet. He would need to do it soon, he couldn't keep
calling her 'Pup' or that would wind up being her name and what kind
of name was that for a guard canine? But, no matter how hard he tried,
every name he thought of just seemed wrong. He'd keep trying,
eventually the right name would come to him. He hoped.

"I hear I've lost a guard," Zathris said as he came upon Rothen. Alik
was at his heels, ears alert, eyes bright as he watched his master for
a command.

Rothen stood quickly and gave the Lord Holder a bow, "My Lord." Then
he grinned a bit and said, "I'm still a guard. But, I'll be training
with this one for a while," he gestured toward the puppy who had
approached the older canine and was now romping about him. He whistled
and she reluctantly stopped playing and returned to his side.

Zathris grinned at the expression on Alik's face. He tolerated the
pup's curiosity and playfulness, but he did not break from his task,
which was being alert and protecting his master. "At ease, Alik," he
told his canine companion. The canine's posture immediately loosened
and he walked over to sniff Rothen's pup with curiosity. "They're
amazing creatures, the way they're able to learn, and their loyalty is
unmatchable."

The puppy whined entreatingly and shuffled her feet, wanting to go
back to playing, especially now that Alik was let free. Rothen held up
a finger admonishingly and said, "Stay," until the young animal
settled down. He held her there a moment, to see if she'd start
fidgeting again before releasing her to play.

He grinned at the Lord Holder again, "She does learn fast, that's for sure."

"I was skeptical about them at first," Zathris admitted as he watched
the canines interact. "But Karhal has more than proved there worth and
now Alik goes with me everywhere."

"Did Karhal train your canine?" Rothen was curious.

"Yes, he seems to have a knack for it." Zathris replied.

Rothen agreed, "I think he can talk to them like riders do dragons."
He'd never seen a canine not do something Karhal asked of it. Of
course, he'd only seen Karhal with fully trained beasts so far, but
still. He couldn't imagine the Captain having any difficulty with even
a puppy like, well, his puppy. He really needed to figure out a name
for her.

"He's gifted in it, no doubt." Zathris agreed. "What are you going to
call her?" he asked, crouching to reach out and let the pup sniff his
hand.

"That's a good question," Rothen muttered. "Um, I mean, I don't know
yet, my Lord. I've never actually named anything before. I want to
give her a good one, but everything I think of sounds silly when I try
it out."

"It'll come to you," Zathris assured the guard. "Sometimes you just
have to get to know their personalities first. After all, names are
permanent."

The guard nodded, knowing that the Lord was exactly right. "Here's
hoping a good one comes to me before she's stuck being called, 'Pup.'"
The puppy perked up at the word and gave a yip. She cocked her head to
the side, one large ear drooping over just a bit, giving her a comical
look.

"She looks like a Zeva to me," Zathris offered, scratching the wiggly
pup behind the ears.

Rothen smiled, "What do you think, girl? Do you like Zeva?" The puppy
just panted in response. Rothen snorted in amusement. She'd reacted to
the word 'pup' more than that. Of course, she was a canine and
probably didn't know they were picking out a name anyway.

The Lord Holder laughed a bit at the young canine's 'response' to the
name suggestion. "Well, we tried."

Last updated on the April 16th 2019

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Naming is Hard