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Zaax was a quick learner, and while a lot of people were initially wary of him, he was soon allowed to play and learn with many other young druid initiates. The bulk of the teaching was done at home, since Zaax didn't speak either druidic or really any language that someone not in his home would understand, but for the first time in his life, he was allowed to go out and play with children, laughing and playing games and kicking a ball around. Oh, the look on his (and Gux's) face the first time they saw a bouncy ball... It was like the two were newborn babes discovering a lifelong friend. This did, however, lead to the first incident.

Zaax still had the growing hunger for the hunt, and he'd grown up all his life in a place where he'd had to be the big, strong gnoll on the field if he didn't want to get beaten up. Now that, compared to the other children, he actually was the big, strong one on the field, he began to growl and bully them, posturing and scaring some of the kids when games got too competitive. The first time a crying child was brought up to Lily with the parent demanding she do something, Lily froze. He was such a sweet boy, how could this happen?

She watched him for just a moment, and when he knocked over a girl, growling at her, Lily stepped in, her natural halo of hair and the look on her face making her seem like a mother lion growling at her cub... An apt comparison from the point of view of everyone else, who didn't speak a word of gnoll. "Zaax! Why you wrestling kids to ground? Why attack?"

"But moooom, I wasn't attacking them! I was showing dominance! They were supposed to do it back!" Lily had a pang of warmth in her heart... she loved the idea of being Zaax's mom, and he was too perfect for words. But she had to keep her face stern. "I was just trying to play!"

"You _can_play, but safe! No hurt other cubs!" She glared at him, but he looked confused.

"Cubs? I thought they were kids." He looked really confused. "If they're cubs, why so few?"

Lily caught her mistake then. "Yes, kids. They kids. You also kid, now. Play, but safe. No push, no hurt... share."

He looked at her with a disbelieving smirk. "But dad hurts people all the time! He's always training! He hurt our whole tribe to get me here!"

"He's not-" she stopped, sighing, and kneeling in front of Zaax.

By this point a lot of parents were watching her, and the kid that had been crying yelled loudly, in what she thought was a whisper, "Does that lady only speak dog?"

She shot the kid a look, causing the embarrassed dad to take his daughter away, before she looked Zaax in the eyes. "Gux very special... Defends town from threats. Guard. He hurt things, but only to keep safe. He not hurt bad..."

"But-"

Lily ruffled his mane a little. "Ahahah! No buts! You talk to Gux about work. You listen to your mom here, yes? Try not be too strong. No be too scary, yes?"

"Yes mama," Zaax said, looking genuinely sorry, the whimpering sound Gux made before he cried starting to be heard in Zaax's throat.

Lily hugged him close. "Lily love Zaax. Be good, please?" Zaax nodded, calming down in the hug, and then went back to playing, not misbehaving at all for the rest of the day. The other parents were impressed with Lily's parenting skills, but she had no idea what she was doing... just trying to give all the love she could to her little one.

And it was clear a lot was needed. Both Gux and Zaax had started off rather confused, as the main words in gnoll for their relationships were "rival," "fellow hunter," or "not prey" when translated to other languages. Even referring to Lily, the best they had were "mate," "brood bitch," and "warmatron," and she refused those titles the second she heard them... well, not mate, but only from Gux. The concept of mothers and sons and fathers and loving family units needed a lot of words loaned into gnoll, which could be rather funny when a string of growling yips and barks turned into a cry for mom that everyone could understand.

However, despite their upbringing, and the fact that they were technically siblings, Gux took on a paternal role incredibly well, loving his adopted son and taking care of the boy as best he could, beaming with pride at all he did. Maybe Gux and Lily weren't going to be having any cubs of their own any time soon (though not for lack of going through the motions), but they were having a perfect test run in the meantime.

Zaax's parenting wasn't incident free, but he got a little less bully-ish and more playful, if still rough, as time passed. His other problem, though, came on the first day he went out with Gux on a scouting trip. As they were walking, Gux was drilling Zaax on both his cantrip use and his druidic. Zaax learned how to make flowers bloom and wind gusts, but that was all he had so far, though he had fun using it. Whenever he grew something, Gux asked him about the word, providing it if Zaax got too stuck.

While working on that, Gux heard an animal being injured. He set off with Zaax, who kept pace rather well, even if he was a lot more clumsy. Reaching the source of the noise, Gux found an injured deer, a lone hunter coming forward with bow in hand. He was preparing a spell to wrap the hunter's feet in vines when Zaax ran forward, yelling.

This freaked out the hunter, who pulled the bow and was about to fire. Gux reacted, managing to pull the hunter off-balance and up into a tree, but not before the arrow fired, scraping along Zaax's cheek. Immediately the gnoll pup froze, a flash of anger rushing through his eyes before he sat down, crying.

Gux walked up, patting Zaax on the back and looking at the hunter. "You make cry! Apologize!"

The hunter, being stopped by two gnolls, a big one and a small one, was very confused. "Sorry?"

"Not me, Zaax! He-" Gux looked over to see Zaax about to bite into the injured deer and he knelt down, pulling Zaax away and swapping to Gnoll. "Zaax, no! Don't hurt the deer! Deer are friends, not food."

Zaax groaned. "But the hunter was going to eat it! And I'm still a little hungry, those berries are so small and... miss that taste." Zaax looked at the bleeding deer, licking his lips at the fresh meat.

Gux frowned, touching the deer and healing its wounds, causing it to stand up, frightened, and run off. "We'll talk more in a second." He then turned to the hunter, who was rather flabbergasted by all of this. "You no hunt in woods. Hunt somewhere else. Woods protected."

"Daaaaaaad~" whined Zaax, but Gux motioned for one more moment.

The hunter nodded. "I'll go! I'll hunt around it. There's... gnolls in the valley too, though... friends of yours?"

Gux shook his head. "No friend of mine. Hunt there if can be safe." He then offered the hanging man a berry. "For hunger and aching foot." Slowly he let the hunter reach the ground. The hunter looked at the berry suspiciously, then ate it, feeling much better once he did and grabbing his arrows from where they'd fallen from his quiver before leaving.

Gux then turned to Zaax, who looked at him with annoyance. "Why let the hunter go? He'll just come back!"

"He won't now that he knows the woods are watching. And if he does, he'll leave with a nasty headache faaaar from here." Gux smiled, making sure the hunter actually left before focusing on Zaax once more.

Zaax wiped the blood from his cheek, licking it and whining. "Why couldn't we eat the deer. Other druids eat deer! I want meat... I miss the matron's food..."

Gux gave Zaax a horrified look, then grabbed the young one, looking into his eyes. "You do not want that food. It's friends... Animals and people, and never filling..." He sat down on the grass, inviting Zaax to do the same. "Do you know why I only eat one berry a day most days?" Zaax shook his head. "It's because, as a gnoll, you will always be hungry. It's that part of you that speaks abyssal trying to be in charge... don't let it." He pointed to Zaax's stomach. "He's trapped in here, where you make impulse choices... Think with here or here," he said, placing hands on Zaax's head and heart.

Zaax groaned. "Why am I always hungry, daddy? If we eat more, will it stop?"

Gux, sadly, shook his head. "The hunger never ends... but you can't give in. You can't let yourself hurt any of your friends."

"You hurt Berry all the time! Pulling off fruit and shaking him in his pot when he beats you at games." Zaax looked hurt that his dad could do that, but not him.

Gux laughed. "Berry isn't hurt from the fruit! Or, he said it's fine when I asked him about it..." he stopped, thinking for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, he gave me permission and said it didn't really hurt. I will believe my friend."

"Then why can't we eat a deer a little bit? It's like eating some of Berry."

Gux shook his head. "When an animal is eaten, it dies. It becomes part of you, and me, and all who partake of its flesh and carcass afterward... but fruit do the same thing without getting rid of the tree the fruit came from."

Zaax thought about it for a little bit, then groaned. "But... A little bit?"

Gux frowned. "Would you like me nibbling a little from you?" He then grinned, grabbing at Zaax's foot and tugging on his toes. "What if I bit these off? Would you be happy without them?" Zaax shook his head, though he was giggling at the tickling and teasing. Enjoying the sound, Gux laughed too. "That's why I don't eat animals. I know _I_wouldn't want to be eaten, no matter how cool the thing that made me lunch was." He started to get ready to keep going, when Zaax spoke in a quiet voice.

"Will... I die?" The question froze Gux in his tracks with the fear, the innocence, the sadness... And the new horrific image Gux hadn't even thought about: of losing his "son".

Gux shook his head. "Not if I have anything to say about it! You and me and Lily are going to be a family as long as we can... and one day we will die, us long before you, and we will feed the plants and animals in return for all the gifts they gave us while we lived."

Zaax started to cry, the whimpers echoing into the forest while he hugged Gux close. "I don't want you to die! I want to be with you forever, daddy! You and mama..." He then opened his eyes wide. "Will... Will the warmatron die?" It was the first time in months that Zaax had brought up their mother, and Gux could feel his fur crawling... but he answered truthfully.

"One day, yes... If she doesn't change her ways, it might be one day soon... Not by my paw, but... It wouldn't be a bad thing." This only made Zaax cry harder, and Gux started to look really awkward, realizing what he said sounded quite bad. "I mean... She will join the earth, and she will still help us and the tribe in ways she can't now!"

Zaax sat there, wailing into the forest. "I miss the tribe! I want to go back!"

Gux held him close, hugging him tight and gently stroking his mane. "Shhhh, no you don't. You know you don't... You're happier here, right?" Zaax nodded, still whimpering. "And you've got love, and will learn to create instead of destroy... You're going to become so much more."

Zaax just pouted. "I miss the smell, the other cubs... And the hunger went away sometimes."

Gux just held him close. "If you can make it through that, you can make it through anything." He then thought about it for a few moments before he hugged Zaax playfully. "How about tonight, I get us some fish and make our meal flashy? A little meat to remind you of home."

Zaax looked excited. "You can do that?"

Gux nodded. "I CAN do that. You want to come see?"

"Yeah!" Zaax hopped up and down, a little more blood seeping from the cut on his face, and Gux caught it, licking his paw and then letting the healing magic easily close the cut. Zaax smiled. "Thank you, papa. I love you. And I don't want to leave you..."

Gus smiled, kissing Zaax on the cheek. "I love you too, son. You're amazing. And... you might have to leave us one day," Zaax looked at him with pure terror in his eyes, but Gux continued. "... but if you do, it is why we teach you. Your memories of what you know, of who we are, of where we are... We will never leave you. We become part of you, like the dead become part of the earth."

Zaax slowly nodded, then scratched his head and yawned. "I'm tired, daddy, can I start going back?"

"Only if you grow me a" and then he said vine in druidic, making Zaac stop and think. It took three tries, but he got a vine, and Gux hugged him close. "Let's go show your mom!"

They both ran back towards the house, happy for the time they had now to grow, learn, and become a family together, however long or short a time that was.