Bearclaw Valley djinn

a trial, she corrected him, and stigmata lifted his nose from a gritty hoofprint in the ground to fix her with an interested stare. but her succinct explanation gave him pause for only a moment; he seemed to consider it, then dismiss it a moment later -- the widower returned to the dirt, and drifted along some upturned pockets of earth as he said: "and what, may i ask, is the value of an unfortunately colored deer, if not sentimental?" 

his focus narrowed in on a part of the narrow valley bowl where tread-lines had grown thick, and the flora had been shoved a way awkward to how it had grown -- the origin of their chosen herd's migration. stigmata prowled up the trail and slipped like a bird's shadow into the trees.