Verdigris Ravine I feel it fade from the inside

For anyone in the Tribe! @Kusuma and @Asun of course are always welcome!

From a tiny smudge of dark fur against Kusuma’s side, the past month had seen the boy grow like a weed, his form now resembling something far more canine-like. His senses developed in tandem, the world slowly revealing itself to the pup who took it all in with a fair degree of caution. His mother kept him close and safe, and Harta’s natural curiosity was tempered by her soft warnings about the outside world.

Still, he did wonder where his mother and the other coywolf who was often close by went to whenever they disappeared from the den.

Today, both women were absent, and Harta sat alone, unable to sleep. He toyed mindlessly with a small bone, a left over from the meals that were brought over for the small family, and stared after where his mother had exited the den with large blue eyes.

He hesitated at first, fear seizing his limbs. Slowly, slowly, he edged towards the entrance, until eventually he took a breath and, leaving the bone behind, Harta slowly crept out from the mouth of his home and into the blinding sunlight.

However, his doting mother was never far from her baby. Kusuma hated to leave him, and hated to leave Asun-love; but she was hungry and Zoug had been late. Thus, she had gone off to hunt! For the first time since his birth, and carried in a pointed jaw the swaying form of a fat hare. 

Hares were among the mother's favorite of foods. 

Upon returning and subsequently seeing her little treasure from the safety of the dark, the rabbit fell to the sandy ground in a matter of heartbeats.

Harta! she yipped in surprise, slender paws stretching over the sand to close the small gap between them. What Harta do, out of den? See world?! not knowing if he had been picking up on language, she nosed him over. 

No injuries. 

He smelled of nothing but the den, Asun, and her. 

Her racing heart began to slow. 

outside danger, Harta! No see without bunda to keep hawk away. Harta stand out against sand much!

To calm herself, she gave him a few nervous licks between his ears.

He blinked against the intense light of their home, the world taking a few moments to come into focus. As soon as his eyes adjusted and he got his first glimpse of his desert homeland, his attention was stolen by the panicked yip of Kusuma.

At first, the boy's large ears perked in delight at seeing his mother – oh how her dark fur shined in the sunlight! – however he quickly mirrored her anxiety as she rushed over to him, abandoning the meal she had caught for them.

"Mama," he squeaked quietly in response, crouching instinctively as she began to zealously look him over. His ears fell back apologetically, not yet having the words to apologise verbally, though he recognised his own name and her alarm told him that what he had done was wrong.

Instead the boy responded by giving a few small licks to her muzzle and tucking himself beneath her legs with a sorrowful whine.