Candle maintained her investment in learning
@Zoug's language. It had proven easier for her than the words S'ari and Kusuma used, the ones she had grown up with, and though her learning was still slow she was desperate for this opportunity to communicate in a meaningful way.
Today she brought him a mouse, and dropped it beside him as he had done with her before.
Mouse,
The way he had taught her, and a clear request in her eyes. Candle wanted to learn more.
it bothered him that s'ari did not share his dislike of wolves. she believed even they could be friends. being wrong about their species was not something zoug wanted to entertain.
shy one came. she made the clan sign for mouse and his face lit. "you are learning." no grunts nor growls, only deliberate gestures between his paw and her temple.
It excited her to see Zoug's expression brighten this way. Candle waved her tail and bounced a little on her front feet, but stilled herself to study his gestures. She imitated them quickly, unsure what they meant but eager for the familiarity that would come with practice.
Candle thought of her home, her sisters, and wondered what they would think to see her now. After a moment, she offered Zoug a small, timid smile.
it was returned with a softer look in his eye. zoug motioned toward the strips of blue sky. he made the clan sign for the heavens, a short line drawn in the air, then looked to candle.
she was a fast learner. but so much of his words depended on a watchful eye, the knowing of signs.
despair welled inside him, homesickness. zoug's single eye clouded and he looked away.
She warmed under his soft look, and followed his gaze to the sky above. Candle mimicked his gesture not once, but twice, this time aiming to perfect it. But when her eyes found Zoug again, looking for approval, something had changed. He seemed sad.
Candle went very still for a moment. Then she stepped closer to him, and reached out to brush her nose under his chin. She whined softly. If Zoug didn't pull away from her, she pressed her flank to his next in a silent show of support. She wondered what had made him so suddenly forlorn. But it didn't matter, really; she was here to comfort, no matter the reason.
he was unused to sharing his sadness with any others, let alone a female.
but there was no harm if she did not understand what he said.
zoug hung his head, and then he spoke. her usual attentiveness to his paws might show the shy one he was speaking, but to any other they were nothing more than a shift in posture or a rolling of one's arm.
"i wish i had the way to tell you of clan. to tell the entire tribe. and i wish that i could tell you about the ones who were lost. i want a cave for those who are tribe. it is the way to be safe from the Others."
formal, silent movements, punctuated here and there with the low noises that candle might now recognize as zoug's way of speaking.
Candle was attentive. She couldn't hope to understand what he conveyed but committed each small detail to her memory, willing that she carry the image and sound of it long enough to one day translate it for herself. One day she would know these words from his heart, for surely that was what they were. There was a deep sorrow in him that she felt she recognized.
And she knew that grief was a lonely feeling, lonelier for those who could not find the words to make others understand it.
One day she would know what he'd said. Today, she would try to bring some respite from the loneliness.
She pushed her nose into his cheek and moved forward with beckoning motions. Let's go, her gaze urged as she looked back at him. This golden place was theirs to explore, and perhaps somewhere among the sands they would find something to brighten Zoug's mood.
wanna fade or keep going another round for hunting? <3
deep sorrow lessened in the face of kin.
zoug unraveled himself at her touch and stood taller. he did not reach to touch candle in return, but the swiftness of his legs would tell her of his willingness to be with her.
she learned. he taught. in time they would speak.
for now, her eyes saw him.
Let's fade and have a new one <3
He followed swiftly. Candle spared a fleeting smile for him, then turned to lead him away from the ravine. They would hunt, maybe, and then — !
She wasn't sure. It didn't matter, so long as she wasn't alone.