the man returned to the tribeplace and collapsed gratefully into the cool waters, though not before placing the bundle carefully on the dirt.

he panted. the sun had taken much from him, and he was weak with hunger.

but zoug had what he wanted. "@Sari," he said hoarsely as he climbed from the stream and headed for his sleeping area, "call others. tonight. please"

***

zoug waited in the widest part of the ravine. he had washed the old blood from himself and painted odd designs upon his chest with fresh blood.

a sand-rubbed disk of wood was before him. the roots sat to one side. zoug waited for all of them, for he would need their power.

he hoped @Qiao would also attend.

S'ari heard Zoug's call and kept it in the back of her mind all day as she lazed about the Ravine. When night came, she threw her head back and called for the others, letting everyone know in that yipping howl that this was not a mandatory task. It was only for those who wished to come.

Then she went to Zoug and sat down in front of him, glancing at his wooden disk and roots. This would be... interesting.

Candle answered the call in her usual silence. She was more reticent than usual; she kept a distance from S'ari and Zoug, casting a glance around for the others that would soon arrive. Curious, but not so much that she would break her distance. She was still uncertain she wanted to stay.

The scorpion came.

Silent across the sand, wrapped in the darkness, she answered S’ari’s call. Her paws overturned sand with every step, the only spund leaving her being the slither of grains beneath her toes. She spotted them, the group, with a large male at the head.

Her eyes flicked between them all, sizing every one of them up, before she would assemble herself off to the side, quiet as ever.

Dark woman would come at S'ari's call, yet another hare dangling from her jaws, bloodstain hidden on her muzzle. She sat her catch down and vowed to bury it later. 

A gathering of Tribekin? Kusuma was beyond curious, sitting beside Zug. What is happen? 

Was it just her or did Zug look particularly cool with those odd markings of blood?

She whispered Can Kusuma have odd blood-marks too? to Zug.

She heard S'ari's call for optional assembly, relaying a return howl of her own. Meridian used the little light available from the moon to navigate the ravine. The moon, she reflected, was a sorry replacement for the sun. The tribe had gathered around wooden disks and a few roots, the coyote took her place among them, crimson tail wrapped around her dainty paws, ears held at a curious angle. 

as night descended, so did the cooling of the sand. it was the perfect time for mercedes. as much as she loved the summertime and the sunlight, the stars had a draw to them that could not be mistaken. life was easier living a crepuscular lifestyle within the ravine regardless of how she felt; thankfully, she had found the tribe and the people here upheld the same sort of habits.

when s'ari called out with her yips and yowls, mercy wasn't far.

she was shy on advancing when she spotted the gathered bodies. she knew some of them - sari and kusuma - by sight alone, and the others became more readily familiar by scent; they were the rest of the tribe, obviously. and as mercedes had been keeping mostly to herself, she was thankful to finally have faces and names to put to those scents.

she eyed the man carefully, though not with any fear. the sight of staining to his pelt was odd but so was everything else about life in the desert - and beyond that, mercedes' whole life had a strangeness to it. she was curious of course, and crept close enough to slip beside s'ari, chuffing softly at her, but watching zoug.

s'ari. candle. minsang. kusuma. meridian. mercedes.

zoug grunted as they gathered and bent over his wooden plate.

the clan's jaws were often heavier than those of other coyotes who had dwelt alongside them. and it was with this strength that he began to chew the roots, spitting them into the small depression he had ground in the wood.

it was not advised to swallow any of the liquid as he chewed, though this was not avoidable.

zoug worked in silence beneath their eyes. his mouth ached by the time he had pulped the last of the toughened roots. he stirred the thick mixture with a claw, watching it swirl into milky white.

"come."

his single eye burned upon each in turn. "drrrrink," zoug offered in his heavy clan accent. "we share."

now he waited for those who wished to join this ritual to consume the drink.

She watched S'ari warily, and Zoug more softly. Candle was a priestess, and unafraid of such rituals, even those unknown to her. She trusted Zoug, too, perhaps more than any of the others.

So she would drink. She answered the beckoning without hesitation, her eyes full of wonder. Perhaps The Tribe was not so different from home.

S'ari watched calmly as Zoug created the mixture, wondering at his ability to chew for so long. When it was ready, and the male offered them to drink, Candle went first, and S'ari waited her turn. Then she bent her head and lapped at the mixture obediently, and then stepped back and lay down, waiting for the inevitable visions.

Dark woman decided the cool blood staining adorning Zoug's pelt wouldn't work with her own, anyway. She'd have to figure out a different way of doing them.

Instead, her pointed muzzle slid its attention toward what he was doing. Golden eyes watched with intense silence as he chewed, finding herself oddly soothed by doing so. Her head tilted, tail wrapped neatly around her paws. Kusuma waited for his word.

And she did so when her turn came, lapping at the mixture. It tasted weird, but maybe that was because she'd never done this before. There weren't any mixtures with Kusuma-ma or Kusuma-da.

Meridian frowned. In her eyes, prayers happened at dawn and dusk, and it was only proper to conduct ceremonies at sun-high. So what was this? Did the Tribe have no manners? She kept her opinions to herself, not wishing to offend those who spent precious time preparing the ceremony. Despite her reluctance, Meridian gingerly licked the mixture. It tasted strange, but now foul. Following S'ari's gestures, the russet coyote took a step back and lay down.

when those who would participate had each drunk their portion, zoug drained the pearly dregs and sat upright upon his haunches.

he did not lie down as the others did.

instead, zoug closed his single eye and as the effects descended upon him, he reached out for the tribe's collective mind.

the large mental capacity shared by the clan allowed them a near-telepathic communication when it came to their ancient words. the shift of one's eye, the set of one's paw, all a language of its own. it was for this ability that he searched now, buoyed by the sacred drink.

zoug meant to bind their minds as one.

the taste of primal earth filled his mouth. he wavered in the darkness of a primordial soup and brought himself back to the very beginning of their breaths upon this earth.

the holy man meant to show s'ari especially the divergence of their kind from wolf, tracing lines through old blood and old sight as his heart pounded, and he felt them all thrumming upon the delicate webbing of lifelight.

The first thing S'ari saw and felt was the lifepulse of the Desert. Beneath her body in the sand, everything seemed to move, as if she were laying in water. She saw herself and the others of the Tribe wandering the sands, laughing and playing. Joyous. The whole of the Desert was theirs.

Next in her vision, S'ari saw the sky darken and looked up to see a massive flock of blackbirds descending upon her and the rest of the Tribe. She cried out and ducked down, but the Desert was a wide expanse and offered no place to hide. Her body in the real world twitched and her lips pulled back in a grimace as the birds tore at her fur and flesh.

Suddenly, she knew what she had to do. The birds attacked because there was strife in the Tribe. Some were unhappy. The birds felt this pain and fed upon it. S'ari reached out to the others in her vision, calling out for them to trust one another, to join together. She crawled toward the others, and the others crawled toward her, and as they merged to protect each other, shielding each other with their own bodies--the ultimate sacrifice--the birds flew away as one, and the sky became clear once more.

Someone--maybe multiple members--were unhappy or felt unprotected here. That needed to be addressed, or it would destroy them all.

seen. unseen.

zoug felt as if he sensed their pain, their fear.

they must know the teeth of wolves! they must know the panic of those jaws!

he came back to himself with a great sense of foreboding, and glanced around for the others solemnly, his gaze lingering on s'ari.

what was to come?

Meridian saw nothing as she closed her eyes. She heard it all. 

The whistling of the wind. The lapping of waves. Peace.
Howls, melodic and proud. The song turned into a scream, ending with devilish laughter. Pawsteps ended the rhythm.

Suddenly she opened her eyes, and abandoned the ritual in a daze. 

It was all to come.