Blacktail Deer Plateau tammaktuk

@Sakhmet! The man called, standing on the highest ridge of the plateau. The trees would block his howl to some extent and muffle his call. Kigipigak hoped he could overcome that by being loud in the open spaces where the trees were thin and the grass open to the sky.

He had not seen the girl in a few days. During his patrols Kigipigak hoped to run in to @Maegi and ask if perhaps something had happened, or if her daughter had been sent on a quest. Perhaps it was a journey to seek out the missing Prevost - a fool's errand, Kigipigak thought. He would have words with the sad woman if that were true.

Kigipigak paced. He found another open expanse nearer the north end of the claim and called out again, unwilling to believe that Sakhmet would wait so long for his return, only to vanish. Something had to have gone wrong. She could have been hurt or in need of him — but where could he go? What could he do?

‘Sakhmet!’ A voice had called, from somewhere beyond the trees. Deep and melodious, in the way all howls were.

‘Sakhmet!’ He wanted to yell back.

Even if he didn’t know what it meant. Even if he didn’t know if it was a call, a name, or a place. If it was a welcome, or a warning. If it was something good, or something bad.

But—

He hoped it was something good. That it wasn’t something bad. And that if it was bad, he could help. That it could be solved, and that it could be fixed.

And so, he walked.

Higher and higher, until the earth no longer rose and instead plateaued. From where another call of, ‘Sakhmet!’ echoed.

“Who’s Sakhmet?” He asked, when he saw him—standing, tall and broad and white in the clearing—his own jaws parted and pink tongue pressing forward to lick once at his lips. He stood. Submissive. Both of his front paws together in the grass, pressed close side by side, and his head low, cocked to the side. Birdlike. Owlish, with big, wide, unblinking yellow eyes that didn’t quite meet his and forward-perked ears.

Behind him, his tail wagged. Slow, and even.

Innocently.

Harmlessly.

Curiously.

There was no sign of her. Kigipigak was disheartened but he would not let himself be thwarted for long. He had to keep the faith, trusting that she would return to their home when she was able. Still, the desire to begin a proper search was eating at him.

Who's Sakhmet? A voice called from below, which surprised Kigipigak. How could he hoped to find what was lost if he wasn't even attentive to his surroundings?

The stranger looked innocent enough. They did not come too close, and kept themselves at a posture that Kigipigak found appreciable. They were pale like himself, with bright eyes - the kind that drew attention, being large and vibrant.

She is my friend, he explains. This is to be our home - her plateau. As he talks, Kigipigak makes his way down and across the stonework, until he is on the same level as the stranger. He takes a cursory look over them and decides they are not a threat; neither do they hold any scents, indicating they have been alone for some time.

I have not seen you before, so you must be new to these parts. Have you seen someone with a dark coat, at least half my size? She is very small compared to me, and sleek, almost like a fox.

Down he came, from the plateau above—

And up, Cottongrass watched, as he picked his way down the stonework.

His tail wagged, and he stepped close. A single step forward, to meet him halfway, his head held low and his neck stretched out when he approached. To smell the air around him. To smell his scent, as he talked.

A friend.

A home.

And, dark and small and sleek, like a fox.

He pulled back. Back into his own personal space. And slumped down onto his hindquarters, big and lazy and soft.

“No.” He answered. Shook his big head.

He had met many people, but a Sakhmet didn’t sound like one of them.

His tail thumped, once, against the ground behind him, and he raised a single back leg to scratch at the back of one of his ears.

“How did, how did you lose her?” He asked.

As Kigipigak gave the boy the description there was no flare of recognition to his face. There was a pleasant wag to his tail and general calm, but in the end there came an answer - no.

The question gave Kigipigak pause. He shook his head and his face took on a bewildered expression.

I don't know where she went. We were together for some time, then I got hurt, and she waited for me. That was a few weeks ago. We had been together from that day, but... I have noticed her absence most recently. It has not been long. But long enough, Kigipigak has decided.

I have looked across our village for her. Next I will go hunt for a trail... By now he was concocting a plan unto himself, almost as if he had forgotten that there was company alongside him. Kigipigak did not really know where to start now that the plateau had been searched.