Meadowlark Prairie Tsukareta

The skies were bleak. The lands were washed in a shade of before-winter grey. There were no glimpses of sunlight through the skies, nothing in the distant horizon.

The lean figure of the coyote traveled through the area with the fur around his neck and shoulders bristled irritably. Haru hadn’t eaten in several days. His stomach ached so fiercely that he could feel his ribs jabbing against his sides, trying to escape him. The chill on the air only made him sourer. If the sun would at least break through the clouds and sprinkle the meadowlands in light, it might not be as bad.

Ahead, a lone rabbit jetted across the flatland and burrowed itself into a hole in the ground. Haru watched it with cool eyes, saliva forming in waves upon his tongue. The thief trotted to where the rabbit had disappeared in the earth and sniffed at the entrance. It smelled like it could have been a warren, not that he needed more than one of the long-eared animals to pop their head out.

Haru dug at the entrance and then looked at the immediate surroundings to see if any rabbits tried to flee.

for once tamar did not toil.

she had come here for freedom. she danced in the meadow with a carefree mien that she never showed in the mesa.

and she did not stop to think that she might be watched. tamar remembered the steps of the sand, leaping and twirling until she could no longer. she collapsed, panting.

it was then that the maidservant saw she was not alone.

Panting, breath falling on the air spun the coyote’s ears atop his head. His heavy-lidded gaze peered into the hole, believing he had found something larger, trapped beneath the earth. The riverstone eyes tried to search the darkness as his paws dug at the earth until pawsteps pulled him from it.

Haru turned his snout in the direction of a fair woman who had stepped into the meadowland. The thief regarded her with a sweep of his eyes, stopping to hover on the color of her coat, the sharpness of her muzzle, and the softness in her gaze. He wondered if she had anything to eat on her. Haru drew his snout up and sniffed, taking a step forward. She smelled only of grass and greenleaf.

You any good at diggin’ rabbits outta holes? his lazy tone floated to her. Haru offered a small wave of his tail and a half-smile.

the man looked toward her. 

he was one of her own kind. he was blended with shadows. but his eyes were odd. they were a hue that she had not seen before.

"i learn fast." her smile was quick and wary beneath the pale watchfulness of her eyes.

The fair woman stated that she could learn quickly. Her eyes glittered a pale color when she spoke. If he wasn’t so hungry, Haru might have thought she was beautiful. Instead, she appeared to him as a way to get a meal while performing the minimal work for it. The thief smacked his lips and nodded his head in understanding.

Well, beggars can’t be choosers, huh? How ‘bout you just come on over here and dig a bit where I’ve done, see, he gestured with his nose. Give a bark or two, maybe a growl. The riverstones in his gaze shifted to another opening that was only a few paces away, one that exited in the underbrush and would be a good place for rabbits to flee.

I’ll go over to that one and give it a good watch. Should shoot right out at me with all that noise yer gonna make. Sawamura smiled to her, pleased with himself.

tamar nodded. 

she remained wary of him. but the fact that his features were recognizable in her own face soothed the maidservant. lightly she crossed to where the stranger stood, and began to dig with her unaccustomed red-gold paws.

a answering, shy grin hovered upon her own mouth.

tamar cleared her throat. she snarled into the burrow, punctuated by a bark, and ending with a long yip that carried into the narrow darkness. lookig up, she sought his eye, wondering if that would be enough or if the hunter wanted more noise.

The lean figure trotted over to the brush where he would wait for his rabbit. Once there, he lifted his snout and nodded toward the striking woman. She buried her nose into the hole and began to bark, yip, and dig. The noise filled the earthen tube and emerged where Haru stood waiting. His eyes glittered as he sniffed at the brush, drawing in the scent of rabbit and salivating.

Just then, one of them shot from the hole in the ground. Its movements were frenzied. The madness in its little eyes was nearly comical. Sawamura snapped his teeth and pushed his face into the foliage. He hoped he could catch the slippery little thing. When he felt a sharp point from one of the branches stab into his eye, he reeled back. The rabbit raced from under the brush and into the open. Haru pursued.

It only took a few moments before he caught up to the rabbit and dug his teeth into its throat.

Pleased, Haru lifted the kill and turned toward his helper.

Alright, alright, good on ya. Ya want the head or the butt?

the man was skilled in the snow. 

tamar wondered if she would be half so talented in the future. she watched him tear through the drifts, coming down upon his prey with a savage and swift bite.

when he returned it was in delight and graciousness. tamar smiled despite herself, despite the fact that he was a stranger. "the butt," she declared. "you may eat the eyes."

it was good to laugh, even softly, away from akashingo. was this what arsenio had meant by freedom?

The thief chuckled at her answer.

That’s the spirit.

Haru trotted toward her and placed the rabbit at his paws to tear an ear away. They weren’t great but he sure liked how chewy they were. His gaze shifted to the girl who had helped him. He nudged the rabbit toward her with a smirk. The rear of the thing would have a bit more meat, but Haru would have a good time with its head and the eyes and brain that would come with it. For minimal effort work, he was fine with the outcome.

Where ye from, miss? Yer fur smells like all kinds of things, Haru inquired with a small squint toward her. He wondered if she was a local to any of the claimed territories. There had been a few he’d scented on his passage through.

tamar reddened beneath the aforementioned pelt.

"akashingo." she pointed with her muzzle to the peak of red, rising from the flatlands just beyond the meadow. the maidservant ducked her head down. she was hungry but could not eat, and so she only pushed the hindquarters of the rabbit back and forth.

"i am tamar," she said finally, if only to have anything fill this silence. she looked studiously at her co-hunter.

The man’s riverstone eyes swept to the mesa and appraised it. He nodded his head and smiled swiftly. It seemed a nice enough place, but it was strange that she was far from it. He couldn’t imagine it was better in the snow than it was where she had made her home.

The woman introduced herself as Tamar. It was a nice name, simple.

I’m Haru, he returned.

What’re you doin so far from yer home, Tamar? It’s awful cold out here, innit?

Sawamura’s question was innocent enough. If he had a place of his own, a den where he could nestle in and fight the cold… well, he imagined he would rarely leave that place. Then again, Tamar had been rather swift to assist him. Maybe she was one of those worker bee types, he thought.

haru. tamar. they fit together.

in spite of herself, the maidservant was beginning to warm to the roguish man. after all, they had broken proverbial bread together. that alone should count for something.

"there are many wolves there," she said softly, hoping haru would understand. his eyes were like something beautiful dredged from a river. "i needed to get away."

"there are many of us there, too."

When the woman spoke again, it was to say that her home had too many people there, that she needed to step away from it for a short while. Haru nodded his head a few times, humming in agreement. He wasn’t fond of crowds, but he wasn’t entirely prone to enjoying time on his own. A few good friends for company seemed just the right amount, but he was no friend to the girl who had helped him hunt. They had only just met.

Don’chu worry now, I’ll be real quiet for ya. Give yerself some peace’n quiet.

Haru smiled to Tamar, wavering his tail a bit.

When she said that there were plenty of them in her pack, he tilted his head.

Oya? Us… thieves? Was she one too? She didn’t look it.

she grinned at haru, laughing softly. "coyotes."

her sides swelled with the breath she took to tell him more, but then she was only sighing. shaking her head. "i should get back." her eyes were warm. thankful.

"if you meet anyone else from the palace — run away," tamar instructed him. her smile was present. her eyes would tell him that it was not a jest.

the maidservant drifted back toward the mesa, looking once over her shoulder toward the thief.

Haru laughed at her answer. He guessed he was that, too.

Tamar said she needed to get back, return to the place she called home. He wasn’t too beat up about it. They had to part ways eventually. The thief hadn’t expected she’d go with him, though she was pretty good at fishing rabbits out of holes… it wouldn’t have hurt to have her around.

As she turned, the pretty girl offered him warning.

The goofy smile slipped from Sawamura’s features. He blinked at her, tilting his head, ears pricked.

Then she was gone.

Ominous, he thought. There were no intentions to disobey the warning. Haru called out in a coyote’s yip and then turned away from the woman and slipped into the shadows.