Lion Head Mesa In the shifting sea of starlings

marked as pack activity as it takes place during all of the festivities, hope that's okay! all welcome :)

Jakoul had cooled herself from the heat of the day.

She returned back to the group of still present bodies with a more relax natured about her. The berries she had snatched on her way out had proved to have this type of affect. Now she returned in search of more, perhaps ones that had not yet been devoured by the partying crowd.

Only she struggled to find them.

Instead she found a piece of meat to be devoured instead. A piece of honeycomb paired with some sort of flower. Delicacies she had never had.

Her eyes traced the crowd. Flitting from @Ramesses a few times to the new proclaimed queen. Then she let them wander some more in her search for @Maegi, wonder if she still lingered in the busy space.

toula was thrilled to be here. there was singing, and some dancing. toula would participate in that merriment as allowed, joy personified. any song, she would raise her voice to. any dance, she would seek to do the same. not in the slightest bit practiced in either art, one could observe that at least she had an ear for the former, and the spirit for the latter. she could match pitch, given she was practiced at mimicking the noises of her mother and tavina. as for the dancing, well, it was easy for her to pick up the steps and remember. she was not sure-footed yet, but at least she did not fall!
the princess seemed tireless this day. her eyes were bright, and they alighted upon jakoul as she returned to @Treva and the pharaoh. familiar now, as she had been her escort to start, toula yipped pleasantly. there was much noise, though, and jakoul might easily miss her soft greeting.

bear with me as i try to shift back into her 'pre-tragedy' brain ;;

Something yipped, hardly above the racket of the rest of the group, yet it felt...closer? Different, nearly. As if directed at her and not exactly background noise.

It did not take long for her eyes to find the culprit.

One of the youngest of Akashingo. The dainty daughter of the queen she had guarded today in all of the commotion.

Jakoul slowly sank down to her belly so that she would be below the princess. Then offered a little wiggly motion of her body as invitation. Perhaps here was not the place, but the mazoi was very open to entertainment in the form of play, if the girl wished.

toula quite enjoyed the quiet woman, and the feeling grew all the more when she lowered herself to be closer to where she could reach. toula wiggled in turn. in life, she had been refused nothing. she did not even think to look back, to see if she might be now. it was an impossibility in that it had never happened before, and so the thought did not occur to her.
toula bounded toward the others nose, her wildly wagging tail compromising every bounce to a girl not well-accustomed to walking. but even still she did not stumble. and as she stopped short of that inky nose, toula attempted to circle backward. a dance move she had seen. would her new friend like it? she hoped so!

The girl circled and Jakoul thought of the diving form of ravens and crows.

She was enchanted by the child. She did not speak beyond happy sounds and this endeared her deeply to the child.

Jakoul, while crouched, also moved in a circle. More serpentine than any dancer. She did her best to mimic the moves of the girl. A game!

The mazoi would copy everything the princess showed — and with a low yip, she hoped to inspire the girl to move again.

and in turn, toula was enchanted by the mazoi! jakoul copied her wonderfully, and each time toula created a new move, the woman did the same. toula cooed her delight, bright-eyed and awed by the one before her. when the other spoke in her yip, toula smiled and did the same move, adding another spin!
she hoped the other would approve--but toula leapt outward for her final flourish, during the beat of the droning music that played that she had come to anticipate, really hoping that her new friend (yes, that definitely was what this woman had become!) would enjoy this too!
toula stared upward at her dancing partner, happy to simply be there with her and happier still to have such a great partner in this dance. toula imagined they two looked very grand, but her imagination was a vast, endless thing!

Jakoul had never been a rather maternal wolf.

But she had cared for other children before. She had helped Maegi with her brood before in the Woods, tending to the princess felt no different.

When their dancing came to a cease and they looked upon one another, the mazoi moved to nudge the girl's shoulder. To herd her towards a nearby spot that hosted decorated fellahin and a serving of fancy offerings.