Redsand Canyon in closets like cedar

for @Cynna <3 but AW -- sorry for the delay, i've been traveling! takes place after the thread where they set up here (:

How unusual it was that there could be sand anywhere not kissed by the ocean. Menthe, while named for an inland beauty, had always valued the coast and it's wonder above much else. The way the water lapped at the shore, tiny treasures washing up, and down, up, and down... Here, it was still. Besides an occasional breeze that brushed through the gorge, the river nymph could find no freshness in the air.

She stepped along the sand carefully, hugging the canyon wall to covet some relief from the sun. She was unsure if this felt like home, and while she was grateful to have found a rose in Cynna, thorns pricked at her pelt relentlessly. She continued her walk, trying to imagine that the red sand sticking to her ankles smelled of salt.

No worries! Ugh I love Menthe! And the way you write, Berry <3

The coyote blended well amongst the reddened shadows of the canyon. Her posture still, ears tucked to her skull and eyes trained ahead as she stalked her prey. Not that she was actually hunting—or hungry for that matter—since her prey was Menthe, and she would not harm her newfound friend.

But, she would, however, play a game, whether the other person involved knew or not, that did not matter.

Her belly hovered over the sands as she crept, her footsteps matching Menthe’s pace to cover her own foot falls.

The wind whipped against her face in a harsh swoop, dusting her face with little red grains of sand. Used to the attack, she merely paused and waited for it to die down before shaking out her dark coat. She was not as well camouflaged here as her new acquaintance, and so she did not notice the little coyote trailing behind her. Not yet had Menthe found any reason beneficial enough to betray the petite canine, and so friendship still laid open faced on the table. Ace did not prove any worthy bounty, even if this land was his to claim, and so Menthe did not dare get herself into trouble just yet.

Footfalls began again, step back step in the red sand, still upwind the sneaking attack awaiting behind her...