Stone Circle Here I be

Inkeri moved about the borders. She existed in the moment. Her heart missed her family. But she was here the long haul. The boy kings would need it.

She scraped paws along edges. Drew tufts of fur on dirt. Left water. All in an attempt to preserve borders. As they grew smaller within.

the plump black body of qapnuk roasted atop one of the many tall tall stones. the rotund nature of his full croup giving a lavish impression; he, a king overlooking his domain, and farther afield were the wastrels roaming beneath a haughty glare.

one such terrestrial beast came to the crux where stone met earth, cocked a leg, and pissed all over his throne!

his mighty bald head lifted immediately and he cracked his bill, shouting! of course it was a series of squawks and coughs, but to any bird listening they would hear a string of expletives.

the audacity.

The sound of something dying came to her sensitive ears. She tilted her head and stared all around. What creature needed put out of it's misery. She hated to do it, but she would not let it live in pain. That was a cruelty.

Imagine her surprise when she realized it was not a creature in the throes of death, but merely a bird who seemed to be taking a fit. Inkeri stared and wondered

he puffed! his shoulders (more, his wings) lifted in a shrug as if he might open his arms wide.

the wolf was attentive enough to witness his shouting but it was too stupid to understand, and that further incensed qapnuk.

look at that expression on its weird face!

he gave a series of belch-like squawks before going quiet, because — what was the point of kicking up a fuss when the creature before him could not understand? ugh, all he could smell was the warm piss that soaked in to the earth.

foul, awful, disgusting creatures, these terrestrials.

Inkeri's ruff rose in response to the clear agitation of this bird bald thing. Sea green eyes studied it. Unsure. Was it going to attack her. Should she chase it away. This was the Lodbruk's land after all.

It grew quiet and she stared at it again. In reproach hoping it saw that there was no need for such an awful reaction. A snort and a shake of her head. She started away from it.

it stared at him - probably ogling his his glorious baldness. it was a trait qapnuk didn't think much about until others of his kind were around, and then it became something to be proud of, and to flaunt. different from the messy fine hairs of a wolf, for sure.

his head lifts and he stares right back. with a hobbling hop-walk he draws a few inches closer and hisses again, this time with his shoulders up and back, his round beak a pearl of angst while he tried to defend his roost; maybe he could drive the thing away from his rocks if he was loud enough!

Inkeri did not find his glorious baldness glorious by any stretch of the imagination. It reminded hr of a tree rat she skinned one time.

Inkeri curled her lip back. Returning the hiss with a snarl. Ugly and loud. Ahe had done nothing wrong. He was the one making home on headstones.