Redsand Canyon operator

In the beat between her question and his response, Towhee studied him. She tried to estimate his age. He looked young, maybe somewhere in the same ballpark as Meerkat. He was smaller than Towhee, though she couldn’t help but notice they shared similar streaking on their shoulders. His were woven into an earthier palette than her own dusky black hues.

Her eyes found his—spring green, pleasantly juxtaposed to his mahogany features—and then dropped to his lips. He inquired about Ptero. This subject always raised her spirits. She was proud of the language and enjoyed sharing it, especially since it eased the way as far as communication went.

-“No, I’m not too tired, though we don’t have long before it gets too dark,”- Towhee replied. -“We can have a quick lesson. I can teach you some of the most basic, intuitive signs. We can practice the alphabet too, ‘cause you can always fall back on spelling out a word if you don’t know the sign for it.”-

Her guts grumbled but Towhee ignored them. Surely her bowels could hold off until nightfall proper.