Lion Head Mesa shaduf [m]

for a moment when the tread came to his threshold, ramesses did not react.
and then he lifted his elegantly wrought head with a long feline blink of self-satiation. "charles. welcome." he lifted a paw and motioned the vagrant closer.
or maybe he was not so shrinking as before. ramesses could see even from where he reclined how the effects of good food and pampered rest had shaped the man who had once refused to be his.
his eyes danced over every detail of charles, alighting with an open flicker of desire on the long ears. how delicate to the touch they must be!
"will you drink with me?"
he rolled berries toward the coywolf and then fell silent, observant.