Rising Sun Valley Dear Fellow Traveller

"Tauris." He tested, nodding, wiggling a little as if the excitement was difficult to contain. "That's a pretty name."

He watched her shrink inward, and had enough forethought to feign placement of his attention elsewhere. Louis didn't think of himself as particularly intimidating, but then, the rivers of life were vast and varied, and who knew what experience she drew from.

There was not too terribly much else to look at. 

He studied the dirt-stained roots weaving through packed denwalls until he had fairly memorized their winding paths. Then the scrape marks between, echoes of a long-gone stranger, and tried to guess what manner of fox they were from the shape left behind. Had they lived here long? Had they left, or passed on? Was this a home of hopes and dreams, or a bastion of solitude? The answers to such questions were long gone.

He reached out with a paw to scratch a print in the cool earth, then pressed hard to solidify it. Perhaps other visitors would someday wonder what had drawn him here, and where he'd gone next. Or maybe the next stranger would trample it, and no one would ever know. Both ideas sounded a bit romantic.

There were no bugs about in weather this cold, but he did drag an interesting looking rock towards himself, holding it between both paws and nudging it with his nose as a way to fidget politely. He'd planned to sleep through the weather, but rest was now the farthest thing from his mind.

He was curious about the girl. He wondered how she could stand to be so quiet, for so long.

Increasingly aware of her stolen glances from the corner of his vision, Louis finally braved another look in her direction. Ears drooping placatingly to either side, he whined a little encouragement and offered, "You could sit closer, if you like. It'd be warmer. I don't bite. Well... I do, but not you. I mean." His tail wagged again.