Sly Fox Sand Dunes wandering child of the earth

Zoug had followed her. Normally, she would be happy about this, but there was danger here and her heart twisted for both him, and the stranger. She could see now that the dark woman was Coyote like them. Her form spoke of some other canid, as well, but all in the Tribe were Coyote, even if they had no true coyote blood. There were now three Coyotes against one very angry snake, whose rattle continued even as it fell back to the sand from a failed attempt at biting the dark one.

Option one: kill the snake. This seemed unnecessary to S'ari. The snake was only trying to live in the desert the same way Coyote did.

Option two: leave the snake to its own devices. This made much more sense and would be much less dangerous.

Away, now! she ordered, taking charge for just a moment--a strange feeling-- and she backed far away from the snake. She came beside Zoug and attempted to nudge him back, and looked up at the dark woman. Come away from it. It only wishes to live; it will not follow. Away!

If S'ari had been alone, or with Tribe, she would not have been worried at all. She and her family had been dodging snakes for generations. But Zoug was strange to her even as she got to know him, and she did not know the dark woman at all. She worried that they might lunge for the rattler, which could spell death.