Verdigris Ravine tercera

a scent clung to the stone here and there: it was coyote, she recognized. it wasn't only that, though. from time to time a spark of recognition spurred mercedes to explore further, because she had found patches of earth that smelled of her friend s'ari.

when she got a glimpse of a canine figure, her heart leapt to her throat and her tail began to wag furiously behind her! she thought it must have been s'ari — but the closer she got, the more obvious it became that the shadow wasn't just a shadow, but another person, only a little more -- sharp? dark for sure, and foreign.

mercedes stopped sort, not wanting to get too close in case of danger. she sniffed the air and found a stronger scent of s'ari so maybe that meant this was a friend of the coyote — but she was still wary.