nascence

Probably just a cameo unless he is addressed, just tag me if I need to check in again, please!

Ephraim didn't much care for the way some coyote yip-yipped a summons for his companion. Qiao was not fit to be commanded by anyone. It surprised him when she heeded them almost as much as it surprised him when he got to his own feet and followed after her.

Three spindly dark canines, bristling and growling, and a fourth cast in a coat to match the rough sand all around them. Ephraim remained close to Qiao, looking beyond the gathered yotes to the subject of their ire: a blonde wolf with interesting ruddy markings.

Ephraim, too, was a wolf. He shared some blood with these other canines, it was true, and had features that made him potentially passable among them, but he was larger. Broader. Distinctly something other than pure coyote.

If this was how this tribe of savages met a wolf head on, how then would they take him, a wolf wearing the coyote's mask? He watched closely, but did not join in their threat, even with Qiao's goading taunts.