Hushed Willows falling, everything burns

backdated a few days before this thread.

towhee stops at a fresh water source, shaded from the unrelenting sun — though she has noticed that it was not as hot as it'd been — by the flowing and spindly branches of the weeping willows that brush the ground with the soft breeze to lap at the water.

ghost returns from his recon, perching at his new, if not uncertain place on the junction between her shoulders.

he does not stay there long, as if he is testing out what she will allow and what she will not.

his perching there does not bother her, but when his mangled talon takes some of her fur with him as he rises into flight once more she does let out a low, breathy grumble.

she takes in the unfamiliar territory slowly now, muzzle lifting slightly to draw in the scents; alert in the only way she could be.