Verdigris Ravine 'tis time that i fare from you

The mysterious illness sounded unpleasant, not to mention frightening. He hardly knew her, yet Talisman was just glad S’ari seemed to be out of the woods now. In just these first few minutes, he’d already formed a positive opinion of her that could quite easily burgeon into friendship… maybe even more?

That thought inevitably whispered through the young man’s mind. He shifted his weight and tried to pay attention to her voice. She was addressing the subject of his mother, for goodness’s sake. But he suddenly began noticing her quintessentially feminine features, like the sharp taper of her snout and the curve of her slim hips.

Clearing his throat, Talisman didn’t let his eyes linger anywhere long before he brought them up to the spot beside her face to say, I barely remember my mom, if I’m honest, which is especially tragic because she died saving my life. That prompted a question which popped out of his mouth without any preamble, Otters don’t live in the desert… right?

His faded cornflower eyes shot warily to the shallow water trickling just feet away. It was not deep. Water seemed to be a finite resource in the lowlands, which probably should’ve made Talis apprehensive about his new habitat. It put him at ease, though. Where there was little water, there would be few otters.