Cedar Sweep ambience

She immediately dropped the thin branch and stepped back, at the same time the stranger roused. Meerkat hadn’t noticed the bone until it dropped from his mouth, though her eyes barely skirted over it before returning to him. It was hard to make out details in the gloom, though there was a nervous glimmer in his golden eyes.

Hey, sorry, I didn’t see you there. I didn’t mean to disturb you, she said in a soft voice. Meerkat paused, wondering if it would be more polite to excuse herself or introduce herself, eventually deciding on the latter. My name is Meerkat. What’s yours?

He seemed young, though it was difficult to tell. He certainly wasn’t a pup, though perhaps he was a yearling, the same age as her eldest trio. Just thinking that stirred her maternal instincts, which felt a tad silly. But with a pack of her own and breeding season around the corner, Meerkat supposed it wasn’t altogether unsual.