Emberwood Birds of a feather flocked together

The coywolf hadn't been much in the mood for company, lately. These new trees distressed him after all the trouble he'd gone to learning the willows. He wanted to be back out on the open plains, but he figured Reverie didn't need to be push right then. He could deal.

Much of his social need was filled with singing in the night. His voice was loud, so he did it far from Swiftcurrent's borders. Coyotes sang back to him, and he thought of home.

He thought about his brother. Slow West. Dusty Rose had been there when the man met his bride. He'd done his best, but he hadn't been able to steal her out from under the usually more docile male. So Slow West got to keep Shady Bird, and Dusty Rose got listen to them sing to one another all through the rainy season. There'd been a lot of singing, that year. That had been the year Dusty Rose decided it was time to strike out on his own.

He wondered how different his life would be if he'd stayed. Would he be singing to a little coyote wife? Teaching the screamsongs to a mess of kids? Or would the same wounds that stopped him now have stopped him in any universe?

Impossible to know. Instead, Dusty Rose put his mind toward something constructive. Something like hunting, albeit a very special brand. Unaware of the two siblings that watched, the coywolf sprang from the shadows and sprinted hard to snatch up a rabbit in his jaws.

Softly. It was still kicking in his jaws. He gave it a firm shake — just enough to jar it, to startle it into a moment of compliance. Then he shifted it in his jaws and bit down just a little harder. He tasted blood, but he could still feel the rabbit's frantic heartbeat on his tongue. The sensation made his jaws squeeze again, but the rabbit remained intact.

Relatively speaking.

Dusty Rose was pleased with himself. Not only was he getting very good at not immediately killing things that found their way into his sharp jaws — he now also had a new toy for the kids to practice their hunting on. His tail wheeled in pleasure, and he was able to forget, for a moment, all the strange thoughts that had been plaguing him.