Overture Downs make like a boy scout and leave no trace

Dusty's tail fluttered, but there was a sad cast to his features, for a moment. "Neither have I," he replied, and he felt guilty for how carefree a statement that was. There'd been plenty of sorrow in his life, but this time had been perfect for him. As perfect as his childhood, but infinitely more fun.

The cicadas were beginning to make a racket around them; perhaps they had been already, underneath their songs.

"When I was just a yearling, my big brother met his woman," he told her, his tail whisking once more. "Birdy. I tried to steal her off him, if you really wanna know. More 'cause I wanted whatever he had than 'cause of anything to do with her. But then the songs started — I just remember I'd never heard anyone sing to each other like that 'cept our dads. And I wanted that. So I decided I'd go find it and... you know the rest of the story, I guess. I regretted it ever since."

He shivered.

"'Til now, I guess," he told her. "'Cause I found you, and now I don't have to be lonely anymore."