Verdigris Ravine the road goes ever on and on

The strange little woman answered Balarina's unasked question — her band was far from here, apparently on sojourns of their own. How S'ari had come to be left behind was unknown, but her joy at being rescued from this lonesomeness was clear even to the dancer.

Balarina eyed the woman's lashing tail, translating it to canine enthusiasm before it could arch her back. She waved her own tail in kind — a gesture that felt awkward even so many years later; even with her own inate grace.

"You are welcome among us," she said to the woman, compassion in her voice despite her lack of sympathy. She did not feel lonely in the same way she had learned these canines could, but she knew it to be a terrible plight from all their tales of woe. "There are others like you," she added, knowing this to be of some importance; not all bands were tolerant of coyotes, but their contained several coyotes and halflings.

Balarina crept closer, now, wanting to investigate the scents on the creature's pelt.

"This is your name? Sah-ree?" she asked in her own accented imitation of canine speech.