Redtail Rise Moon Singer

I should, uh…

When he glanced over his shoulder, his latest hookup was already trotting away through the trees, with nary a backward glance. Bushtit stared after her, then snorted. A grin broke over his face even as he shook his head and turned, his pale paws carrying him steadily westward for a while before he steered in a more southerly direction as the day waned.

He would find a way to cross the mountains in the morning, he decided sometime after darkness fell. Bushtit slowed his gait and rolled to a halt, eyes piercing the darkness as he searched for someplace to shelter overnight. He saw what looked like some woods a few miles due south, though before he could take a single step, a song rose up from somewhere behind him.

He turned his head first, then the rest of his body followed suit as he pinpointed the origin of the howl. It came from a rise north of his present position. Bushtit listened for a moment, his ears quivering, before he indulged the instinctive urge to howl back. He caught a glimpse of a pale sickle in the sky—the new moon was days away—before he squeezed his eyes shut and turned the distant stranger’s solo into a duet.