Verdigris Ravine palm

his time of mourning was over. zoug had lost many in the orange flowering of trees at the onset of summer. the scrub had caught fire and his clan had been scattered. many searches in the smoke had discovered no one. 

so he had gone away northward and now found himself in the heat beneath which a hot land spread, not so unfamiliar, and yet he did not know any part of this place.

in zoug was an abiding hatred for wolves, for their teeth had always plagued his clan until the first stars had discovered their protective cave. he had dedicated it to the spirits of earth and water. but fire had taken it in the end.

he snorted and crept down into a ravine, lying on his blood-flecked belly in the warm water as he rested for a moment with closed eye. 

vague timeline vague vague

Ahhh... Every time S'ari returned to this place, her heart skipped a beat in happiness. It was absolutely beautiful here. Of course, the entire desert was beautiful, but this ravine was just... It made her want to sing.

Today, however, she was on alert. The scent of Coyote was strong here, and it was not her own scent. Someone had come here. She tried not to feel territorial--that was not the way of the Tribe--yet she couldn't help but feel a sense of protectiveness about this place. The trickle of the water, the echo of sound on the red walls, the greenery... She wended her way along the ravine, her steps light, and tried not to make a sound. She wanted to see who was here before they saw her.

But there was no telling what would happen.

zoug had turned his mind to the procession of the sun. rabbits would come out in the evening. he would hunt then. he devoted himself to the mundane, for the discomfort in his heart was too great to think of what had happened.

he had almost fallen asleep, the water muddied with old blood around his wet chest, when his senses told him another was close. "kindred," zoug called out. it would not be a word, only a grunt accompanied by a single gesture that would not be recognizable as a word to one who was not clan.

the scars around his eye seemed to throb as he waited for an answer.

Ah! S'ari supposed she was not as sneaky as she'd hoped. Her approach caused the other to turn and acknowledge her, though he only grunted. He was lying in the water and did not get up, so she relaxed. He seemed harmless enough, though his size even for a coyote made her a bit nervous. The Tribe tended to run on the smaller side. A large male was enough to make her want to keep her distance, though any wolf would still dwarf him.

S'ari opened her mouth to speak a greeting, and then she noticed the bloodied water, red around his body, and fading to pink as it flowed outward. Alarmed, she stepped closer to him, assuming that he was currently bleeding. She thought of the one she had met who carried a skin-full of herbs around with her and cursed herself for not having something of the like, as well. Does this one require help? Medicine? She turned her head, as if searching for plants that might help. There was some vegetation here, though she hadn't studied any of it closely. Being in the water was probably the most helpful thing for him, and he was already doing that.

there she was. young. healthy. female. zoug responded to her appearance with a single slap of his tail in the shallow water as he straightened. it was a good omen to find a woman so soon after having left the deadlands. it suggested there were others.

her voice was helpful even if she was more forward than the clan females. he did not understand her words but saw her concern. "rabbit blood." again the cadenced growl, the imperceptible flick of his tail this time to punctuate.

zoug pointed with a paw outside the ravine. "meat? hunting?"

The male spoke, or grunted, or whatever he was doing, but S'ari did not understand what he was saying. When he gestured toward the area outside, she wondered if maybe he was trying to tell her that whatever had attacked him was out there somewhere. Concerned, frightened, she gave him a glance, and then followed where he had pointed, sniffing the air cautiously, smelling for anything dangerous. Wolf? Snake, perhaps? What else out here would attack a coyote? Most dangers in the desert were either small, low-to-the-ground creatures like scorpions and snakes, or simply the desert itself. Heat exhaustion, dehydration.

S'ari spent several minutes wandering farther and farther from the ravine in widening circles, her nose lifted to the air or down to the ground, but she could smell nothing, sense nothing amiss. Confused, she turned and headed back towards the male, wondering what on earth was wrong. He was Coyote, which made him Tribe, and it was her duty to watch out for him.

at first it seemed as if the woman would understand. she went out of the ravine in their hunting way and zoug watched her eagerly as she disappeared from view. he had started to rise when she came back, empty-jawed. a sniff of the air brought him the arid scent of the same images.

his impatience grew. at last zoug shook his head at the female and this time he left the water, pausing to see that she came along. already by way of their species he had formed a sort of attunement to her, knowing their safety was in multiples.

he breathed deeply as the sun burned upon all the land around him. zoug found a dry hare track. "rabbit," he said in the shifting tones he knew now she did not understand. his one good eye blinked. he tapped his own chest. "zoug." his name-sound, said twice for her ears.

The male seemed to give her a reproachful look when she returned, which offended her. Do not look at S'ari that way, she chided. There was nothing out there!

And then he stood up from the water, and her jaw dropped. The blood had been old blood. There were no open wounds anywhere on him. He had simply been bathing, or cooling off. She huffed, annoyed but relieved. Why must we speak different languages? she muttered. This would be so much easier if this one spoke Tribe.

Still, she followed as he left. He at least made it clear that he expected her to do that, and she was happy to comply. The scent of rabbit filled her nose and this is where he stopped, grunting in his strange way again. So, he wanted to hunt? That would be a good way to stretch their legs.

Then he said to her, 'Zoug.' And gestured to himself, and said again, 'Zoug.'

She dipped her head in greeting, for she at least understood this. S'ari, she said. Then again, slower, emphasizing the tapped R. Sah-ree. She nodded once, then gestured to the hare trail, tail wagging.

likewise zoug was frustrated, but unwilling to change to her words. he wanted her to know his, the clan words. she spoke and her voice was faster. she made no movements. he could not follow, but he understood her irritation. 

but this was not a time to argue. her name-sound was higher than the titles zoug had known. the man's ears tipped curiously back and forth as he thought about its sound for some moments, then tried.

his first attempt was nothing like the tone she had made. the second, closer. he swallowed the r and slid along the s. "zhahree?" zoug tried a third time, fixing her with the watercolor blue of his good eye before he walked in the directions he thought their prey might be.

S'ari tried to keep her facial expression neutral and she listened to Zoug attempt to say her name. It wasn't fair to laugh at him, though her eyes twinkled with mirth. His third attempt was closest, and she gave in and nodded. Zhahree is good enough, yes? Names do not matter in the desert, for the mother has her own names for us. The desert itself was the mother of the Tribe.

She followed along beside him as they hunted the hares, S'ari keeping her nose down to the ground, occasionally looking up and searching for a hole in the sand. She also glanced at Zoug every now and then to attempt to match his movements. Hares were quick and they would get only one chance. But that is why the Desert had given Coyotes such long legs and light bodies--they could be quick as hares if need be.

zharee then. zoug made another sort of sound now, one that suggested they were finally aligned and he had accepted her name-sound from this moment on 

he could tell she was used to the endless hunting in the hot world, though the way she looked at him made him stride a little taller.

almost from beneath their paws a hare erupted, flinging sandy soil against their ankles as it clawed for purchase in the soft ground.

rolled for it on discord. the gods were unkind.

S'ari felt the suddenly shift under paws, and though it made her want to yelp in surprise, her instinct kicked in, instead. Even as the hare scrambled away, struggling in the sand, she lunged for it...

Her jaws snapped on empty air and away the hare went, its behind taunting her. With a growl, she plunged after it, quick as lightning.

realism ftw! <3

the heat made hunting unbearable. zoug raced after s'ari and the hare, but ended up winded and panting, glancing back toward the source of warm water beneath the arches of the ravine.

he signalled to her. "back?" they could hunt again in the cooler evening. zoug did not want to waste more energy beneath the fire circle.

They did not catch the hare. After a minute or two of futilely chasing their prey, S'ari could sense Zoug flagging beside her, slowing down, panting hard. She still had so much energy, could feel the lifeblood of the desert flowing in her veins. But she knew that continuing the chase would be pointless and dangerous. With a sharp sigh, she turned away from the now disappeared hare and agreed to return to the ravine. She still did not understand Zoug's words, but his meaning was clear as he gestured in that direction.

Fine, she said, her voice carrying some level of irritation. Most hunts failed--that was simply the nature of being a carnivore--but it irked her all the same. Still, the thought of wallowing in the shallow water of the ravine beneath the shade of the arches made her a bit happier. They could always try again later.

last for me!

the two — clan and tribe — returned to the ravine. zoug went back to where he had smoothed his stomach in the coolness of the trickling stream. his hunger growled loudly and audibly, but for now the man curled up and slept.

there was no reason to sulk or to stay awake and hungry. the bright sun would go away. the night would fall. s'ari would get to run again. zoug looked forward to showing her what skills he had learned to forage, and learning from her in turn.

for now, the coyote dozed.

S'ari frowned at Zoug's growling stomach, feeling bad that she'd missed that hare. But it was especially hot today, in the middle of summer, in the middle of the desert, and she had to admit that giving up for now was the better option. She watched as Zoug settled down to nap and followed suit, picking her own shallow section of the water to lie down in, with her head farther up out of it, and closed her eyes. She focused on the stillness and the sound of the wind and the buzzing of insects and the trickle of the water. Soon, she, too, was asleep.