Naaghai Lowlands hand

not sure exactly where they are for now so placing this anywhere!

the sharptooth woman had been fed by the tribe. hunting and sharing one's kills was an immediate way that zoug had seen the clan bond. tribe was not so different.

knowing that she also had words like the others isolated the spirit-speaker more. it was his own fault, for zoug was stubborn. he did not like change. 

but on this day the man approached the nearest woman, setting a fieldmouse beside her paw. he pointed at it and looked at her with head tilted, wanting to know its name-word. now zoug would try to learn. but he would also teach.

Candle understood the words said to her, but beyond the giving of her name she had not spoken again. She remained wary of the others, resting some distance away from them, sharing food only hesitantly. Most of all she kept away from the man.

When the mouse thudded down next to her paw, she only looked at him for a moment. At first she did not understand. Candle sniffed it as he gestured, and finally it dawned on her. She shook her head. He would have no words from her. She had already given the only one she possessed.

he was astounded, his brows coming together in a line of consternation. zoug dropped to his haunches beside her. he put out his paw and showed candle the sign for mouse: two claws poked into the sand.

only some words had a sound among the clan. the rest were simple gestures such as these. he touched his chest. "zoug. zoog," he sounded for the shy-one.

Her eyes followed the man's movements carefully. She imitated them after a moment, understanding that he meant to teach her his own way of communicating. And maybe this was for the best. Candle had never been very good with words.

She blinked at him as he touched his chest, reaching out to follow the movement with her nose. Candle sniffed his chest fur. Zoug. Strange, strange man. She pulled away to tilt her head at him with brightening eyes, tail beating against the ground slowly.

a gentle grunt of excitement came from zoug. she explored the fur of his chest, taking his scent, and he was very still. it was the first time the shy-one had allowed him so close, and his tail moved also.

"zoug," he said of himself. "khandl," of her. he lifted his paw again and made a sweeping gesture at the earth. in his throat, a clan word, little more than a sonorous growl that expanded and rounded, meaning to express the length of a territory.

home was the meaning of the sound.

Candle took a moment to look around, to take in all that surrounded them. The bright heat, the golden sands, the endless expanse; all new to her, all too quiet and too loud at the same time. She thought it must go on forever. She thought it felt very empty.

Her eyes found Zoug again. Tentatively she made the same sound and it felt odd. Her own attempt sounded incomplete. But Candle found a sense of companionship in it; lighter now, she lifted herself to her feet and caught the mouse by the tail in one motion. She waved it at him, growling playfully under her breath.

She'd never had much patience for lessons, even at the House.

his eyes softened. he licked his jaws with a quiet whine. though her sound had not been perfect, it had satisfied a large part of his soul which wanted to hear the clan words from another again. 

the woman grasped the mouse. he fell into a playbow with a growling yap, then frisked her way with little puffs of sand erupting beneath his paws.

it was good to play again. zoug was happy to have caught her eye and earned some of her trust.

It was not proper. But Candle so missed playing with her sisters that she gave it no second thought. She hopped backward once, twice, swinging the mouse until abruptly she let go of it with a toss of her chin. It sailed through the air toward Zoug in a lopsided spin.

Politely, she held off on biting his face until he had a chance to catch it.

"sharp teeth," zoug commended her in the only words he knew. he caught the mouse, sprang high, flung its body up toward the heavens.

they spread in brilliance, darkening as the evening came.

Candle yapped excitedly and darted forward to finally bite his face as he landed from his leap. She was mindful this time of her teeth, growling and mouthing roughly more than truly biting. Only for a moment.

Then she leapt for the mouse once again, skidding to catch it before it touched the ground.

But it was growing dark, and Candle soon became nervous. She faltered in their play to look at the sky with a plaintive whine. She did not like the dark.

last for me! <3

the darkness came. zoug paused to look up at the skies. with so many of them now in one place, he did not fear so much.

but she had been alone, as he had been. as all of them were at one time. he motioned to her in the quick movements that were and were not words: "come. i will take you back."

even if zoug was not understood, the way he started for the ravine now would be.

She understood Zoug's intent if not his words. Candle went to his side and remained there, following his lead with a tentative but eager trust. Not alone, yes, she must remember that.

But she could not shake her anxiety. She cast a single nervous glance behind them, remembering. After that she tried only to look ahead.