Sly Fox Sand Dunes heel

talisman was gone. kusuma was gone. only he, candle, s'ari, and koa remained.

s'ari and candle had begun to softly swell with children. he kept his eye upon koa, wondering.

the cave would protect them, but the females of the tribe needed meat, bloody meat. zoug could stash as many cactusfruits and snake-tails as he wished, but it would not support life.

he ranged further that evening, looking for pronghorn spoor.

Ko'a was hot on Zoug's heels. She would not leave him to hunt alone, so long as she still could. The feeling of new life inside her had yet to come... wouldn't come.  

She woof-yips (her halfling self) when she got nearer, yet at still quite some distance away. She doesn't come close, instead remains in sight only, so that they can have a larger search sweep over the rolling sands.

The area reeked of fox and sand -- two telling signs he must be close.

Coarse ground scratched his toes and wedged up the spaces inbetween. From time to time Midas broke pace to clean out the grit from his paws. Now was one of those times. 

As he worked his tongue around his toes, his nostrils flared to catch the hot scents around him. Nights and days and nights alone, only for his thoughts to drift back and back and back again to the collection of coyotes who ran this neck of the woods. Erm, desert.

Sandy and musky and warm: these predominantly met him. But he thought he caught the undercurrent of coyote in the mix -- and he turned his head as his large ears clocked in that distinctly canid yip, still some while out. 

Just picked up Midas and saw he met the tribe before! Hope you don't mind him again <3

hello! <3

this one he knew.

ko'a's nearness satisfied the man, who flocked his tattered ears toward the pale semi-stranger.

"you near tribe," he grunted, a sound that descended into the promise of a growl if he was crossed.

In the distance ahead, Midas, who had come here once before. Ko'a keeps her pace forward. 

The pale one returns. She speaks with a toothy smile, remembering his cloudy gaze. She decided he was handsome as well, despite those unnerving eyes. Maybe she just had a thing for light colored men. 

She wondered where his journey had taken him, yet it looked like he returned without any goods from his absence. Will this one hunt the pronghorn too? They had better odds now, with three.

<3

Two voices met him, and no more; one gruff and guttural, the other, an accented whisper. Both foreign and familiar.

A smile curls his lips and he turns more fully to gaze in their direction, nose ever working to take in their scents and pinpoint exactly where they are.

I know, he says first to Zoug, tucking his head low, before he bobs back up and turns to where Koa's scent roams the strongest. His gaze rests on where he determines her to be, this one will, if you will have him.

despite the pallid appearance, the white coyote looked enough of their kind to settle zoug's prejudice. he snorted and pawed the ground, then paced to the track of pronghorn in the sand.

if the cloud man hunted with them, he would be admitted to their number.

zoug did not wait. he set off at a brisk clip, single eye searching the horizon for the dust which might indicate a traveling herd, and finding it to the east.

Zoug does not speak. His decision is one determined by action. The large coyote taking to the hunt, scouring to the east. 

Ko'a moves swift, rounding the top of one of many rolling dunes in this land of golden sea. She sees Midas below and woofs lowly. 

Come pale one- dance on the sands with me! And she rushes down the side of the dune, to brush past just out of his reach. The half-bloods could run together in pursuit of prey.

Sorry for the wait! <3

Zoug does not speak.

It is not fully unexpected, from what little Midas knows of the desert man - but it does not help him pin his location down any more than he already has. Rudimentary. Unhelpful. Ko'a, at least, offers him a woof and a word.

Enticing -

her scent pulls against him and whisks away, like sand in the wind. Dancing. Oh, heavens, that is different than hunting! But Zoug's eyes may be upon him, and there flutters in his chest the want to impress this girl, or at least, to not look so helplessly lame by calling off any of her fun because he cannot tell where to poetically place his paws on this shifting ground.

He spins after her with determination, stiff in his pursuit - but he pursues none the less. Her scent guides him, though her paw steps offer very little; the ground is much too soft. Midas listens instead for her breath, or any yips she may offer along the way.

You lead, he calls to her, I don't know the dance of the desert as well as you do.

He tries to sound lighthearted, but in fact, he'll consider himself lucky if he doesn't make a total fool of himself in front of these Tribefolk. It'd only take a stray rock or scorpion sting to send him flying into the sun-scorched sands, and booted, for sure, from any chance of running with them longer than he has.

your fine!

The pale one follows after her. She yips lowly, loud enough for him to follow, yet remaining cautious with her noise to not alert any deer, should the hunters be getting close.

His footing tells her that he is not accustomed to the sands, not born to them, as she, and yet he tries. He even admits his faults. He is a determined one. Not easily put-off. It makes the sand girl smile deeply. He had even spoke like tribekin, at first! 

Ko'a will teach you. And she slows her pace, frolicking into his direction and coming to his side. Walk lightly. Leave your ankles loose. Roll with the sands. She keeps pace near him, her nose then lifting as the scent of pronghorn draw nearer. They were close. 

We will give chase this time and slow it down. It will buy you time to go slower, catch up and help with the take down. She instructs. He is half wolf, she knows. Larger, stronger, then the coyote and can be useful to them. Though this she would never share with Zoug.

all good! <3

ko'a moved to teach the ivory tooth. zoug eyed the man curiously as she danced and spoke. maybe the cloud hunter would be pleased by sand woman and return to the ravine with them.

the clan male led them along the shifting side of a dune, testing, but at its summit he paused to point out the very large herd of horned bodies.

the single eye searched for an opening.