Dawnlark Plains i am the rose you relinquished again

backdated, directly after this thread ; for @Kanuux

---

dawn gives way to morning quick after they move. sifting through frozen grass, the dark woman clings to the shadows still cast from the trees.

the wind favored them, pulling west across the rise and into her teeth. nothing downwind would catch them, and so she settles into a comfortable stride. prowling, really—long steps that kept her low to the earth.

prints dotted the grass ahead, frost gone the trampled blades and leading further into the field. a small herd, moving slow—grazers lulled by early light and safety they hadn’t earned. she paused to test the air, nostrils flaring.

kanuux is not far behind, silent but present, a cold and steady pressure at her back. she didn’t glance to check—if he wanted to be seen, he would. instead she flicked her tail once. her signal: forward.

kanuux closed the distance without a sound, the frost crunching under his weight only when he allowed it. her tail flicked—brief, sharp—and he answered with a slight shift of his shoulders, the muradoii’s silent assent.

he moved alongside her shadow, scaling the population of the herd. whilst is wasn't it chosen prey, it will have to do.

forward.

he was already going.

she leads the advance with a long stride, a dark slip of motion tightening toward the herd’s blind side. kanuux’s bulk runs parallel, silent only because he chooses to be. the pressure of him at her side sharpens her.

her gaze raked the herd, then cut to the straggler at the flank—a younger doe, lagging, careless.

her muscles bunched, heat sparking under her skin. she cast kanuux a single side-glance—brief, lethal, alight with intent—before her tail flicked again, smaller this time. “split her from herd.” a command, should he see it fit—a suggestion, if he had something better in mind.