(371) Molcaaaa ! 
Eris is by me!
The sable-hued woman's concentration was on the smoke and fire. Little else mattered; she ceased to send glances toward the river and the slaves after only a brief time passed, and they might have been carefree, romping in the water for all she knew or cared. She watched the smoke rise upward, pale wisps that disappeared quickly into the overcast skies. Eris needed the smoke closest to the fire, however, and it was here she concentrated her focus, willing her eyes to truly see.
And she did -- fish, leaping to and fro in frenzied panic, trapped in the creek. And something else -- something she hadn't yet considered. There was another boat, entirely dissimilar to the flat-bottomed, wide thing between the mainland and the Borgata Mayate isle, but a boat nonetheless! She recognized it and her jaws parted slightly, a happy and unbecomingly dim grin upon her face. Her chartreuse eyes followed the boat until it disappeared, and she realized her eyes had drifted away to the smoke, and were now focused on the slaves once more. Khirot had ceased working and looked up at her with a strange expression on his face.
It was then she felt the touch, and turned her head quickly to crane at her companion, though not with any sort of fear or panic. There were few among the Salsolian canines who dared touch her without permission, and she had no doubt it would be one of her daughters (the younger, to be sure -- Salvia would not have greeted her in such a manner). This was confirmed upon seeing Artemisia, and the hybrid's muzzle split into a pleased smile. She saw Molcaxitl standing several yards behind, but paid the coyote slave little mind.
Artemisia, she said, her voice throaty from the smoke she'd inhaled earlier. The loveliest visions have come to me -- success for my weir, she said, indicating the construction with a flourish of her hand. She was pleased to see Khirot had returned to work without so much as a look on her part, and grinned down at him, waist-deep in water. The tide would remain out for some hours, still, and they could still accomplish much today.
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