He had heard her long before she had spoken. Talitha walked against the earth, as most canines did, something he had realized after months of living on his own. Large animals tended to do so. Observing cats had changed his opinion of how to step, and though it had taken much practice, he had learned to walk with the earth and do so nearly silently. All of the Inferni coyotes sounded very loud to him, especially on their rocky terrain. Most of the Waste seemed so ill-suited for life, but it was remarkable what hid beyond their borders.
Yet Ezekiel played dumb, as he so often did, and only turned when addressed. A fond smile crossed his face, pleased to see that his sister was changing from the skinny thing she was. In time she would be healthy, though never as tall or robust as her scarred brother. “More than I expected,” he hinted mischievously, grabbing two of the thin books he had chosen for her. Both were brightly colored, by the same author that had written the one he had given to Alaine. “I brought these for you so you could start learning to read,” the Hastati went on, passing them to his rust-colored sister.
“Oh, and guess what? Turns out dad was busy while we were gone. We have a little brother and sister living down in that dog-pack,” he babbled, forgetting the name but remembering the woman’s breed.
#zeke-text {font-family:georgia; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing:0px; word-spacing:2px; text-align: left; margin:0px 25px 0px;
background-image:url(); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:bottom center; padding:0px 0px 0px 0px; }
#zeke-text .ooc {font-style:italic; font-family:arial; font-size:11px;}
#zeke-text .divider {border-bottom:1px dotted #000000; margin:5px auto; width:50%;}
#zeke-text .wc {text-transform: uppercase; font-weight:bold;}
#zeke-text p {text-indent: 25px; margin:0px; padding:0px 5px;}
#zeke-text b {letter-spacing:1px; font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; letter-spacing:-.05em;}
</style>
[/html]