500+
The russet coyote jumped, her eyes opening suddenly to reveal those bright blue orbs, filled with shock. For a moment, the coyote did not move, too shocked by the voice to do anything about. The mouth was still open, the tongue still hanging out. It all looked like some ludicrous figurine. Silence. …More silence. And then, suddenly, as if by some miracle, there was movement. The young coyote closed her mouth, rolled onto her side, and then pushed herself up with a small paw. She spun around to confront the voice which was shockingly male. She hadn’t seen one in a long time, several months at least. Merilin’s blue eyes gazed at this white coyote-thing with both shock and awe. Her head cocked to one side. “Shouldn’t I be?” she asked innocently.
She looked at him. “You don’t look like a coyote,” she said thoughtfully, her natural curiosity kicking in. She was a bit more timid around this one, because she had never had good relationships with the males in her life: her father and her brother. They had not necessarily been cruel to her, but they had not been the best of relationships. She found that dealing with her brother and her father was an entirely different story than dealing with her mother. She didn’t understand males. Thus, she found herself feeling quite timid here, as she stood before the young male. “Well, not really, anyway,” Merilin added as an afterthought.
The russet coyote stood there awkwardly, each of her paws raising slightly, then falling in counterclockwise order beginning with her right forepaw. Her blue eyes looked away momentarily, and then back at the white male. She saw his eyes. Such pretty little, things they were. “Ooooh! Pretty!” She suddenly bounded toward him, completely forgetting about the male himself, only trying to lift herself up to get a better look at those fiery toned eyes of his. Her blue eyes came terribly close to his. Then she fell back to the ground, backing away, spinning around. She laughed delightedly. If she could, she could have taken them and buried them in the ground for safe keeping.
“I’m Merilin,” the young female offered, her timidity completely forgotten for the moment. “I came here a couple days ago. I’ve met Kaena Lykoi and Halo, too,” she continued as if reciting something that she had memorized. She stood there smiling at him, her russet tail wiggling gentle. “I’ve never met you. What’s your name? Are you a coyote? I am. My name is Merilin Ethuil.” The young female seemed to forget that she had already told him her name. No matter; repetition was good.
The blue eyes suddenly seemed to be both looking at the male and at something else all at once. In reality, she was not looking at the male; she was looking at a piece of dust floating through the air as the sunlight hit it. Her eyes began to move as the dust took flight, gliding about. Swirling, swirling, twisting, turning. And suddenly, it disappeared. “Good-bye, dust!”