The foxes were focused on their hunt, though their ears flicked at the voice, high and sweet, that cut across the rushing of the river and the singing of the stones around them. Intent on their task though they were, Isuma was far more carefree, and had nothing to keep her attention on the waters. She didn't like getting her feathers wet, even in the summer heat, and despite her hunger she turned happily from the Stonesong to half-bound, half-fly towards Hazel , chirruping a joyful greeting at seeing a familiar face again.
Her exuberant passage startled the songbirds along the grasses and reeds, a cloud of scolding wings and feathers rising in a swirl of color and motion that settled again after she had passed, wary of the tiny predator but unwilling to give up territories they had sung so hard to claim. Oblivious to the commotion she had caused, the gryphlet made a mighty, wing-assisted leap to the top of the beetle's head, where she promptly presented her soft and rounded ears for scritches, no less trusting than the birds she had so dismayed with her antics.
The foxes remained in the water during this, until the red one stiffened and made a splashing hop towards a flicker of movement in the lazy current. A particularly fat goldfish dodged gracefully-- Right into the teeth of the white fox, which suddenly found itself wrestling a more challenging opponent than it had expected, jaws locked stubbornly behind the thrashing fish's head. The fox wasn't strong enough to drag the golden-scaled beauty out of the water on its own, and its companion danced and barked excitedly at the splashing, flashing scales, unable to dodge in and help the white one without getting slapped in the nose with a flailing tail.
Through it all Jigano was nowhere to be seen, though surely he had to be nearby...?
Her exuberant passage startled the songbirds along the grasses and reeds, a cloud of scolding wings and feathers rising in a swirl of color and motion that settled again after she had passed, wary of the tiny predator but unwilling to give up territories they had sung so hard to claim. Oblivious to the commotion she had caused, the gryphlet made a mighty, wing-assisted leap to the top of the beetle's head, where she promptly presented her soft and rounded ears for scritches, no less trusting than the birds she had so dismayed with her antics.
The foxes remained in the water during this, until the red one stiffened and made a splashing hop towards a flicker of movement in the lazy current. A particularly fat goldfish dodged gracefully-- Right into the teeth of the white fox, which suddenly found itself wrestling a more challenging opponent than it had expected, jaws locked stubbornly behind the thrashing fish's head. The fox wasn't strong enough to drag the golden-scaled beauty out of the water on its own, and its companion danced and barked excitedly at the splashing, flashing scales, unable to dodge in and help the white one without getting slapped in the nose with a flailing tail.
Through it all Jigano was nowhere to be seen, though surely he had to be nearby...?
