Kael
Kira recognized the bag before she recognized that I hadn't brought food.
She put her nose against the lower pocket, sniffed and looked up at me with clear disappointment.
"A book," I told her. "You wouldn't enjoy it."
The fox sniffed again.
"I didn't enjoy all of it either."
Elara laughed from the potting table.
The Garden of Whispers was quiet in the late afternoon. The last day of the month had brought warm light and very little wind. A few leaves lay on the path where the keeper had cleared it that morning. Elara had left them while she finished tying a support around a young stem.
I stopped outside the work area until she looked up.
"May I?"
"Of course. Mind the tray."
I minded the tray. Kira walked directly across the space it occupied and was lifted out by the keeper before she could put a paw in the soil.
