FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The rain had begun to fall over St. Almar when the coyote had begun to pack his cards. He thanked the great Waha for the rain. The human who had just had his reading given tossed a couple coins on the small cloth mat where he kept the cards he used for his craft. He thanked the man for his kindness as the man quickly left the alleyway. The coyote was glad at getting any payment at all considering the way he spoke to the coyote.

With his things packed, Moony traveled down the street to see if the pair of copper coins could do anything to remedy the rumbling in his stomach. He ducked into one of the beast-kin tolerating stores looking for something to eat. After some arguing about money owed, he walked back onto the streets with a single piece of jerky. He placed it into his pocket, feeling a sudden need to save it for later, once he's settled for the night. He held his cup in the air to gather some fresh rain water to quench his thirst. Satisfied, the coyote made his way back to the alley where he slept most nights.

As he turned the corner, there were some hooligans rushing passed him. They darted in a direction before Moony even knew what had knocked him over. They were followed by some guards from the nicer part of town. He could tell by their cleaner uniforms. One of them picked him up, looking him up and down sternly.

"Which way did they go?!" The human ordered.

Moony shrugged, "I didn't see where-" he was pushed aside before he could finish his thought.

The guards ran off, leaving him alone at his corner. Moony brushed himself off and headed down the small corridor. He looked his usual spot over and saw a new pile of trash left. With a sigh, he knelt down to check the new mound of garbage for food.

He scratched his head at the pile, a lot of this stuff he'd already seen. It was just trash that was around here all put together. He thought it was odd that someone would pile it up and just leave it. He dug through it a little more until he found it a strange egg. It didn't look like an egg he could cook. It was metallic. He thought maybe he could sell it, but didn't know who would let a beast-kin get away with having something worth this much. They'll think he stole it for sure. Maybe that nice human with the walking stick would know what to do with it.

Examining it further he felt it wobble in his hand. He held it up, watching it wiggling in his palms. After a short time he saw a crack form on the surface. Praise Waha, it was hatching! He looked around to make sure no one else was watching save for the gods and himself. Soon a small snout was poking through the shell. Moony gathered the bits of egg that were falling off, keeping them on him.

"Hello, little.." Moony examined the small creature, "Lizard?"

The creature looked up at him, it's eyes bright with wonder. Moony smiled at it, helping it out of it's shell. Moony cleaned her up with rainwater, wrapping the bits of egg in the cloth before stashing it somewhere hopefully no one would find it. When he found the right hiding spot for it, he found the space was already being used. Some kind of collar. It looked like it had been there a while, so he figured it would be a good spot for the egg pieces. He looked over at his new friend, who was studying him, seemingly fascinated.

He knelt down before the little thing and put the collar on it. Once it was on the animal, there were the tell-tale signs of the lawmakers walking around the corner. He checked to see if they were heading towards him. He poked his head out in the street to see one of the lawmakers suddenly point right at him. He rushed back to his spot to find that the lizard was gone. Instead, a pup coyote was staring up at him from where he had placed the other one. It's small tail wagging.

"Where did you come from?" He asked.

It shook the rain out of it's fur as a reply, causing the collar around it's neck to jingle.

He scooped the pup into his arms as the lawmaker stomped over to him.

The lawmaker sighed, "One of the disorder."

A mage came into view from behind the solider, "No telling lies, priest." He said with some familiar gestures.

"Did you see any men come this way?" the lawmaker said.

Without thinking, Moony was compelled to speak, "I saw three men exit the alley as I was getting food."

The lawmaker looked over the puppy in his arms, "Where did you find the dog?"

"It was in the trash." Moony tried not to speak but words were coming out too fast, "And it's not a dog."

The lawmaker squinted his elven eyes at Moony.

"Then what is it?" the man said.

Moony prayed to the great Waha for aid, they would surely harm this shapeshifting baby, and probably give Moony a beating for good measure.

With full confidence he stood up straight and said, "For your information this is a coyote, just like me, but not beast-kin."

The wizard made a mocking sound of disgust, "By Norr they're breeding."

The lawmaker laughed, then turned around, "Get lost, we need to investigate."

Moony knelt down to retrieve his blanked, but the elf stopped him, "What did I say?"

"Get lost?" Moony replied.

"Exactly."

Defeated, Moony exited the alley. Without the small bit of protection from the rain they had in the alley, the two walked around the streets, looking for a new place to rest. With some difficulty, Moony eventually set down in a cramped space. Rain fell steadily on the two, so Moony pulled the small puppy to him, leaning over it to keep the rain off it. He looked the little thing over.

"Female, I think.." He tried to determine, but he was no expert, "What's your name?"

The pup stared up at him.

"I think you're called Sunny." He smiled as she blinked up at him.

"At least we have each other, Sunny." His stomach growled.

He reached into his pocket for the jerky. He held it up to Sunny for her to smell it.

"Hungry?" he pulled the jerky into two pieces handing her half of it.

As she chowed down on her first meal, Moony swallowed the tiny hunk of meat.

"Don't worry, little one. Waha may provide for us tomorrow." He patted her on the head before she curled up on his lap. Before he dozed off, he thanked Waha for providing him a new friend. He wasn't alone, he felt blessed.