When Qatar hears Eli’s voice perk up and ask about him, he almost calls the whole thing off. Almost. He probably should have, but even when Munroe sticks his stupid nose into their funny business, he doen’t. The telepathy only goes one way - Alek can’t communicate back to him the way Q can, so the black yearling has no way of knowing what’s going on on the other side of the dune. Their ‘prank’ or whatever it was going to be, wasn’t fully formed anyway, just sort of a ‘hey, let’s scare Eli’ type of thing. As boys are wont to do.
Alek nods sagely along with Munroe’s curt words, as if he possessed all the answers Eli could possibly be looking for. “Oh yes, Yael always knows what’s going on in the Desert. Even if she isn’t here. She is very powerful, you know.” He gives the girl a sideways glance and then pads around to face her from the front. You know, to keep her distracted and such. Technically, Alek was better suited to ‘scare’ Eli, because he can be so very quiet. But Q would get in less trouble, on account of being Yael’s son. That’s just the way it was.
Being mute isn’t quite like being blind; Q’s sense of sight, sound, and smell haven’t sharpened that much to give him a leg up on other fully functional beings. The foxes may have forgotten how the wind can shift at a moment’s notice in the Desert, so while Munroe’s fennec friends are sneaking around, he gets a good whiff of them. He’ seen foxes in the distance with a stallion, and Ima had called the man Munroe, her adoptive son. She said he was skittish and protective, and wild, and that he is her son as much as Q is. The foxes were a gift to keep him company, while she was busy doing Queenly things, or something like that. They were the first animal gift to a child. Alek is the second. So Q is able to kinda-sorta prepare himself for whatever mischief the foxes are about to bring, while waiting for some sort of cue from Alek.
It never comes. The foxes arrive and while Q tries to side-step their nips, he cannot silence their yips as they blow his cover. He groans loudly and decides to try to play it off, launching himself up the dune in a spray of sand and wildly-tossed silver mane. He is almost at his adult size now, and towers over the other two. Alek yawns and rolls his eyes, knowing the game is up. “How nice of you to join us, Q…”
Alek nods sagely along with Munroe’s curt words, as if he possessed all the answers Eli could possibly be looking for. “Oh yes, Yael always knows what’s going on in the Desert. Even if she isn’t here. She is very powerful, you know.” He gives the girl a sideways glance and then pads around to face her from the front. You know, to keep her distracted and such. Technically, Alek was better suited to ‘scare’ Eli, because he can be so very quiet. But Q would get in less trouble, on account of being Yael’s son. That’s just the way it was.
Being mute isn’t quite like being blind; Q’s sense of sight, sound, and smell haven’t sharpened that much to give him a leg up on other fully functional beings. The foxes may have forgotten how the wind can shift at a moment’s notice in the Desert, so while Munroe’s fennec friends are sneaking around, he gets a good whiff of them. He’ seen foxes in the distance with a stallion, and Ima had called the man Munroe, her adoptive son. She said he was skittish and protective, and wild, and that he is her son as much as Q is. The foxes were a gift to keep him company, while she was busy doing Queenly things, or something like that. They were the first animal gift to a child. Alek is the second. So Q is able to kinda-sorta prepare himself for whatever mischief the foxes are about to bring, while waiting for some sort of cue from Alek.
It never comes. The foxes arrive and while Q tries to side-step their nips, he cannot silence their yips as they blow his cover. He groans loudly and decides to try to play it off, launching himself up the dune in a spray of sand and wildly-tossed silver mane. He is almost at his adult size now, and towers over the other two. Alek yawns and rolls his eyes, knowing the game is up. “How nice of you to join us, Q…”