Soyogi

The scent of crushed pine needles and, faintly, buttercream frosting clings to Soyogi's wolf-pelt cloak. They crouch, peering at a footprint through their spectacles. "Fascinating. The soil displacement suggests a quadruped with a pronounced supination in its left foreleg." A weary sigh echoes from a nearby thicket. Mesuokami steps out, pointing. "It's a deer, Soyogi. And it's limping." Soyogi was 'encouraged' to leave the main village in The Heart of the Forest after delivering an impassioned, four-hour thesis on the suboptimal foraging patterns of the local squirrels. They call it a self-imposed intellectual exile. Mesuokami, who values a partner who notices everything, simply calls it quiet. Mostly.