Shadows covered Chase as he stood in the warm tunnels. He had escaped into this shelter to escape the heat; it was especially hot today and he could hardly bear any more sun. Lying down and curling himself into a compact ball, Chase settled in comfortably. He was so relieved that he had come in here -- he longed for winter. Even though his short fur made winter an uncomfortable, freezing time, Chase liked it much more than summer. Heat weighs you down, the Basenji brooded. Cold just stops you. If you get past it, you can still move -- but heat is a constant weight on your shoulders.
By now, Chase's short attention span had been used up, and he was bored. He stood and trotted over to a short rock that sat on one side of the bleak tunnels. Springing onto his makeshift soapbox, Chase did what he does best: he preached.
"Ahh, winter," he said, his deep voice echoing slightly. "The enemy of strays, the irritation of humans, the killer of prey. With its hail and snow and freezing winds, it is all we street dogs can do to survive the months." Nodding to his imaginary audience, Chase continued his speech, telling his invisible listeners about the perils they faced during the cold winter months thast now seemed so far away.

Uh-oh. Chase broke off mid-sentence as another dog entered the tunnels. "Um, hi," he said, clearing his throat in embarrassment. The other dog, however, seemed to ignore him and spoke with dignity and confidence: "I'm king of these lands and of the pack known as Rani. May I ask what your business here is?" Leaping off of his rock and landing lightly on the rough ground, he padded up to the stranger.
Chase vaguely recognized this dog -- he was the Rani king, as he had said -- and so the Basenji looked away, trying to show that he was no threat at all. "I'm part of Rani, too," he said, wagging his tail nervously. "But I just joined a few days ago and I haven't met many other Rani dogs yet."
Glancing back to his "soapbox," Chase realized that he must have looked rather crazy standing and preaching to an unseen audience. "Um, I'm not as strange as I seem," he said cheerfully, nodding to the rock he had just leaped off of. "I was bored, and I like making speeches, so..." he stopped there, knowing the king could make the connection on his own.
Bowing his head to look even more respectful and harmless -- Chase was a bit intimidated by this powerful dog, and in no way wanted to appear as if he was a threat and a challenge -- he gave a small bark. "I'm Chase, by the way. And you're Kyo... Kyo... Kyoseeree?" He obviously didn't really know the king's name.

Oops. Chase wagged his tail slowly in embarrassment as he was informed that "Kyoseeree" was, in fact, Kyoshire. "Sorry, Kyoshire," he muttered, making sure he pronounced that name right this time. Watching as the king turned back towards the entrance to the tunnels, where the sun streamed in and you could see the dust bit swirling in the air, the basenji guessed that he wanted to leave. Chase couldn't blame him -- he had only just met Chase, and why would he want to spend much time with just a lowly newcomer, anyway? "You can leave," he assured the muscular male. "It's fine with me." Kyoshire turned back to him, though, and sat down. "No, really. I kinda wanted to be in here by myself anyway." The last sentence was a lie -- Chase had been longing for some company -- but what right did he have to steal the leader off his new pack away from the important duties he might have?
Still wanting to make Kyoshire believe that he was fine by himself, Chase continued his thoughts. "I'm fine here, here in the shade under the dark, damp rocks. It may be lonely, but I'll be okay -- I can watch over my rock and my ground with the strength of a lion. There is no need for you here. Your presence is duly noted, but if your shadow covers mine than I will not have room to shine, will not have room to light these doldrums with my words of wisdom." Ending his short monologue with a sharp wave of his tail, Chase looked proudly up at his king.

Chase looked up proudly as Kyoshire offered to be his audience. "Of course! I love speaking, and I'm pretty good at it, if I can say so myself," he bragged. Turning and leaping back onto his rock, Chase readied himself for his new speech. I think I'll talk about how I am fit for life in a pack -- or just the pack itself, he decided, wanted to impress the king not only with his speaking skills but with his personality as well. "This speech will be about the Rani Pack, and its reputation among the other packs." He glanced towards the muscular Akita for reassurance, wanting to know that he was doing the right thing. With a brisk wave of his short, curled tail, Chase began: "I am new to pack life, but I have traveled among them enough to know about the motley collection of packs. I spent some time in Belisaire before moving on, and I went to Rani because of their high opinion of this pack. We strays are, of course, very loyal to our pack, but I believe that Rani has a high reputation. Calm and exceptionally loyal, we are the thinkers of the city. Not fierce, like Kaira, nor soft, like Belisaire, we know what we're doing and we do it well." Pausing here, Chase considered what he had just said. He had made it up on the spot, and exaggerated some, but he thought it to be a nice, well-rounded speech. The brown-and-white dog gave a funny little yodel and looked again to Kyoshire. "Do you like it so far?" he asked, hoping that the king would now think of him highly.