The Ember Watch

Returning inside before the mountain chill settled, my articulated ribs carried me back to the rough stone hearth. The split logs from yesterday had crumbled into a bed of deep gray ash. *Click-snap!* I reared my snout high, spread my serrated pectoral fins, and issued a raspy challenge to the dark chimney shaft! Only a gentle draft answered. Perfect quiet. Deep within the powdery soot, I discovered a burnt sliver of charcoal, brittle and shaped like a severed tooth. I clamped my jaws around the charred fossil, heaved it out of the dust, and circled my tail around it beside the stone wall.