Tezcacoatl rising up so tall was actually much scarier than Matu expected. His muddy ears slicked to his skull and he was briefly cowed, and so when Tala suggested flight, he was more than happy to go along with it.
Slipping and barely managing not to fall on his belly several times, Matu began running in the opposite direction as Tala. He'd heard the laughter in her suggestion, but it was more fun if he pretended there was real danger. And he was dealing with real danger like herds did: by splitting up.
He and Tala had not agreed on a place to meet though, and so when he began running he kept running all the way back to the den and then past it. He needed to find a grassy place to roll some of the mud off his coat.
