Moonsong Glacier If we run into red full speed

She was not upset — Dutch wasn't sure why he'd expected her to be, when he had shared only the nice story of their familes' history. The panther pushed this guilt away; he was not his father, and he had no obligation to answer for his father's sins.

"I didn't know her," he replied, regretful. "In my family, most say only peace or hail or howdy — " This last option was relayed in a fun accent — "They say peace be where I swam with seals. Blackmouth-by-the-Sea. Their mother spent time at Undersea. She was a guard to their children, then. Now she lives far from here, with her many daughters and grandaughters."

He tipped his head to the side, the gesture somewhere between invitation and insistence as he stepped away from the ledge.

"Come — next I will show you the glacier cave," he told her, some of his earlier excitement returning to him with a few dizzying sweeps of his tail. "Your inland home — did you get much snow? Is there ice like this?"

The glacier was in plain view as they approached, the top so high they had to crane their necks to see it. White Spine had oft been covered in ice and snow, but they had not had glaciers. Dutch was mightily impressed with this one, and he hoped that Simbelmyne would be, too.

"I grew up with only my sister and one older cousin," he told her, thinking back on her description of her homelife. "My mother raised us mostly by herself, up in the high mountains. We did not want for attention, but — " He huffed out a little laugh and turned another glit-eyed smile on her. "Well — there was no crowd to be lost in, and no beautiful visitors to be lost by." His teeth showed in a tiny sliver of white. "I am glad now not to have many brothers vying for your attention."