Thunder Dome The flower that blooms in adversity

It seemed as though she had some tie to this cave, but she wasn't trying to chase him out. "I didn't mean to intrude," Grayday demurred, though he accepted the welcome readily enough. He sank back down to the ground and held his paw cafeully in front of him, trying to let it lie as loosely as possible, lest it twinge again.

"Got caught in some rocks. It'll be fine, once I get home and get some rest," he said to the girl, studying her more carefully now that his eyes were adjusting to the dark. She was still little more than a dark blob in the twilit cave, but he thought now that she looked larger than he'd first thought. If he'd been able to see her fully, he might have thought her somewhat familiar - neither of them would ever know it, but Grayday had met her mother during the same estrous cycle she was conceived in. If he'd played his cards right, he might have been her father.