Bearclaw Valley my isle of golden dreams

though she had attempted to be sly in her fleeting glances behind her, nothing escaped tadec's notice. she was quick to firmly adjust her course as he spoke -- while he did not chide her for her worry, indra still felt somewhat at unease. eventually, that disquiet would fade -- but for now she was as fretful as a hen dislodged from roost.

in the end, laurel would be fine -- but it was not laurel explicitly indra worried about. no, it was the other shadow in the vale, the wolf that had challenged her sister. indra would never let that rest, and she swallowed yet another impulse to glance back as furtive or as futile as it was, laurel was well beyond sight.

as tadec pirouetted quickly in front of her she rolled her shoulders, struggling to rid herself of the blanket of anxiety that cast over her -- in many ways, it would have been easier if they had started sooner -- like tadec, indra's gaze was drawn quietly skyward and she studied the sun's descent with solemn silence.

then, tadec turned west, his tail twitching as if set afire -- she stopped alongside him, her ears perked forward as she tried to forget about being needed in bearclaw. laurel would be just fine without her a few hours, tadec was right, she was sure of it. "okay. what now?" she inquired, her gaze set inquisitively on blackfoot forest -- the last swath of treeline before the meadow was terminated.