Sun Mote Copse baby if I got you, I don’t need a parachute

Of course, she said, hoping this meant Orca meant to stay, we’d be happy to have you as long as you’d like to stay.

Her daughter regaled her with a brief story about the seaside, by the sound of it. Meerkat made sure not to let her distaste of it show on her face as she listened to the familiar lilt of Orca’s voice. She was curious about the friend she’d met—or made? Had they known one another before?—but then the next question distracted her from asking her own.

This is Sun Mote Copse, Meerkat said, hesitating now.

In Meerkat’s mind, Orca’s sudden disappearance was the direct result of being told about her parents’ plan to relocate here two seasons before. Perhaps the timing had always been coincidental, she mused now. Orca didn’t seem in the least resentful about finding her family here in this place.

I would love to show you around, she said quickly, and our first stop will have to be The Taigh, the den the pack shares. There’s someone—two someones, rather—I’d like you to meet.