Blacktail Deer Plateau I'll hold you inside me till the moon has gone and the sunlight come

Blue willow had meant well by saying that the death of the four had not been Osprey's fault, but the statement had quite different effect on the she-wolf. She looked up at her friend, who had come to stand near her, in question and then, as the words finally reached her and hit her understanding, she recoiled in horror. I did not want them... the thought repeated itself over and over in her mind, making her more afraid by a second, until they found the missing link of the chain. ...and they died. Had she taken more care of herself from the very beginning... when it had got hard, things would be different now. This... this would not have happened.

The healer said something else, but the words were lost to Osprey, because the rain had turned into a heavy down-pour and because it suddenly seemed that the world around her - so old and familiar - had suddenly turned into a foreign and hostile one. She watched her friend work with a blank expression, not daring to leave her spot or even move. If she did, the world would collapse.