kiss me like you mean goodbye, said the spider to the fly

Her noncommittal answer was met with acceptance, thank goodness, rather than resistance.  She was glad Bazi didn't push for more, since it would have been a request that would have driven her backwards rather than forwards.  She noted the other wolf's start forward, then her pause, and wondered if they'd get back to that point where physical proximity hadn't even been thought about.

She deliberated on the next statement, but after a length, shook her head.  "Not yet.  It's not you... there's just something I have to do first."  She needed to see if she could find Maera or Tuwawi, make things right with them.  She'd left without a word to the latter, and a simple heartbreaking goodbye to the former.  She wasn't sure they wouldn't be angry, but she felt the need regardless.  They'd done nothing but good for her and she'd repaid them by bailing.

"But I'll be around."  She had no plans of leaving the area anytime soon, nor could she really even if she wanted to.  She had a ways to go on bulking up before long-term travel was possible.