Blacktail Deer Plateau there is only plan a

witch, his mind whispered, and his eyes beheld it. that glissade of awareness alone readied the man to admit her into their sanctum, but he knew that his own affinities were not a basis for her joining. a winter-time tracker; would she be with them when the cold winds blew? or would shar-kali disappear, called by an invisible zephyr of her own? while aged, she was spry and lovely, her eyes bright with unshed secrets and an almost palpable intelligence.

"walk with me," he intoned finally, gathering himself and gesturing that she should cross the borders before him, making a small leg of it. lasher could admit he was rather smitten by her confident elegance, but he would get to know this mysterious pale creature before he named her as one of them. 

when shar-kali had presumably joined him, lasher moved beside her beneath the green canopy, across loam sun-dappled and warm. "i would wish to hear of your year alone," he said in tones still softly accented by the gaelic glen, "of what spirits blessed you with life outside the protection of a pack."


in his heart had the beta made his decision, but shar-kali was much too interesting to simply rank and turn aside to find her own way.