Blacktail Deer Plateau Social Casualty

There was confusion in her question, and her words tightened his throat. "Walked?" he choked, and he snapped his gaze to the horizon. The Glacier couldn't be so close - he would have seen it! His icy eyes flitted around the flatlands, heart twisting in his chest. But the mountains he met were foreign to him, and Scarlett's words confirmed that: the Glacier did not lie to the South. But how far beyond the sheer wall of the Plateau did the frozen grave loom?

He snapped his eyes back to Scarlett, his gaze sharp and tight, and his heart hurt. Her concern did not evade him - concern he did not deserve from her - and yet his throat yearned to speak of everything he had hidden from every wolf he'd met since leaving the Vale. But his wrongs piled against him and formed a burden too heavy for himself. There had been a time he could carry the weight - but now his transgression broke him and smothered him like he had once smothered them. Did Scarlett know she broke him? She and Tuwawi - his sin against each was unforgivable. But how could he apologize to Scarlett when his very apology would scorn Tuwawi, whom he'd betrayed just as deep? He couldn't give his trouble to Scarlett - she wouldn't understand, and he didn't want to argue with her. Not now.

"Of course." he said, and coughed. "I'm glad you've found a place for yourself. You and Adlartok deserve to live in peace."