darkly, darkly

That may have been true, that quaintness never did last. Like happiness, it may have simply been a fleeting state of mind nine times out of ten. Perhaps what they sought most of all was the return to a familiar cadence of contentness. It would come again, of that he was certain, if only for the experiences he had been through in his life.

"She's all right," he stated at first, "still having headaches here and there. Maybe not as frequently now, like the weather had something to do with it." A plausible theory, one no doubt presented to him through Harlyn at some point in their hushed conversations. Their relationship (or lack thereof) was far more complicated to him than it really was and he felt the urge to shrug, and didn't. Didn't seem right. Either way the fire had unsettled her as it had the rest of them.

So when the topic shifted to that of hunting, he was also grateful of that. There was little sense in dwelling on what had happened for too long; life went on, loudly and constant. They were all fine and rightly so, life continued onward. "It's hard to believe those kids are old enough for it," he said with a forming smile. "I guess they really do grow up fast, yet it seemed when I was a kid it just couldn't happen fast enough." Before too long he could easily have seen those children providing good contributions to the overall pack.