Redhawk Caldera Your words cut deeper than a knife

@Peregrine Just tagging you for reference purposes, this thread is open to anybody.

A lot of change was happening. Even Nightjar, dense as he was, noticed it. Njal had returned, but the young warrior hadn't sought the man out, primarily because he blamed the older wolf for reneging on his promise to train him to be a warden. There was a certified healer in the pack, but Nightjar hadn't met him, perhaps because his days were spent between the rendezvous site (where Ashton was not allowed) and the borders (where a healer had no business being). Peregrine had lost sight in one eye due to some sort of trauma. Unlike the other events, Nightjar was not detached from this one, for he spent a great deal of time at the rendezvous site in the company of his injured father.

He was returning there now with a three-day-old piece of deer muscle clamped firmly in his jaws for the alpha male. The stirred earth he left in his wake was not as neat or compact as it had been before, but Nightjar was still learning how to properly cache meat. The last time he'd opened a cache, he hadn't thrown dirt back over it, and had returned the next day to find their stores missing. This time at least he had done that. He hiked his broad shoulders and began the ascent up the side of the caldera, breathing easily through his nose, as if this climb took no toll on him. Having grown up here on the slopes, and being as burly and powerful as he was, it really didn't.