Blacktail Deer Plateau i just cannot even

"If you travelled so far - make your journey worthwhile at least."

Bazi hesitated. Technically, the Plateau was a stop on her way home, and she felt weary now. But Osprey was pleasant, and the Creek wolf's attempt had peacekeeping had been so woefully awkward and out of place that a story might just set things right.

"I can do that," she decided out loud, and sat back down. Stories weren't her forte, but auntie Nura had been an excellent storyteller until Shar-Kali had threatened to slit her throat for the offence. But there was no Shar-Kali here to tell her off, and Bazi remembered the stories.

"Far, far north, where the sun doesn't rise for months at a time, there was this pack of wolves," she began, clearly lacking her late aunt's panache for storytelling but giving it a good go.

"The eternal darkness - that was what it was called - was about to happen. They had filled up all their caches and were hunkering down; you can't do much when it's that dark, even when your eyes get used to it."

"Every now and then, a couple of sentries would go out a bit further and make sure nothing was going to surprise them in the darkness. Two wolves went - one big warrior, and a smaller sentry. The pack waited for an hour - then two. Then three - then a whole day."

"On the second day, they thought they could hear groans in the darkness, but it didn't sound like a wolf. A wolf would have howled - this sounded like something dead; like the wind moving through rocks."

"But eventually - on the third day - they heard footsteps. It was foggy, and even the keenest eye couldn't see anything. Slowly, slowly, two shapes - one big, one small - materialized. 'You're back!' one wolf shouted, 'Where have you been!' shouted someone else... but they got no response. And as the two wolves came closer, they saw why."

"There was hardly anything left of the flesh on their faces. The skin had peeled back from their nose and jaws and muzzle and was sloughing off in black, slippery scraps. But they walked - and they moaned, hungrily, bony mouths open wide. 'Wait!' said the elder, 'Stop! ... "

Dramatic pause.

"Sometimes, on a particularly black night in the north, you can hear a chorus of moaning howls - that's when you know to go back inside, post your guards, and wait for light."

The story ended there. It was much shorter than Nura's version, and probably not as eloquent - but she had managed to get to a similar sort of end.

".. was that OK?" she asked, looking both hopeful and nervous.