Stavanger Bay she brought the sugar and the mint

The sudden sound did indeed startle the fledgling doctor - her ears twitched uncontrollably for the duration of it and then for several moments after, and her eyes were comically round in her bewilderment. She'd never seen such behavior before, and while she was not quite worried about her friend, she was certainly confused.

But when the sound ended, and its full affect was upon her, she understood. All at once, she went completely still - ears and all - and stared up at the pale wolf before her.

"Ka-ka'yi!" she shot back in a near snicker, surprised and flattered by the gesture. You read my mind. How strange that you speak my name just as I am lamenting your silence. "You know just what to say," Doe said softly, darting her head forward to nuzzle her scabby nose at the joining of his neck and jaw. Once there, she lingered, pressing adoring licks to his salty fur, made sweet by her own scent of mint and sweet flowers - gathered for the plum whiskey, of course.

"We have to get some plums," she said weakly, a little embarrassed by her actions. This was the wolf whose brood she would bear - that was already a given, in her eyes. But she had never courted anyone before; her first heat had been spent in the solitude of her wanderings, and her second was only just drawing near. She did not know how to gain Szymon's favor. That's a worry for another day, she told herself firmly, pressing on. "Overripe ones that have fallen from the tree and have bourne the heat of the sun. We will know the right ones by the sharp, sick smell they give off."