Grouse Thicket second to the right and straight on til morning

He was surprised by her tactile advance, considering the state of him, but pleased all the same that they seemed to be getting along. "Careful, or I might just decide you like the mud," he teased, bumping her back. Her next question, though, made him pause and his ears flicker uncertainly. Considering her ire over her family leaving her, she might not look kindly on his own past.

Still, he was an honest wolf.

"I grew up in a family pack - I was related to everyone there. Mom, dad, uncles, aunts, tons of cousins... and my sister Sunspot, and my brother Shale," he explained, tail wagging fiercely as he thought of his littermates. Would his parents have more, by now? Could he have siblings now that he may never meet? "And since my dad was young and my uncle was next in line... and... you know... Young males, we want something more, sometimes. And I did - a mate, a pack of my own, the chance to raise a family. So I left."

He hoped she wouldn't think too badly of him, but he plowed on ahead, wanting to get it all out before he asked her opinion.

"I wasn't ready; the world is a lot different without a pack, and I wasn't really cut out for it. I wandered for a long time before I found this place in the middle of a famine. I found a friend, but she disappeared. Or I lost her. I don't know. But I found Silvertip a little after that, and I guess you know the story from there."

Looking over at the red-furred woman, he waited for a reaction, unsure what she would think of him, now.