Swiftcurrent Creek dogs howling at the moon

The only response Fox offered fell dull and flat. So she was curious, but not curious-curious. Not even slightly. It was just a show, a minor feigning of interest. Had he known her exact thoughts and the fact that she had only just then clued in to the obvious other option to the question, if not mates or related, then what?, it would have annoyed him. He would have blinked incredulously. As it was, he felt the drab edge of boredom approaching as she then proceeded to ask another question of which it appeared she did not really care to know the answer. If she had, she would have asked at the borders, where a question of that sort really belonged.

I intend to keep the caches brimming while I’m here, and if I find it fitting, I may stay, he answered rather coolly and slightly ambivalently. He wasn’t an excitable young foal eager to flaunt ambition haphazardly, and neither was he a mindless lout. He’d been in her ranks for less than a week and he barely knew her or the rest of the pack. He felt sure she wouldn’t take it personally. But if I only wanted to survive another season I would have stayed where I started, he assured her unabashedly. He had no desire yet to rush into it, but leadership was in his DNA and family tree; few of the Redefin line were naturally content to only follow.