Crack the code

You know I'm on this like white on rice...!

Koontz returned to the plateau and took a catnap at the foot of a tree before rising and heading back toward the borders to begin a midday patrol. En route, she ran into her brother quite by accident. Happy to see him for the first time in the past day or so, she gladly veered off her original course and trotted forward to meet him. Her tail waved in an upward arch, a quiet symbol of her new status, as she touched noses with Ray.

"Hey, I was beginning to wonder if I'd lost you somehow," she quipped, tail still slowly beating the air. Ears pricked, she looked around at the summery forest around them. "What're you up to—just checking out the place? I'm now extremely well-acquainted with the borders but I haven't had much time to explore the interior," she admitted, realizing how strange that was considering her forays outside the territory. Shouldn't she get to know her home first, before anything else?

"Come on, let's explore together," she suggested, bumping her shoulder companionably against Ray's. "We can look for a den, if you'd like to share one," she added, thinking of Ariston's mention of it the previous day.