Blacktail Deer Plateau i bring trouble, i'm sorry, don't hurt me

Grayday continued to groom the poor, sick girl, wondering when @Kieran Adrien would be back. He considered howling for Pema, but decided it would do Sorrel better to get some rest at this point, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to calm her down a second time.

Instead, he just tried to curl around her as warmly and comfortably as possbile, and tried to think of more things to say in the same plodding tones that he'd used to speak of the warmer months.

"It was in the summertime that I met your dad and Kieran," said Grayday, figuring she might not have heard about this yet. Or if she had, it had been from Kieran, and they would likely be telling things differently. "Only a few months after you disappeared. They were missing you - I never made the connection. They didn't mention you by name. I think it hurt them too badly. And they never did stop missing you or your mom, but they got a little better, over time," he explained, his voice growing a bit sad.

"Your dad and I founded this pack in a valley to the east. We lived in that territory a few months before coming here for the wintertime. Kieran turned out to be a great hunter, and your daddy - well. He's a good friend to me, still, and a great protector of our pack." He gave a tiny sigh. "I wish you could've been with us all along. But we got you back, now. I hope that counts for something."