Northstar Vale Through the Hurt

He looked at her in amused puzzlement, shaking his head. "No, Pema," he answered, his tone serene--but with an edge of some steel he himself couldn't name or place. "Dawn's fine. I volunteered to come get you. I didn't even ask. . .just told my brother, and left."

The journey had been quick and not arduous in the least; Shale felt heartier than ever. But it wasn't something he would have undertaken had he not been asked if it hadn't been Pema he was seeking out. He was shook to discover he would leap mountains for her--had done so, in a figurative sense.

"I care about you, and I wanted you home," Shale said firmly, giving her a soft smile. "That's why it's me here, and not Dawn." Not to say Dawn didn't care about Pema--the young woman surely cared about all her packmates, as a leader should--but to pretend the girl had the same depth of feeling for the healer as he did would be asinine.