Jade Fern Grove If only I had strength to change your mind

She couldn't shake the quiver in her forelegs, even as she watched Siarut relax - and yet she found comfort in the look he gave her, and even more in the words he spoke. She had grown up without a father - but Easthollow had filled that void for Steph, Ezra, and Clary, and from the sound of his conviction, Siarut would fill that void for her newest brothers and sisters. They would grow up better than she. They would run with family, and live with the strength and the honour of the North.

And as Nanurjuk had taught her, there was reason to the world, why paws fell in line with certain paths and never crossed countless others. She knew what these children would face; she had lived through it once herself. She had helped Valette care for her brood when Ezekiel had stepped away. Her challenges were reflected in what this family faced now, and she had returned with the vaguest notion she might find something here to live for beyond herself. Maybe for this reason, she had been drawn here now. Nanook tipped her head.

"Your home is my home. Your kin is my kin." And she would leave behind the rest - her father, at least - for her brothers and sisters. For this family. For him. "Let me come."