Duskfire Glacier Letdowns'll get you, and the critics will test you.

She heard the tenseness of the other wolf's tone as she answered Taki's question. Why did she have to go and ask a personal question? It wasn't that she didn't care or feel genuine empathy for the female, she just was so bad with these situations. Where was Sia when she needed him? He was much better with this stuff. She could understand where Aqakuktuq was coming from, though. If something happened to her family, she wouldn't know what to do. Just the thought caused a tightening in her chest.

She awkwardly glanced at her packmate. I didn't mean to bring up something painful, was all she could manage to say. Empathetic words were not her forte. She sniffed the ground then, trying to find a place that needed marking, but scent markers were already there. She continued on in silence, waiting to see if the female wanted to say anything else on the subject of her family.