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Kiwi looked like she might argue and Bat held her breath, which whooshed out of her when her litter mate went along with it. Her lips twitched into a faint smile and she nodded to indicate that Kiwi (the natural leader) should lead the way. Bat then drifted along behind her, roving in the general direction of the borderline.

There was no visual fence, of course, but Bat knew when they'd hit the edge of no man's land. The commander's scent was thick here, as was Dio's and Blixen's and a handful of others. The Goufa's large ears splayed and she shuffled a little more hurriedly across the invisible boundary, not because she thought she'd get in trouble—hopefully not, since she was using the buddy system—but because she wanted to move past the reminder of her ailing nomi.

She slowed again when the scent markers faded behind her silver saddled back. Bat paused to pinpoint Kiwi's location, then scanned their surroundings. It looked very much the same as their homeland, though the breeze that soughed through her pewter nape brought with it dozens of new scents that prompted her to tip her snoot upward slightly.