Wapun Meadow soon it will be cold enough to build fires

hope it's ok to pop in! just a cameo so skip me in the next turn - plz no bite my son

merrick's presence was sorely noticed, as indra and laurel were indeed on high alert in light of lucas' inexplicable disappearance. yet the dark cub had a headstart on his mother, and had made it well past the formidable mouth of bearclaw before his mother made note of his absence.

she followed his trail in a berserk manner, already assuming the worst -- yet as she trailed the soft imprints in the ground, and caught his figure in the distance, she saw also the pale form of a ghost both familiar and alien at once.

indra would have been stupid to not recognize then that girl; it was not her that she recognized, but her shared features with nunataq and marten; the quickening slope of her cheeks, the proud stop on her muzzle, even the slant of her eyes..

indra halted, just barely on the fringe of the meadow. as much as she desired to whisk merrick back to safety, a part of her wanted her unruly son to be socialized; and a deeper part of her still bore no ill-will for the third child of xan's coupling, who as far as indra was concerned, like nunataq and marten shared no burden of blame for her parent's actions.