Dragoncrest Cliffs tread lightly in the heart of the forest

Before Bat could answer the question that made her stomach twist and her chest feel heavy, a third voice broke into their brief conversation. "There you are!" came Wildfire's familiar dulcet tones, striding up to the Goufa, a little out of breath. "I thought you'd run off again. Please stay close to me, Bat, you're going to give me a h—" Abruptly, the fiery she-wolf noticed the Kru and her mouth clapped shut.

It opened again a heartbeat later. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. You're Branwen?" Wildfire guessed, then motioned her smudged snout to the uncharacteristically sullen Bat. "I'm Bat's mother. One of them," she amended, the pang that hit her clear in a flash of her chestnut gaze. "Wildfire," she finished in a quieter voice.

"My nomi is Heda," Bat piped up loudly, as if to compensate for her mother's hush. She spoke the phrase entirely in Trigedaslang without really noticing, certainly not bothering to pause and ponder whether Branwen would understand her. There was almost a defensiveness about the words, as if Bat was somehow afraid that Thuringwethil might be forgotten in her absence.