Blacktail Deer Plateau preparing for winter

Grezig’s brows drew together at Ruenna’s hesitant tone. She sat down after hearing the girl’s question, realizing they might be sitting there for a while. Well, there went her plans for the morning, but that was okay. “Well…” Grezig sucked in a breath and let it out, thinking. “I went away for a few weeks to try and find Illidan’s family. I traveled east, to one of the only packs I know of, but the woman there had no information for me. I also met a pack leader along a creek—I think I remember them from before we settled at the Plateau—but he had nothing to tell me, either.” Grezig sighed. “I came back empty-handed.” She looked out at the trees. “I might go and search in a new direction in the spring. I don’t want to go looking anymore for now because I’d like to be here for winter. It would be dangerous to leave now.”

Grezig was silent for a time, thinking about nothing in particular, and then she came back to herself. “Anyway, that’s where I’ve been.” She turned and gave a brief, rare smile to Ruenna, and then it disappeared from her face as if it had never been there. Ruenna did not need to know why Grezig had felt the need to leave in the first place.