Dragoncrest Cliffs Say it's here where our pieces fall in place

Several of their number had left, if the whispers around the pack were to be believed. He didn't really know who Wildfire or Sequoia were and, aside from the impact it had on his pack mates, Ephraim couldn't care less about them. He did know Kiwi, though, and was surprised and a little angry to hear that she had left them. He remembered his first days in Drageda and how the cocoa pup had stood with Thuringwethil, scoffing and telling him he was saying their words wrong. In hindsight she reminded him of the commander so much that he had believed she would be the one to follow in her footsteps, but now she was natrona. Just a wolf unfit to be Dragedakru, for all her resemblance to Heda.

He couldn't wrap his head around her decision and spent his frustration rounding the borders and re-familiarizing himself with them. Bat, it seemed, had gone as well. He'd genuinely liked the long-eared girl, but he supposed he would need to put her aside as well. They were gone. Drawing in a long breath, Ephraim crested a hill where the trees were thinner and looked out across the river to the east of their claim. There was a lot to do now that he was back. Now he was Skayona, not Goufa, and it wouldn't do to seem inexperienced or irrelevant in their ranks.

So he pressed on along the borders, heading down the other side of the hill and pausing here and there to touch up the pack's markings while trying to banish his thoughts.