Arrow Lake when she and i did meet, she was bathing in the creek

thorn’s threadbare composure held until stigmata’s arrival. he could tell by the cold sweep of stigmata’s iron gaze that the liege saw through his rattled thoughts as if he were a translucent green leaf. the yearling issued a curt dip of his head, his subservience noted by the fold of his ears and the grin aversion of his eyes. 

there is news, if you would have it. he believed starting with ruenna’s news might be easier, and so, the brute derailed to the tungsten basilisk what he had learned from the plateau’s ill-fated beta. he told of the pack’s dwindling, the dispersal of their mercenaries, the coyotes in their bold conquering of caches, and finally of where ruenna lived now. 

when he finished, his gaze flickered — an indication he was perhaps not done with what he felt was an improbably long speech. i met a woman named treason.. he sighed, reluctantly unraveling his accounts of their meeting. she mentioned her pack used to live not so far from us but competition, and bears.. chased them out. if i may be so bold as to council you, it is likely they are hibernating and will give us some trouble in the spring if we have not moved on by then. oh... and she seemed to hold redshank in poor regard. he did not wish to speak ill of a packmate, and his shoulders dropped as he continued. she warned me of him, said he tried to attack their leader — and that he was crazy.