Sun Mote Copse Palm Trees in the Snow

"It's a long story, but I will try to be brief, where it's possible," Wraen explained, fell silent for a while, going over all of the details in her head and picking out the ones that mattered the most. "I was offered a place among then leaders of Sunspire - my brother Terance, Rannoch, Liffey - not too long after we had left Moonspear. The latter two had not really felt safe among the Ostregas and there were some differences in opinion and some clashing personalities and we left, hoping to start something entirely new and be better than, what we left behind," she paused, having summed up all of the tumultous leaving process that had lasted a week or so.

"I was thrilled in the beginning, I thought I could prove a point to my former leaders that I am better than them and that I could make a difference. That I could do no wrong, because... well, you do realize, where this is going?" she asked with a rueful smile.  "Anyway I was on the wave for a while and then first crashes came along. Rannoch and Liffey wanted to have puppies, Terance had been charmed by a mysterious stranger and she too was expecting. And then there was a she-wolf, who had joined our group already pregnant. I was concerned about the number of kids that were going to be in our care and how there weren't enough adults or resources to provide them. I could have voiced my opinion in a polite and mature way, but I lashed out at Terance, when he came to share the good news about his family. And we were on the rocks ever since," she said, now with a very guilty look in her eyes. 

"There were some other issues with Moonspear wolves that did not improve our relationship. Then by the mid-summer we had outlived the resources of the mountain and all I recall from that time is being constantly on the move, hunting, bringing back food, sleeping, hunting again. To top that Terance's family collapsed, his girlfriend left him with his kids in tow, and so did the she-wolf, who had been pregnant at the time of joining. And it felt so, so unfair at that point, because I and the rest had worked so hard to feed all of them and now they simply got up and left,"  she had fixed her issues with Seabreeze months later, but it did not change the fact that it had hurt her very deeply. 

"And then, when the pack decided to leave, I realized that I could not go on like this. I was tired, I was burnt out and I had a feeling that me and Terance will be on better terms, if we did not live together anymore," she still stood by her belief. She was happier and she probably never burdened her brother's mind either. "Wasn't so short after all," she finished, looking up hopefully at Elwood and waiting to hear the wise man's verdict.