Wapun Meadow when i was a younger man, looking for a pot of gold

imbued as she was in bitter thought, indra reflected back on all that had transpired in bearclaw's depths. she thought of xan, and reigi - she thought of the strange man and his posse of wives (a most unorthodox and untenable thing, if you had asked her), she thought of laurel's ascension to leadership and their bitter departure.

she thought of merrick, unruly prince of bearclaw - a crowned tyrant uprooted to peonic station in lost creek hollow. a frown fluttered across her features; her son, who had chosen to stay while his mother left him behind.

in a fit of anger she suddenly tore into the hare, rending it with aggrieved snips of her teeth. in doing so, she saw a silvery apparition in the corner of her eyes. indra stiffened, focusing the full-bore of her angry gaze on the woman, who undeservingly had earned her spite simply by witnessing her small tantrum.

but indra softened her stiffened shoulders, casting her acrid gaze aside in quiet apology. the woman had done nothing but simply be present, and indra ruefully allowed her ears to fall back as she called to the pale sprite. "you're that woman from the river."