Arrow Lake Because all of us are normal and to be otherwise would make us outcasts

Sadiq's concern was not misplaced, but Isilmë was very good at doing her own thing. Someday the dark-haired cub might fancy himself his sister's keeper, but it was probably the other way around. He would reach his father's height if not his stature, but Isilmë had their sire's fierce face and the attitude of a Dragedan warrior. Dragomir had his own physical strengths, but the softness of his mother played through him, too. If either of them was more in need of a bodyguard, it was probably Dragomir, who was more curious and prone to getting into things.

Ahh buh da bah, he blabbered back, not understanding in the slightest what Sadiq was asking him, and not just because the man spoke yet another foreign language. He was just too young. He read body language like a professional already, but words on tongues were harder. Sadiq's concern was noted but Dragomir was fearless at this age. What could possibly harm him in his own home, he wondered as he pressed on, presumably with the adult on his heels. There was nothing.

The point was made when a grouse flushed from a nearby bush, scaring the bejeezus out of Dragomir, whose hair flared up like porcupine quills as he threw himself to the ground.