Whitefish River name of the game

He grinned as his children arrived, first Drago and then Isi, and pushed the rabbit toward them. Here, he said softly. He gave them both apologetic looks. Eat. I know it's not a lot. . .but you've gotta keep your strength up. Prey is scarce all over the flatlands. Verx chose to ignore the sound of his own stomach rumbling rather than comment on it; even a wry jab at hunger might bring guilt into the conversation, and he didn't want to do that.

Whether or not they ate, he sat down, gazing at the kids with a solemn stare. I wanted to give you some of your history. Not your mother's side. . .I don't know enough to tell her story. But mine, at least. Tell you where I came from, why things have happened the way they have -- for the most part. It was a pretty fucking long story, honestly, but he'd try to keep it as brief as possible. He knew if he were in their shoes, he'd want brevity.

I grew up in a place called Trigeda, a ways away from here. Lots of trees and lots of wolves; it was a huge pack. We were trained to be warriors from the start, and there were other gedas, too -- Maungeda, Seageda. . .we all followed our commander, Heda. The last commander I knew was a woman named Thuringwethil. There was a big battle last autumn, and I served at her side. She made me her cheka -- her personal bodyguard.

Heda came here, he continued, to the coast, to a place called Drageda. It was her home. Of course, I went with her. I came to Drageda, and eventually, Aure joined us, too. That's where we met. Ah, the good old days. Lust and laughter and late nights. Sometimes, he longed for those nights again. More often than he'd admit, actually.

Verx cleared his throat, looking a bit sheepish. He hated that their relationship had deteriorated to the detriment of their children. He should have done better. They both should have done better.

Switching into common tongue, he continued: There were a group of wolves in an adjacent territory that we more or less claimed. It was clear they had past beef with Drageda. Prisoners were taken, battles were fought. . .it was very tense. Heda fell from the cliffs and died. Before I could figure out what to do, I was attacked by a woman who led the other group of wolves named Caiaphas. She gave me this, he said, lifting his chin to show them the scar. I almost died. Your mom was pregnant with you at the time and saved my life.

We could have stayed, but for what? Verx asked rhetorically, voice bitter. I didn't want to raise my kids in a place like that, where we had to constantly be on edge. Caiaphas attacked me for no reason, really; she could have done the same to Aure, or one of you. So we left; we went to the mountains. Leaving a geda means you're marked as a traitor for life. . .which means I can never go back to Trigeda. If I do, I'll be killed on sight.

No seeing Gavriel, or Llyr, or Ajatar or all the rest. That part of his life was closed off forever, and he took a brief moment to quietly mourn that fact before forging on. The silence gave Drago or Isi the chance to jump in if they wanted, too.