Stone Circle In Conclusion: I am a terrible pet owner.

Valiant waited eagerly for Valette to accept him into the ranks; he'd had no real doubt that she would. She was supposed to be family, after all, and after all his family had gone through to keep him with wolves who would take care of him, he was programed to believe that they would always be there and do right for you. Why should Valette be any different?

But the first thing she said was that his father wouldn't remember him. The shock of it froze him there in the snow for a moment, so that he could only sit and stare dumbly as she went on to say that the rest of the family was there as well, and that he was welcome to join the pack. He wasn't so sure about that now, however, and he looked back at Easy and Lavender to see what they thought about that only to see that he wasn't the only one shocked by this revelation.

He looked back at Valette with his tail dipping almost between his legs. "Thank you," he said, sounding a bit dizzy and rote. He thought about turning tail and running back to his aunts and asking them to take him with them -- but Dawn and Minnow were here. That had to count for something.

"Lavender and I will be just across the valley," Easy encouraged, jabbing her nose against the base of his tail to get him going. "Your sister is here, as is mine. You'll be with good wolves."

He wanted to ask why he couldn't go home with them, but thinking about Aunt Dawn and the warm feeling he always got around her finally spurred him into motion.

"Thank you," he said again to Valette. "Please -- don't tell him I'm here. I want to talk to Aunt Dawn and see what she says about how to... how to introduce myself."