Emberwood Swore I’d never let a man in my way.

The question that was posed felt almost impolite until Easy remembered that not everyone had such a difficult relationship with their mother. She took a moment to brush away the unease before replying, "Oh, well -- we don't really know each other that well. I didn't even realize she'd left."

Which hurt, a little, now that she thought about it. But there was no point in resenting the woman for it; Easy had not really talked to her about leaving the territory on her own outings, had she?

"I joined this pack to get to know her a little, but that hasn't been working out the way I hoped it would," she said gently, as if breaking a hard truth to the other woman rather than admitting one to herself. "But that's the way of things, sometimes." Easy had no desire to speak more on the subject; it was something she'd been putting off thinking about, merely because she knew it would make sticking around that much more difficult. She wanted to put in the time somewhere, and since she'd already invested a while in this pack, it might as well be here. Even if it wouldn't bring her closer to her mother.

"How are you?" she asked, hoping to make a connection with someone.