Panther Park If I made it too hard for you, maybe you should've changed it

Well, buried, she clarified. It was a blizzard. I lost everyone, she added solemnly. But his question made rage churn inside her. It overpowered her sadness and made her lip curl. I don't know her name. Blackhead is what I've heard her referred to by others. Now he had spent his whole life thinking they didn't want him. 

He fired off a lot of questions. So many that it took her a second to process everything. The only two I have been able to find since the storm are Sia and Tahani, she answered first. Sia lives with a pack called Easthollow in the valley southeast of these mountains, she explained. And Tahani—she was sick and passed away not very long ago. She is buried in Arrow Lake on the eastern side of the mountains. In case he wanted to visit there. I had children last spring. I met their father while leading the glacier and went to help him found Diaspora after the storm. One of them still lives with me in Diaspora. My son and your cousin. His name is Sivulik but he also goes by Stag. She could hear the desperation in his voice as he asked about his brother and sister. I'm sorry, Aningan; I don't know where they are. She wished she could tell him something different, but she hadn't seen them since the glacier either. 

That isn't true. I'm sorry if you felt that way, really. Why would she have searched for him and vowed to murder in his name if she didn't want him? And I haven't seen Shivali since the storm either. I can only assume she didn't make it. I'm sorry. His next question had her anger rising again. I was by myself. I couldn't fight her because that would mean fighting the entire pack. And then I had children, and I couldn't just go throwing myself into danger, not without the backing of a pack, and with the earthquakes and famine, there was no way I could take my pack into a war. They all sounded like excuses, like reasons she used to justify why she had eventually abandoned him to Rusalka. I'm sorry, Aningan.