Blacktail Deer Plateau Maybe I'm homesick for it all

Like that, they were gone.  Rosalyn refused to be convinced they had not done a service.  She knew, however, that her own actions had not been entirely unselfish.

Even before Smokestep, family ties had brought out an ugly side in the woman.  Despite the mother that she had become, she harshly believed that putting family over crew led to destruction.  The proof was there. Smokestep's actions had led to the fall of Ironsea.  Her own had led to her isolation and, maybe, a part of the hardships in Rusalka.  Even Caiaphas' revenge had been driven by family.

She'd needed proof and she'd gotten it; they'd chosen family over pack, and Rusalka had dodged a bullet.

She was aware they'd made friends here and that those friends would not approve.  Her own children might even be some of them.  Reyes' intensity had rivaled she and Erzulie's own, but his reasons were suspect, and she wasn't sure yet what to make of it.  Aningan was upset, and Raleska... she'd cross that when they arrived there.

For now, she sat, closing her eyes and reveling in the feeling of that encounter.  It had been too long since she'd done something reckless but right and joined with a pack in a common goal.  They needed a hunt, and soon.  Her ears flicked to the birds in the trees around her, and she stood, shaking the idleness from her pelt as she did.