My ex man brought his new girlfriend

“Then she was a fool,” Ptarmigan concluded off the edge of his own words. Cara had been well outmatched by the older female, though she had found a spark of ferocity in herself. It had not been enough to overcome a wolf in her prime. Perhaps Cara should have thought better of challenging Ptarmigan for age alone, but pride did funny things to wolves. Pride would do funny things to her someday, but for the time being, it was all a game. They played charades.

“Why would this idol select a yearling?” she wondered aloud, cataloguing the names for future reference. Jinx must have been the mad female Ptarmigan had shoved into the river, and Cara the child who had taken her place. But in all of Ptarmigan's years she had never thought to bow her head to a yearling. Yearlings were unseasoned, practically incapable of taking care of themselves, let alone others. They lacked the maturity, at least how she saw it.

“You can't tell me you'd prefer to bow your head to a child,” she accused, though she kept her tone devoid of any frustration. Kaname had been nothing but calm and collected, and since Ptarmigan was truly bluffing her way through the encounter, she was made nervous by it.