Blacktail Deer Plateau Maybe I'm homesick for it all

A fair assessment, but wrong.  Rosalyn didn't want to belabor the point by saying it, but the beauty of a pack that was family was that you decided who fit that and who didn't.  Work didn't guarantee a seat, though it certainly helped to save one.  Agreement was just as important, as was cooperation.  It was maybe unusual to come from a Pirate, but for all the wolves she'd run with, crew had only ever been those she deemed worthy of being at her back.

Your maman is a fiercer wolf than any of us, Rosalyn said, though there was both affection and pride when she said it.  She might have the scars to bear but Erzulie had long since shown herself first to leap into a fight.  I prefer to talk, mostly.  I'm glad it didn't come to more.  She wouldn't deny she'd felt a fierce joy in flexing that side of herself, though.  It wasn't one she showed very often nowadays.

How are you, with a fight? she asked suddenly.  She'd paid little attention to their studies, preferring to let them find their own ways.  If Nieve wanted to go scouting, however, she was bound to run across trouble sooner or later.  It would be good to at least know enough to gain a head start.