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She was no expert, though it sounded to Meerkat like the subsequent howl was quieter than the first. Had she been older, she might have connected the dots and realized that Hydra was actually moving further away. But she was too young to make much more than an observation before once more jerking her head toward her mother.

-"SHE SAYS WE GOTTA GO TO THE GLEN!"- Meerkat hollered excitedly before abruptly darting in a randomly chosen direction. She zoomed about a hundred yards before braking to a halt and glancing back at the two darker wolves, who hadn't so much as budged.

Snorting like a wild filly, Meerkat raced back toward them. She could see them signing, a look of consternation pulling Towhee's features into a frown. She shook her head at Fig before turning her attention to the youngster, now bouncing from foot to foot with impatience.

-"The glen is too far,"- the Regent explained to the pup. -"I'm sorry, Meerkat, but we can't go there today. You'll have to tell Hydra we'll meet her another day."- She looked apologetic as she conveyed this to her daughter.

Meerkat fell still and blinked, lips pursing into an uncharacteristic frown. -"Pretty please?!"- she cajoled, remembering to keep her tone quieter, for Fig's sake, at least.

But Towhee only shook her head and stood her ground. -"Tell Hydra what I said. And introduce yourself while you're at it. We should've started with that. Tell her you're Towhee's kiddo and then tell her a fun fact about yourself."- She smiled and reached out to pat the child on the head.

Meerkat heaved a sigh, then nodded her resigned understanding before ducking out from beneath her mom's paw. She squeezed her eyes shut and bayed, "Mama says it's too far and we'll have to meet you some other day! Hi, my name is Meerkat, and I wanna be a scoot!" She totally forgot to mention she was Towhee's crotch fruit.

Her eyes flicked sharply to Fig when he didn't quite manage to stifle a snort. Towhee glanced over at him, then back at her daughter curiously, wondering what she'd said to elicit that reaction from the yearling. But he didn't translate and Meerkat didn't repeat the howled message, just grinned and batted at her elder brother while they waited for the next reply.

They both stilled when one of those smaller voices rose again, bringing an even bigger smile to Meerkat's face.