Whitebark Stream when I was a young warthog

another rueful smile, a twitch of her haggard-looking tale that was almost worth the throb of pain that followed. "I hope you don't have to be," she admitted, though knew the chances of that were slight. she knew, too, that he could and would be; despite their distance, there is something almost familiar about him that she can not place. 

he mentions round valley; a place she's never been but knows well enough. perhaps she'll visit, one day. the news he offers is surprising; she last seen easy last winter, and hadn't expected the woman to start a family of her own. "I'd no idea — what're they like?" she queries, feeling a small rush of happiness for her sister. "confused isn't always a bad thing to be," she offers, "it just means you're figuring stuff out." 

"you're always welcome here," she confirms with a smile. she doesn't expect him to join their ranks, though there is an unavoidable stab of disappointment when he says he's returning to the willows. "and the court is a good place — they helped my after I had to beat up that donovan guy," smile tugs at her muzzle, even though he'd done considerably worse damage than she'd managed to, and it had been two on one. well, he'd also been a giant. 

"walk with me?" she suggests, motioning toward the heart of the territory. "things have been okay, here," she offers, not quite knowing how to package all the good and the bad that had occurred into a neat few sentences. after a moment she adds, mirth writ across her features, "your neices and nephews are old enough to be interesting, now, if you'd like to meet them." she can't remember if Valiant had still been at the stream when she'd been pregnant; something that bothers her, for surely she should.