Wapun Meadow of the people who were there before

To the rambler's relief and utter bemusement, he was easily invited along to look at flowers with the pair — Polaris and Alsek. He'd orginally assumed that the pair must be mother and child, but as he closed some of the distance between them, it became clear to him that Polaris was little more than a child herself. Then he thought that these both must surely be children of Valette, being so polite and well-mannered as they were.

Well — mostly polite. Kin felt a bit self-conscious when he was acussed of talking funny. He knew his speech was not quite as polished as some of the wolves he'd met. "That, well. I don't know," he replied with a little huff of laughter, still goggling at the little child. He'd never interacted with anyone so small. Was he supposed to talk to it like a regular person?

Polaris occupied his attention for a moment. "I ain't too sure yet," he admitted, but his wagging tail begged to differ. "E'ryone I met's been real nice — but I ain't met no one but Valette, and now you two. I been out takin' a look-around, so it's only my fault."

He looked back toward the territory, but then Alsek was calling him over, and he came dutifully to inspect the flower being indicated. "My lord, what a thing," he said in as admiring a tone he could manage. Kincaid did not imagine that being an expert on flowers was very useful, but he'd long since learned that a thing didn't have to have use to have value. "I surely do. What all was this over here you was lookin' at?" he asked, turning back to the flowers that Alsek had been looking at when he'd happened upon them. "I ain't ever seen anythin' like this before."

He had, of course. It was strange to be lying about such a ridiculous thing, but strange and previously unknown instincts were urging him to make a fool of himself for the boy's sake.