Sunspire Mountains he threw me on the needle bed, across my dress he laid

After Orlaith's inquiry about Esme, Riley was silent for a while. Configuring the best answer took time, but it also was a surprise to him Orlaith felt he had mentioned her -- was he overthinking her so much that the very name of her was slipping unbidden from his tongue?

The boy was troubled by this. "She is a friend." It was a good thing his fur was dark so Orlaith could not see the blush of shame that pressed his cheeks. Esme was no friend of Riley's, but he was fixated on her - and for more reasons than what went on in his garters. Every waking thought was Esme. Possibly every dream, though Riley didn't recall what he dreamt each night.

Regarding Lumiya and the mountains, Riley just shrugged. Orlaith could pave her own way, and he suspected she would do it with metaphorical fire -- any wolf that resolved to stand in her way would be cut down, by tooth or claw. "Maybe you head south. Follow the mountain ranges to the meadows, and go east until you see stones in a valley. Easthollow is there." Riley's gut twisted as he thought of his "family" -- oh yeah, those were quotation marks around "family" -- because had anyone even gone and looked for him that day he ran away? He never heard Laurel, or Valette, or Greyback call for him.. So, some family they were. "You can tell them Riley sent you." Orlaith didn't know it, but that was as close as a fuck you to Easthollow that the yearling could get.