Totoka River right down the line

Perhaps another wolf would have been wounded by such words, but Kaertok was not surprised to hear that Raleska had not spoken of him. How often did she speak of anything? It solidified in Kaertok's mind the thought that Rosalyn really did not remember him from the summer previous when he had briefly been a part of Rusalka. Granted, it had not been terribly long: a month or two at most. For whatever reason, it had impacted him. The gravity of Raleska was strong, and she had made quite the impression upon him.

He sensed that Rosalyn would not be satisfied with anything less than a more lengthy answer, based upon her prying words.

I helped her search for her mother last summer when she went missing, he said. And I was there on the coast this summer. We seem to find one another when times are tough.

It was true that he had not stuck around, but the times that they had shared were tough ones. He had been by her side when she teetered on the cusp of life and death, and it would have broken him to lose her then. As he spoke, he realized there was a better way to frame things.

When we could not find her mother, I left for a time to return to my own mother. When I returned last winter, Rusalka had moved elsewhere. It took two seasons of searching to find Raleska again, and she was... uncertain about me.

That was a very light way of putting it, but it was the truth.