Sleepy Fox Hollow Get my pretty name out of your mouth

She didn't notice Stag at first. He blended with the mountain snow so much that he might as well have ceased to exist, but his green eyes popped out at her, causing her to falter. It was embarrassing to be caught in this old place with this meaningless trinket between her teeth. Whatever had possessed Mahler to gift it to her, wrapped around a collection of feathers, was not an emotion that touched his heart. If it had, she would not be standing here, reminiscing like some moon-sick idiot.

Attempting to pass it off as nothing, she dropped it and nudged it aside. It tugged her heart to do so. She would not leave it here. She couldn't. But seeing Stag reminded her that there were more important things to do than this, and her voice was brisk, business-like, when she spoke. There was a barely detectable quaver there that she hoped he would not notice.

I met some wolves in the valley down below, she shared, yearning abruptly to reach out and brush her cheek against his neck and find some comfort for her wheezing heart in a wolf's simple contact. She pushed it away. They call themselves the Watch. They live on a ridge overlooking the valley close to where the fairies used to live. Did he know about them? No matter. They've extended an invitation to us, if you're interested. It would keep us close enough to Sagtannet to visit Phaedra and Thade freely, but far enough from the cliffs that we shouldn't need to worry about them.

All of this was delivered in the rote manner of a news anchor reeling off a scrolling list of words. Very little of it held any emotion besides the cracked numbness that shaded her days now, the exception being the mention of her children, which speared her anew. I think it might be a better idea than wandering around on the cusp of winter, she muttered, but I value your input. After all, Stag had never followed anyone but Mahler, and maybe his father before him, if he'd been old enough to recall that time. It was a huge leap of faith. Wylla was skeptical of throwing her lot in with wolves she didn't know, but it had to be better than Sagtannet, at least.