The Heartwood aupaqtuq ⏜

So Kukutux was a caregiver in Moonspear too! That gave Lane some hope. If Kukutux could be employed in a traditional trade as well as make time for her matchmaking profession, who says Lane couldn't do the same? Well, not with matchmaking exactly-- Lane didn't have a clue in the world what made for a good mateship-- but you know, with whatever else she decided she wanted to do. She didn't have to just be a doctor and that's it. She didn't have to be like her parents. 

Was that just a tiny bit of frustration? Lane hadn't meant to cause that by supplying the word for Kukutux!

"I like the way you talk," Lane insisted. She really did! Kukutux's detailed explanations left little room for error in interpretation. There were a million different things that could be meant or implied by the word boyfriend, but "boy her age who she knows for some seasons," was delightfully straightforward. And straightforward was exactly how Lane liked things. 

"Sure!" Lane agreed without hesitation. As soon as everything slowed down and the weather was safe for travel, she'd love to visit Kukutux at her home and learn a little more about the local flora. As far as Lane knew, she was free to come and go as she pleased between the Glen and the mountain. That was how sister-packs worked, she was pretty sure. Lane was still a little fuzzy on the specifics, since she hadn't had much experience with packs so far. 

"Oh, I've been around the taiga in the north, and in the flatlands at the foot of the northern mountain chain. And around here, on the eastern end of the woodlands." She'd been a long way since departing the Outer Wilds, and she probably would have travelled further still if not for the blizzard and her lingering paw infection.

"But it's not really a journey," she explained. Calling it a journey implied that there was a beginning and an end. "It's more just like.. my life. I don't really belong anywhere." ..Or to anyone. Her parents had belonged in the sense that they belonged to each other. Home had not been a place, but a person.