Wheeling Gull Isle he worries: did he hear a goodbye? or even a hello?

Aiolos didn't have much for her. She let out a sigh, a brief exhalation through her nostrils, then started a bit as the eldest girl latched on. Craning her head slightly, Maegi looked at her for a long moment, her face softening, before returning her gaze to Yuelong's highest-ranked male.

Highest-ranked. . .anybody, really. Hua had been so scarce.

They're alive, she murmured. Her ears canted to catch the pup's soft, homely nursing sounds, swiveling back forward when the suckling began to subside. And safe. But he may come back. I would. Wouldn't you?

It was strange, to face a Redhawk threat so far removed from anyone and everyone. Perhaps their past would follow them to the ends of the earth.

She lifted her chin. What's wrong with Hua? Maegi asked bluntly.