Arrow Lake The divine radiance of invertebrates

"I'd say the same, if you'd given me a name," Pied replied with good-natured sarcasm, intuiting that he withheld it for a reason, though she couldn't think of why. She didn't press the matter, though.

The agouti male came closer. In contrast to the other's reticence, he offered a name and nothing else. Pied's lips twitched slightly and she dipped her snout. "Nice to make your acquaintance, Scimitar," she said with tired warmth.

With introductions largely out of the way, Pied turned toward the white male (she thought of him as Pale Face) and then glanced at Scimitar, hoping to include them both in her gaze as she said, "So, do you either of you live in a pack around here?"

They both appeared robustly healthy, which almost certainly meant they weren't loners. It was rather obvious they weren't from the same pack, so that meant that there were two potential places Pied could go should she throw in the towel and give up on Bon Dye. Her stomach clenched at the thought and she held her breath without realizing it, her eyes lingering absently on Scimitar's handsome features in particular as she awaited their answers.