Whitebark Stream düsternis

He disagreed with her and Meerkat could only blink at his curt rejoinder. Was he in a rush? Was this more emergent than she realized? Her lips parted but he softened and explained why he didn't think it was necessary to fetch the leader.

The yearling didn't say anything as silence fell between them. Most leaders bore children and knew how to juggle childcare with their duties. Surely Wintersbane would at least want the opportunity to attend this impromptu rendezvous himself, regardless of what this Mahler thought.

Then Meerkat realized: he'd howled and no one had come, no one but herself. She let out a breath and nodded, then said, "Yes, if you don't mind, run it past me one more time so I can make sure I don't forget any of it."

She felt a prickle of embarrassment for needing a repetition but she quashed it. Meerkat hadn't expected the dump of information and could take better note second time around. And surely Mahler wanted this critical information passed along not just as expeditiously but as accurately as possible too.