Duskfire Glacier wind and stream in the ardennes

"Oh," she said, her sense of hope deflating. Poor Rye, she thought.

Meerkat fell silent, letting him finish, her eyes cast downward until Issorartuyok asked her if he'd offended her. Then her eyes swiftly cut to his face, then skittered sideways to her brother. He cocked his head almost comically at her, as if he was also curious about the answer to the Alpha's question.

Feeling rather flustered herself, the yearling flushed beneath her pale fur and quickly said, "No, you didn't do anything wrong." Meerkat paused, wondering if she should elaborate. "I guess I just figured you couldn't come, since you're the Alpha now. I didn't want to bother you about it, with everything else going on. You have more important things to deal with." And that was actually most of the truth.

She took a couple of breaths, collecting herself a little bit, then added, "But I realized that was kind of a dick move." Meerkat's lip twitched faintly at her little brother's loud snort. "So I wanted to invite you to come with us when I take Caracal back home in a few days."

Caracal groaned loudly. "I don't want to go home, that's so boring. Aren't you a scout? Don't you travel a bunch? Can't I be your sidekick?"

"That's not how this works and not what mom agreed to, and you know it," Meerkat replied, pretending to swat at him. She knew neither of them were being particularly serious and she actually appreciated her brother's presence and levity a lot right now.

Bringing her attention back to Issorartuyok, she tried to ignore the uptick in her heartbeat as she asked, "So?"