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Lane fed her quite a bit of food for thought over the next few minutes. Meerkat opened her mouth once or twice as if about to say something, only to clap it shut. She wasn't really sure what she wanted to say, anyway. As if her emotions weren't already mixed enough, now her leader sprinkled several more ingredients into the recipe for heartache. Of course, she didn't hold it against Lane. She was only keeping it real. It wasn't her fault these sorts of things could get so dang spicy.

She looked away into the forest and caught a glimpse of Caracal's red fur through the trees. He vanished again. Meerkat stared at the spot for a long moment, processing Lane's words and her own thoughts, before facing the other woman again. She couldn't help but wonder if Imaq might be gone for good and whether Lane might still have a chance with Rye in the end. That was kind of a terrible thought. She wondered if it had crossed Lane's mind too.

"I get what you're saying," Meerkat eventually said, "but if he wanted me, he'd make sure I knew it, right? And he hasn't. And that's fine. I'm not going to fight over him, either." Her nose wrinkled. "He either wants me or he doesn't. Does that make any kind of sense at all?"

Of course, acknowledging this didn't make it easy to live through. She had been jealous of the perceived intimacy between him and Lane, she could only imagine what it would be like if she still felt this way about him come spring. Meerkat decided she really needed to work on getting over him before then, otherwise she was going to be in for more heartache. She didn't want to find herself in Lane's position.

"Maybe I shouldn't have asked him to go on the trip with me," she muttered, a sort of afterthought in response to Lane's earlier pointed question. Meerkat frowned thoughtfully.