Blackfoot Forest while you eggheads is on the wall preparing answers

ursus.

the name strikes within her a note of familiarity: for how could it not when it'd been on the lips of every saint like a witching hour uttered curse?

but the bone to pick with ursus had belonged to the ex-grandmaster. not her. the circumstances of which pack she'd been born into were unfortunate but were what they were; despite that it clung to her like an unwanted shadow.

val goes onto to tell her that he grew up in a place called sapphique — not a pack she's heard of admittedly — and it begs the question of why he left to her lips.

why'd you leave? she inquires softly, curious; for they were trading information, weren't they? his inquiry about mereo gives mulberry soft pause; a moment to chew on the inside of her cheek as she considers it. how much was she to tell? was it a secret? things she hadn't asked during her border interview. questions that hadn't crossed her mind until she was in the situation where she needed them answered.

very militaristic. the vague truth seemed the best option here. no details were offered but all that adjective captured mereo in it's all.