Blacktail Deer Plateau A Stranger to This World

Even as the question left her lips, Pied became suddenly suspicious. As she watched him fidget, comprehension fully dawned on her. She experienced a mix of emotions, from mortification to incredulity to bemusement. Is this real life? she found herself wondering, her lips parting slightly in a silent expression of bewilderment when he eventually spat out the question.

Pied struggled with what to say and how to react. Finally, a single word unwittingly popped out of her mouth: "Why?" As it hovered on the air between them, her brow arched quizzically. They hardly knew one another and did not even live in the same pack. What on earth had compelled him to come seek her out and ask him to be his lifelong companion?