Redtail Rise ritenuto

Ashlar was disappointed when she just nodded but he tried not to let it show. Instead the bard smiled and nodded back, automatically, without really meaning to. I thought so. He hadn't recognized her but she walked like she was supposed to be here. He was glad she wasn't trespassing.

There were just so few wolves here he could talk with and that number seemed to be getting lower all the time. Performing his duties, and trying to heal, was harder when they could not tell him what was wrong. Ashlar felt that familiar self-doubt creep slowly across him. What if he couldn't do it?

He swallowed awkwardly, then ducked his muzzle towards the ground. This was his problem and wasn't hers.

S...sorry. I guess... do... do you have a name? He glanced up at her. It's okay, if you don't. I'm Ashlar. There were so many of them without names. The silent one (dubbed Augur), his mate and their children. She couldn't be the silent one then, to him, or known by the relation. She needed something of her own he could know her as.