Dragoncrest Cliffs starcrash

She huffed a great breath and prepared to turn and head back to her vigil at the roja den. Before she completed her pivot, however, she saw movement near the tunnel. Meerkat froze and swiveled her head, then the rest of her body, as she faced a pack mate she hardly knew.

Hey. You’re Val, right? she called out to him, eager for a distraction.

Meerkat shuffled closer, feeling her heart beating faster than usual in her chest as she made her approach. She wrote it off as anxiety over her son and Quennell, an acknowledgement which quickly shifted to guilt. She shouldn’t be out here, roaming the woods and making small talk.

She halted a few meters from him, rooted to the spot by indecision.