Moonspear twelve carat toothache

She was disappointed at first, when the joke did not seem to register, but then Meerkat got it. Keen only grinned at her in response. She stood back, and then settled when it seemed like that was the right thing to do, a polite but somewhat stiff houseguest. Keen didn't often do social calls. More often her choice of home was centered entirely on her work.
But that was not the case here. So when Meerkat asked about her history, Keen nodded slowly. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear her actual personal history or just something she'd collected, but seeing as the former was off the table entirely, she chose to assume the latter.
I can tell you the history of the last pack I was in, Keen offered carefully. It's brief, but charming. Thank you, by the way. She glanced to the deer leg as she added the last bit.
Assuming Meerkat agreed, she went on, leaving out many personal details out of respect more than anything else. Second generation family pack. The founders had a forbidden romance thing going on; a mountain princess and a lowland thief. The princess was the pursuer, if you can believe it. Keen still couldn't, herself. If she were a princess, she would probably be a lot pickier about who she dated. They met when he was stealing from the mountain pack's cache one night. It was love at first sight, but he fled in fear, so she searched for him. She was in the middle of her first heat by the time she found him, weeks later. They eloped.
Turns out married life can really change a guy, She laughed slightly. From what his children said, dude was incredibly uptight. They started a pack, but it was small, and famine hit the forest they'd claimed right after their children were born. Everything just started to die. They persevered for a few months, but when they lost a packmate to starvation, they decided to relocate, It was actually a child they'd lost, but Keen tactfully avoided that detail. Their children grew up traveling, while they searched for a new home. You can tell, to be honest. The current alpha can't stay put for more than a day; his beta runs the place. They claimed a bay eventually, really pretty place. Like a permanent beach vacation.
It gets kind of sad after that, Keen finished, uncertain Meerkat would want to hear the rest of the tale. But the pack is doing okay now. Expecting kids when I left.