Greatwater Lake I've lied for you, and I liked it too

the darkwood man had returned to her - yet he had not been alone. the girl he brought was his opposite: small, and round, and meek. and she had come from the place of dust. zharille did not know what to make of these things yet, and besides, her hormones were often at-odds with the rest of her.

she kept tabs on where the man took his girl, and where they made their beds. this was as much her right to know, as the matriarch, as it was tactical; she could perhaps wield this girl against khaba should he step out of line, or try to leave her again.

when she saw he was alone, she made herself known with a rumble, and approached him. he looked healthy, glossy, and otherwise undamaged; wherever he had gone, he had not been hurt. that much was a blessing. she probed at his furs for clues and could find many wolf-scents she did not know, and that made her rumbling chest shift to a deeper, more malevolent note.

she needed answers.