Ouroboros Spine Fox-squirrels!

Her reasons were very valid for choosing her home, though it seemed there was nothing of massive interest for him to retain from that. Mordecai supposed many wolves chose homes like their own, and in a way he could have reasoned that Jinx had ran things similar to his father. Feverish in the way they had handled things, but reasonable, perhaps even kind in their rule, they had garnered loyalty and retained their followers. But those that strayed, even straight up abandoned them had their own consequences. Mordecai had seen Leviathan turn away those who had left them, even when their reasons had been valid. And sometimes, Mordecai had not agreed with those reasons.

But they were not tantamount to what had been his eventual departure from his home. There was no turmoil, no underlying discord that had forced him out. He had simply chosen to disperse, as in a way many males did from their birthplaces. But he had never sought out a claim of his own. Coming into control of the Spine had been as much out of necessity as it had some sort of inward pride he had not realized he harbored. Ptarmigan had brought that out in him, however brief and rough their meetings had been. Yet, for as much as he was lost in momentary thought, so was she.

“It's fine. It happens to us all,” he said, forging a genuine smile. “But you were lucky to happen upon someone who would take you in. With winter setting in, I'm sure there are packs who have turned away extra mouths to feed. I can't speak for the packs here, but I have had my experience in the past with those who care not for travellers.” Even he had been turned away, in the past. Perhaps there would even come a time when the Spine simply chose to cast him out, or maybe he would leave it in time too. He had not thought that far ahead, only to the winter that lied before them.