Verdigris Ravine 'tis time that i fare from you

S'ari smiled in amusement at his burst of words, his desire to know everything about her. Well, he'd come to the right coyote, for any Tribe member was well known for talking anyone's ear off who would listen. As he thought of his question, she kept her gaze somewhere else, giving him time to think without being stared at. (It was very hard to think sometimes when someone was staring right at you, waiting.)

Ah, she said, when he asked his question. Well, this one must understand. Perhaps S'ari misspoke earlier. There are many in S'ari's Home Tribe who are not very close to their parents. It is not for a lack of love or caring--merely that coyotes are taught to be independent very young. That, and the fact that the whole of the Tribe is considered to be a sunling's family, its parents. There is no stronger familial bond placed on parent and child over the bond of the child to the entire Tribe. Outsiders may find this to be... cold, perhaps? But S'ari thinks it is better this way--to have many mothers and fathers, instead of one each. S'ari was as close or as distant to her parents as she was to everyone else.

Now she thought on his second question. Coyote does not know how she would raise her own children. She would probably follow the Tribe's teachings, unless the father wanted differently. She shrugged. Children belong to all the Tribe, not just to S'ari. It is simply the way.

"This is The Way" -- Mando