Ravensblood Forest anytime

The stranger—henceforth referred to as Sandy—bellowed back, clearly game for a long-distance conversation. He pointed out the missed opportunity for a joke and she snorted, her tail waving slowly to show him that she'd acknowledged his quip and found it humorous.

Rather suddenly, Pied heard her grandmother's voice in her head, so loudly and clearly that she actually looked around, fearful of spotting March Owl's ghost. She didn't see any spectral evidence of the large white she-wolf, so Mo hadn't died and come here to haunt her—a good thing on several levels. Pied sighed a breath of relief, then furrowed her brow as the voice repeated itself in her head.

'I can see your balls from here, you know,' is what you need to say right now, Mo's voice instructed, the clarity making Pied wonder. I can't say that! she protested her grandmother. The yearling was not as uncouth as her mother's mother. C'mon, you prude! He'll find it hilarious!

"Fine," she huffed, half-seriously and half-playfully before raising her voice and belting out something very uncharacteristic for Pied Starbuck indeed: "You know, Sandy, I can see your balls from down here!" As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt a flash of heat across her entire body and she lowered her eyes and sucked in her lip, holding back a guffaw of embarrassment.