Honeyed Pasture beta

The panther had not stayed more than a week or two in the spine for a few years, by then. When Aditya brought it up, he had to wonder for the first time if something had happened there — but the kids were all alive and well the last anyone had heard, and so he gave a firm shake of his head.

"No, nothing," he assured the other man. "They have your wandering spirit — and the blackbear's itchy paws."

He laughed when his father corrected himself, although Dutch did not truly mind. He had long decided that he and Aditya must stand as equals, but the things that others called him in affection were always treasured.

"By accident and happenstance," he professed, turning aside and gesturing for Aditya to join him. He would see the man fed before he could wander away again. "I joined Moonsong as it was establishing. Our leader turned out to be the flighty kind. She left behind a crowd of yearlings and myself."

And he'd had about enough of following yearlings around.

"Now you," he said, his mother's imperious nature shining through. "What has brought you this way?"