Honeyed Pasture beta

They halted. Dutch didn't understand the look on his father's face for all of a moment, and then he realized a lot more context would be necessary. Then it was his turn to broadcast his sympathetic amusement. Emphasis on the amusement.

"You are a fox in a rabbit field, old man," he said in their shared tongue, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "He knows. But when I came to them that night — I told him that I would come to stay after things were settled here." And it turned out that he was settling here, little by little. Slowly but surely. "I want both of these things. This, and him. His family. But I cannot push the two together."

He supposed he knew the answers. This was not a problem he needed help solving. He would go to them or he wouldn't. Or maybe he would split his time between the two packs. It would take talking to Chakliux again before he would decide for sure.

"Who made the first move?" he asked, giving in to his curiosity partially just to shift the subject. "You or her?"