Moonsong Glacier the place I want to be is somewhere in your heart

The way they met knocked the wind out him, although he couldn't say whether that was the impact or the heady swell of relief. He held her tight, dizzy with the idea that he'd just woken up from an uneasy dream.

He wondered how Tulugak felt. Her breath stirred the fur at his shoulder, and she made a sound that called an answering ache into his own throat.

"Welcome home," he said, his voice made gruff by some emotion — whatever came after grief, in the icy knowledge that her trip had not gone as they'd hoped. Guilt and sympathy clouded his joy. He held her tighter, as if all she had lost could be snapped back into place if he only squeezed hard enough.