Moonsong Glacier Fending for His Life and Fleeing From His Past

Listening to Hototo, Dutch could not help but think of what Nephele had said about her homeland. After hearing what had chased the other man all this way, he had to wonder if this was what the son of a king looked like. Perhaps he would be what she was looking for.

"I'll believe it when I see it," he said wryly, but in a way that invited Hototo to prove him wrong, if he was up to the task. Dutch was no stranger to tall talk like this, and he didn't doubt the stranger had skill enough to back it up.

But in a snowstorm?

He hoped they would not have the opportunity to test that out, this year.

Hototo's appetite was befitting of a male his size. Dutch left him alone for the time being, lying to the side with a bone to chew on. He was content to linger in the area indefinitely, and when asked a question, he slanted a glance in Hototo's direction before dropping the bone and licking his chops to clean them of saliva.

"Within shouting distance," he said with a beat of his tail. "There are caves further up the hillside — but the forest floor might be warmer, until we can gather enough pelts to line the stone."