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

At only one point did Dutch find anything to disagree with in her words. It was this that brought a tiny frown to his face, but not one that lingered long. He listened, as he had promised to do, and turned her words over once, twice in his mind before he replied:

"I think that people can be ugly and cruel," he said at length. "Perhaps I am naive to think that I will not be. But I do not believe that it is love on its own that is the cause. I think that love is the answer."

His smile was wry, but true and without any trace of hurt feelings.

"Even if it is the platonic love of kinship," he assured once more. Truly, if that was all she was willing to entertain, Dutch could live with that. "I would like to know you, too, Tulugak. Ulloriaq," he said, his tail sweeping the snow. "But first, I would like to see you fed and rested. Come and eat?"

He drew away only enough to turn toward the inner territories, and then he waited for her to step beside him.

"Many faces have changed," he said. "I can tell you about them, if you are not too road-weary to hear."