Verdigris Ravine flank

We teach both to tribe children, Zoug said. Both languages, the one of Tribe and the one of Clan.

Yes, S'ari replied with a soft smile. Yes, of course. She made the word for Desert with her paws, rubbing them together. It was an apt way of signing the word, as if to dislodge the sand from one's paw pads.

She only hoped Zoug would still feel that way when he realized that her sunlings were half-wolf. She would tell no one of her tryst with the wolf from the mountains, not until after their birth, and perhaps not even then. Perhaps her children would take to her size and not their father's. There was no way to tell except to watch them grow.

She fell silent, thinking of these things.