Redtail Rise above me, the sky is a river

Thank you for the great thread! I can start us a new one soon (just for the hunt) if it's okay with you.

Mulherin hardened at his stray remark. To see such sterling protectiveness from someone about half his age made Gavrel feel like a sponger, a Philistine with no anchor nor norm to centre himself. He folded his lips against his teeth.

My pack was just my family, he responded. And no, I did jack shit.

There was more than a rueful tone that sours his words. Rather, they grit across his tongue like coffee grounds, like grains of sand.

I'm self-taught, and I suck.

They struck out towards the edges of the hollow, away from the half-resurrected hinterland. When his paws met true, loamy soil again, his shoulders dropped an inch or two. He hadn't even known that he was tensing them.