Moonsong Glacier fall at your feet

Valiant didn't know what to say to this. He only grunted in vague agreement, lost in thoughts of what might have become of the woman — for he no longer believed she was gone of her own volition. He would not say this to her friend, however, just as he would not tell Tulugak of Dutch's new family. Surely this duty must fall to someone else?

Valiant, for once, felt it was outside of his purview.

He called for Ariadne a few more times, and for his young niece as well. When neither were apparent, he turned away to go.

"He was always there for me," he agreed, "Even when it shoulda been the other way around. C'mon — they ain't up here."

He did not want to be in this place. He wanted to go home to his own babies.

"He told me about you, I think," he said vaguely as they traveled. "He was real cut up when you had to go home. I heard him sing, sometimes."

And he had moved on, apparently! But Valiant had been much aggrieved by this past sorrow. When morning star returned, it'd sounded like things might get serious. Then they hadn't, and Valiant had stopped hearing about her at all.

Silence was always telling, with the panther. Valiant just wasn't sure what all it was meant to say.