Dragoncrest Cliffs let me tell you that I saw your boyfriend walking down the road

at first, lafayette's question elicited a probe of hideousness in sobeille. who's ajei? he asked, as if the relations of his sister meant nothing to him. sobeille regathered herself and remembered he was only male. he -- along with his gender -- could not be expected to understand the intricate network of feminine tribeship.

sobeille's eyes turned flat. she listened -- with growing malcontent -- to mireille's account. was it circumstance or coincidence that both wolves that wronged her shared the same pelt color? she tried to remember if the man's eyes were ringed in white -- but truthfully, all she could remember was the vivid color red.

mae, hopefully dead. she did not know.

de wolf dat pinned me smelled like dat. an' he was large wit' black fur. sobeille proclaimed, adding another face to her growing list of targets.

by all accounts, he'd spared her when he should not; but that earned no mercy from the saltwater wolf, whose skin still felt sullied by the violent touch of man.

dey were makin' fun of ajei. called her 'orrible t'ings. she told me, an' was crying. here some emotion stirred behind the conflicted murk of sobeille's usually strangely absent gaze. i went to teach dem a lesson.