The Heartwood vessels

Amon laughed, and with a sheepish downcast of her eyes, Ivev wondered if she was wrong. The female had viewed herself in one, influential light for more than year. She had joined her former pack purely out of necessity, thriving on their size to help her get through winter. But Ivev had never agreed with their bloody, strange customs, and the separation between them was obvious. Ivev clung to the pack only because she was the single shaman, and her services were needed, but the disdain on her face was apparent. Perhaps it wasn't her fault- but abandoning them was a guilt she had carried on her shoulders for a long time.

His words cheered her.
I hope you're right, Ivev mused with a grin.
She hadn't put much stock into joining a pack since she had not yet met Vector, but if Amon's home was as warm as him...

Come on. Hopefully I can show it. Ivev led them out of the particularly nasty thicket Amon had been entangled in and found herself in a widely spaced stand of aspens and birch, whose autumn foilage covered a better part of the ground. Glancing over her shoulder, the bird began to walk deeper into the wood, nose close to the ground.