Bearclaw Valley politics

"mine?" ancelin rejoined in surprise. had anyone ever asked him that? it'd been so long since he considered anything besides the valley. "i was born across the rising sun in the taiga. a place called redtail rise. my dad and my aunt were the most important there."
scratching behind his ear, he tried to get to the meat of it and out. shit still hurt, even now. less of course, but it annoyed him to feel the pangs at all.
"strong pack. warriors and hunters. but my aunt wanted redtails to follow. her kids. uh. mom left. dad left to find mom. then my brother left. then dad came back — wait, i'm not remembering it right," ancelin chuckled. "ah, man. they all left, i guess, one by one. then my aunt was killed. ameline and i wanted to take it over. were ready to fight. but — we talked ourselves out of it. not worth the scrap with the cousins. so we left."
he stared at the horizon. "we visited, she and i, not too long ago. place is empty. dried up. dead. just like that. maybe it's what we would have been if we hadn't stayed."
so much left out. he felt tvar could fill in the gaps.