Sun Mote Copse Now I know that light guided me here

for @Waawaashkeshi or/and any Summerwalkers?

In the end, Merel had ventured west as well.

She had passed by many claimed lands and kept well clear of their borders. Few packs welcomed transients. There was a part of her that still could not bear the idea of settling. Settling meant giving up. Settling meant letting her guard down.

She would have passed these scent markers, too, if she had not sighted the golden wolf. Her belly was unmistakably rounded. She was with child.

Merel froze. Something squeezed in her chest, hard and agonizing, and she wanted to turn and run. But before she could, she was seen. Perhaps she still could have fled; the woman was in no condition to chase her. But Merel couldn’t make her limbs move.

You look radiant, she said instead, her tail lowered with respect.