Deepwood Weald You can't keep them all caged

Though she'd planned to stick around Beau for the length of her heat, Easy had gotten bored of it before too long had passed. If a few days hadn't done the trick, then surely, it just wasn't meant to be! So she'd gone her own way, neatly dodging her male relations for the time being — just to avoid any awkward encounters.

She wandered the weald, remembering the day that Dutch and Simbelmyne's children had been born here. She'd come to wish them well, but hadn't been able to stay long. So many things had fallen apart since then, as was often the way of things, but as far as Easy knew, Dutch had stuck by his wife.

"I hope you can see him, Adi," she said, looking off toward the ocean instead of up at the sky, where she might usually address words to the dead. "He's just like you, sometimes. All the good things, and some of the bad, too — but just like you, it only makes me love him more."

Her own scent eclipsed the scent of another. She was entirely unaware that she was alone until she wandered into the exact clearing that the woman occupied. The strong scent of garlic mixed unpleasantly with heady scent of her season.

"You aren't going to eat that, are you?" she asked, saying the first thing that came to mind.