Moonspear there's no one to bother me, except

A sled team sounded less like a pack to Katmai, and more like a hunting or a roving party. He thought uneasily of the band of older cousins he'd gone out exploring with earlier that year, wondering if Cosmo had also heard the distasteful (but fascinating) discussions that went on in such gatherings.

"I hope you will see them again," he offered, because this was his wish for anyone estranged from their family.

At the question, he let out a little laugh.

"No — well — "

He paused to scratch a strange scent away, momentarily distracted.

"I'm nocturnal, actually," he explained, though in truth, it'd been quite some time since he'd kept to any one schedule. "So morning is when I go to bed. Usually. Morningside is my family name, and it goes back to my great-grandfather, Grayday Morningside — or Grayday Corten, rather. He took his wife's name. But not before founding a pack at Morningside Cuesta. The family has kept the name ever since, though no more Morning wolves live at Morningside Cuesta. Many are wanderers, in fact, and don't live anywhere at all."

He tilted his head at Cosmo.

"Do you have a surname?" he asked.