Duskfire Glacier [j] The king is dead but the queen is alive

There was something unsettling about the way she studied him, as if she were sizing him up for an agenda known only to her. His skin tingled where her eyes met him, and in other circumstances he would have faltered. But the importance of first impressions rooted Malachi in place and though he wished to turn from her, he refrained from flinching beneath her scrutinizing gaze.

Manauia's response came somewhat of an unspoken relief to the mottled boy, not that he would let her know. Malachi allowed a brief pause to pass after her words while he seemingly considered her proposition, though his decision had already been made. "That is acceptable," he replied with a polite dip of his head. "If you need me, I'll be a howl away." With little more to say, he took his leave, backing away from the woman and nodding his head in farewell. The strange discomfort of their brief meeting lingered in his bones, but he shook the feeling off with a ruffle of his fur and he turned to enter the heart of Duskfire again.