a night so black that the darkness hummed

The last time Caiaphas had beheld the dread forest, Meldresi had been ripe with child, her slab-sided flank swollen with their presence. But now her belly supplicated them no longer, for behind the dark queen was a singular and most striking suckling concealed in the tussocks.

The Queen was as spectral as Caiaphas remembered, her pelt illuminant with the ghoulish spread of tribal branding. The waif smiled a bland smile, pushing her atonement to the dark sister. "Has the little one had seal before?" The sea-witch inquired airily, her feral gaze resting almost hungrily upon the bush that hid Potema. Yet the answer did not matter -- the smile that fell upon her muzzle was soon replaced by a stark expression of coldness not even a crow's haggard beak could rival.

"The last we spoke, your pack intrigued me. You seem a woman capable of all manner of strange and deviating things. A rare talent, one would say." The salted wretch paused, her gaze upon the woman with purpose. "As a mother, I am sure you know we go to any means to protect those we love." But she said nothing else, awaiting any curious inquiry from the spectral she-wolf before continuing.