Wheeling Gull Isle the up & up

Despite her greatly-improved circumstances since rejoining her Shadow, Doe had gained very little weight. This was due, in part, to the bone that almost always occupied her mouth. She couldn't eat when she was guarding Syzmon, and she was guarding Szymon whenever she thought there was someone else around.

Today, though, the bone-white male was hidden away somewhere deep in the island, where she'd circled and backtracked and rolled around until her scent could not possibly lead to him - not even with the best nose in the wilds. And Doe skittered down to the common areas, feeling strangely vulnerable without the bone to hold - as though it had been protecting her, rather than she, it. But even if that were the case, she felt secure in its absence; no one could steal it from her if no one could see it.

The rail-thin shewolf stood by the river and began to fish.