Phoenix Maplewood got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home

Wow! More than she had, even? That was a lot of siblings, but Shale was older than her, so he probably had lots more years of baby brothers and sisters under his pelt. That made good sense to Skraeling, who did not consider that Shale might have older siblings - how could he, since he was already old?

"I like to love and cuddle," she declared, nibbling at the juncture of Shale's jaw and neck to punctuate this fact. "And I like to run around. I think I can be a good hunter, but Mister Grayday wants me to work at healing too, for just in case."