Northstar Vale don't you know that i'm trying?

at the touch, kukutux stiffened, confused. such gestures were for female family to exchange, and only outside the company of men. kalika was a stranger. 

but she was not, came her next thought. they were andraste's followers, bonded in a different way. this was normal, then; her tension fell away. "puppies always come in spring." it did not matter who bore them. they had come to her aunts and to her mother, to her cousins. they had come to the keep. the duck would be prepared. 

it seemed that the she-wolf sought to mend whatever she had broken at their last meet. kukutux saw it, softened somewhat. "yes," she murmured. "will you help me find three stones?"

they would be placed at either end of the skin, and at its middle. she and kalika might settle at opposite sides then, stretching it between them into a softer piece of leather.

kukutux lay down the skin and began to smooth it flat with her muzzle. she could not understand why kalika would want to help her with such a monotonous task.