Larksong Grotto I don't mind a little town or drinking my coffee cold

Raleska's deadpan expression suggested to the contrary - she was serious. Her accipitrine-yellow gaze inspected the rough shoulders of the slope before slowly making their way back to Njord.

This was the type of male that Rosalyn and Erzulie willingly let into Sapphique?  The older she grew and the more wolves she met, the more Raleska realized that she was an outsider. When she was younger she had thought they were not like her -- but now she realized it was the other way around.  She was not like them.

It was strange, being on the outside and looking in. Njord, for all of his hesitation, was not necessary a wolf Raleska would immediately have assumed was a coward. If anything, her impression of him was that he was a trier, so his reservations about going uphill were met with flat disillusion.

"Fine. I'll go up the hill." Raleska finally said, flicking her dark tail as if sweeping his presence aside. She took several steps past the northerner and began picking her way carefully up the slope. Every now and then she would pause and angle her long muzzle towards any sound source she heard -- but never once did she look back to confirm Njord was still there. And that was very pointed.