Bitterroot Valley Arjunaruk

It took her a second to realize Kigipigak must be referring to Issorartuyok's visit to the caldera alongside Meerkat. Huh, she thought, it's a small world, after all...

He welcomed her to tour Moonglow's temporary outpost and meet Kukutux. Towhee went very still, thinking about what Wraen had told her about the woman. She was a little crazy, supposedly. But Meerkat had always spoken of her fondly, by contrast. Hmmm...

"What the hell," she said more to herself than to him, "sure, why not?" Wraen was dead and, it seemed, so were some of "the old ways." And Towhee herself was in the process of turning over a new leaf of epic proportions.

"Thanks, Kigipigak," she thought to pin on more directly, taking a step toward him and wondering, "Mind telling me what the heck you mean when you say 'ulaq'?"