Otter Creek New and Untested Lands

Nanook couldn't remember the last time she had spoken of her mother - but here they were now. She had long worked through the sorrow and guilt of Scarlett's death. Age and forgiveness had healed her, yet not before she had lost so much time dwelling in the mire of all she had erroneously blamed herself for. Her thoughts filled with better things these days, truer things - the present life, her family's wellbeing, the relief she'd finally found - yet now beneath the sorrow etched along Siarut's frame, Nanook found her mind drifting, and slowly, her gaze shifted toward the ground.

"It was hard." That felt like such an understatement. As searching as his words came, she found hers just as difficult to find. Nanook had dealt with the grief, but she still didn't know how to speak of it. How to receive comfort, or how to give it. And for this, she appreciated his efforts even more. "In part, I know I'm the wolf I am today because of what I've lost," She lifted her head and set her copper gaze back on him. "All the same, I never want to live through it again, and I never wish such a thing on anyone." She felt nothing short of relief that Siarut had been spared this grief; that though he may wander many miles from home, the loyalty of his family would lead him to leave the many to seek and find the one they'd lost. A fear and sorrow of its own, and a genuine care struck her to weave her words back to him. "Did you ever find your sister?"