Otter Creek New and Untested Lands

The look of contemplation the Ice Bear took did not strike her as a usual response to such a simple inquiry. The answer was but an easy yes or no; there was no in between, and no thinking needed, unless one had a mind still undecided how much he wanted to share.

Eventually Siarut gave an answer to the question she sought, and Nanook found her own head tilting. For the first time she wondered if he was being truthful - but as sudden as her mistrust came, she abandoned it just as fast. His face felt too real, too genuine, to be anything deceptive. While Siarut seemed a man well-guarded, she trusted his words, regardless of how hard they seemed to come.

Hearing of his reunion, Nanook's eyes warmed, and her voice leaked with genuine empathy. "I am glad." Having once been torn from her own siblings, she knew the pain of separation, and her tail waved softly against her hocks to speak her pleasure and share the contentment that he had found his family here.

The information so brightened her, that she eased to her haunches as he, too, slid into a more comfortable position on the ground. "I was with my sister for some seasons, helping raise her children and serving at her right-hand, until I was called away by a friend in the North. She was ancient, dying, wished to see me before she passed. She lived a long and full life." A fondness passed through her gaze, and she found herself sliding further, as Siarut already had, to lay herself more comfortably before him.

"I know I have a place with my sister, and she will always welcome me back. But there's much of the world left to see, and so much still to learn. So for the summer, I travel. And after that..." and she gave a wolfish shrug and half a smile, for the world was truly open before her. She could return to Easthollow, perhaps find a place with Xan, or choose a direction and just go with it, to find what new things waited for her there. Too many options to consider now, when spring wasn't even through, and so she settled with a laugh, "well, let's just make it through the summer first."