Bearclaw Valley they think of her as heartless, but she wasn't heartless

brightly and free of the troubles of the world, merrick sailed ahead. already it seemed he had forgotten the troubling wolves that had just darkened their doorsteps a moment before. perhaps she ought to have taken a page from his book, his dam thought wryly and with a sigh she sought to shake the melancholy from settling within her mind.

merrick had stumbled back with a gasp, which drew indra's alarmed gaze to a sudden explosion of fluttering wings in the brush. she hadn't seen a dove in some time, and doubtless in the quiet of the shadows the dove had been sleeping -- right until merrick blundered into it.

"a dove," indra answered automatically, knowing there likely would be a battery of questions following the sight of the bird's retreat. wazzat? why'd it leave mahmee? wheresit goin', mahmee?'