Duskfire Glacier a dog can smell a lie you know

Warmth colored the shepherd's cheeks beneath her freckled fur. She had not heard such words since she was a girl; the medicine woman could only smile shyly, scuffling a paw along the cave floor as if suddenly made bashful by his praise. Laughter escaped her as ticklish kisses rained down on her auds and nape but the merle grew serious when Rye continued. A hint of a smile still played on the edges of her speckled lips but she gave a firm little nod, cracked gaze of seaglass softening. 

Imaq was not a woman inclined to speaking often but she could not deny that the length of him curled warmly around her comforted her. The sight of their son playing filled her with joy, even if it did not fill the dark hole in her heart. It made such things bearable. 

Perhaps Rye couldn't understand but he could sit with her, so she needn't bear it alone.