Setting: North of the Valley, treeline, Fall 2020 Characters: @JollyMutt’s Diablo, @Zoketi’s Nadia Nadia Stones weighed in her belly. It was hollowing, how familiar the feeling of grief had become. A sensation of falling into place again, yet fresh and sharp all at once. Each wolf she’d mourned differently, but the loss was the same; deep and painful. For the first few days, inescapable. For her, it was carefully balanced in the way she faced her pack. She could not break down before them. She was their pillar, their support. Not only had the pack lost a beloved member, but a skilled healer as well. It would have been less worrisome had their other high-ranked Elk totem been present, but she was away and Nadia did not know when she and her mate would return. Polarstag was capable, but the two youngest were still inexperienced. It was a whole new problem, worsened by the threat of winter’s imminent arrival. She thought briefly of the upcoming Fest, and how she would have to try
