Thicket of Secrets And who are you?

The feeling of guilt swirling in Karina’s gut only intensified as Kova mentioned his mother “letting him come visit.” The pup knew she was way too far from the River territory, and she had been gone for way too long. She was watched by the adults of the pack pretty closely-- more so than her brothers at least-- and there was little chance that her absence had gone unnoticed. Her newfound playmate nodded enthusiastically at her suggestion that they go fishing again, and Karina came very close to reminding Kova to bring Noble along. She thought better of this at the last moment though, knowing that if the situations were reversed she wouldn’t like it at all if Kova showed more interest in her brothers than in her.  

“It was nice to meet you too,” she said instead, her voice coming out somewhat wistful. The waterfall sounded really fun, and Karina wished she could stay with her new friends instead of returning home, where she would get into trouble for leaving the territory. And then after she was done being in trouble, there was the issue of Dad still being sick. Home was a really hard place to be right now, and the distraction had been nice while it lasted. Karina had already taken up her antler half when Kova said his last goodbye, but she wagged her tail enthusiastically to return his farewell nonverbally. She turned from her new friends and began trotting up the creekbed, knowing that the creek would join with the River, and the River would lead her home. The River will always lead you home, she thought to herself, recalling the mantra that every River wolf knew.