She observed.

From the shade of the cloud-tree, with the cool of the hut wall behind her, Skywise watched the desert healer. Despite that she had been the second of her tribe to see them, she had been too astonished at the existence of other elves to notice the differences as Cutter had. Now as she thought about it, she wondered how lonely these elves must have been without wolves. She wondered how they couldn’t miss trees... real trees, and the cool shade of forest. They seemed to enjoy the light sun as much as she enjoyed the light of the stars, and the sun certainly seemed to enjoy them. They shaped their own metals, worked clay, and made like-furs called cloth...

But they were elves, Skywise mused, ‘Of one heart and one mind.’ It was the truth; after the raid on Sorrow’s End, after they had met Savah, the Wolfriders and the Sun Villagers had connected in such a way...

Almost like the more glorified howls to be heard of recognition.

And so unlike Cutter’s recognition.

Which almost served to force the contrast.

Now... what was she thinking of? Oh, right. Leetah.

Even as Skywise recalled the thought, the dark-skinned beauty disappeared into her hut with a flourish of beads. While that did little to dissuade the stargazer’s vigil – there were plenty of attractive bodies here and there, she could wait – Cutter’s unlikely appearance made her reconsider.

Finally, Skywise grinned. Cutter was ready to speak to the healer at last, and in her logic that leapt straight to cub. Satisfied, she turned to leave things in her chief’s young, yet perfectly capable hands.

Around the nearest hut, she found a trio of maidens busied by the morning’s gossip. With them, perhaps a mere bystander, was a youth who stood quietly and watched. His eyes were wide, with... disbelief? Fear? There was a hint of longing to his posture. For all his silence, he may as well have been lapping up every word spoken as water spilled.

The topic was, to no surprise, the mysterious affair involving Leetah. Wide-eyes was the only one to notice Skywise’ arrival, and as she noticed him staring, he gave a small gasp. Ravvit, Skywise thought, recalling one of Strongbow’s first sent impressions of the Sun Villagers. She smiled as pleasantly as she could, and lifted a finger to her lips for him to keep her secret. He gave a little nod, but followed by furtive glances between her and the conversation...
 
 

...But Zhantee couldn’t help it. He had not had the chance to see any of the Wolfriders this close before, and part of him hadn’t dared. Rayek made them seem less elf than beast, and there was little to disbelieve from the chief hunter.

Somehow, it was a good thing that the three so engrossed in conversation didn’t notice him at all. Vehra insisted that it was recognition; her lovemate insisted the opposite. Shenshen dropped hints, but mostly to fuel the debate while she watched the pair bicker. At last, Teerim got the impression that Leetah’s little sister knew more than she was letting on. In her defense, Shenshen smiled.

"I know what I know," she said, no less cryptic. She thought the effect was too much as the eyes of her fellow conspirators widened. Her suspicion that it was not due to her sworn wisdom in the matter was proven with the wisp of breath by her ear. The ephemeral forewarning did little to stifle her muffled shriek at the moment of surprise.
 

"And what does the maiden know?" Skywise purred. The Sun Villager spun about, flustered, but recovered ground quickly.

"Why should I tell you? If the wolf chief doesn’t like the answer, he might very well carry off my sister again."

Skywise’ grin faded. The Sun Villager was serious! ... No, she was teasing! Now beaming, the Wolfrider readied to take the challenge. The attempt was interrupted as Rayek pushed past, and when she turned back, the trio had flittered away. They giggled at a safe distance, and the one she had sneaked upon winked.

Skywise would later learn of the challenge wand, and other things that slipped her mind as she found that the withdrawn elf was still staring at her.
 
 

The desert that haunted her dreams wasn’t real. And she knew it wasn’t real, because she wasn’t alone.

Nightfall took her time in waking. She stretched, cool and content, but still not awake. She was too comfortable to be awake. Nestled in her lifemate’s embrace, she crooned and forgot as the world gently rocked around them.

Caught in the desert of her dream, she was at once very afraid.

When she opened her eyes to the light of dusk, her lifemate was gone. His scent was there, and the warmth of his wolf-friend, but Redlance was gone.

Nightfall shivered, for the evening air was cold with a sense of loss. The sky beyond the shallow cave was dyed in purples and blues, and the first few stars were peeking through the thick colors. Night was refuge for many things, and against many things.

At the patch of sand below the rim of their shelter, Nightfall found her errant lifemate, and all traces of her anxious dreaming disappeared into the mists of memory.

Thinking, wondering, and dreaming in his own right, Redlance sat still. His hands had captured his attention, and he studied them in the fading light. There was something more, since he had woken in the desert there was something different... something stirring deep within.

Roused from his search of self by her hand, he smiled up at Nightfall – alert, and alive. And for that, she was most grateful.

Still as the surrounding stone, they were nearly trampled by an urgent pair of conspirators eager to get to the higher caves above.

Pike recounted his story, and Scouter listened and edged him on as though hearing him for the first time. Although the cub’s father began to doubt, and his suspicion grew with every exaggerated gesture his son made, he was young once, too.

One-Eye wrapped himself around his lifemate, resting his chin on her shoulder. They seemed overly complicated, the rules of this new land, and he longed for the forest. That grief was too near, and he hugged Clearbrook to him tighter.

There was a question in mind, and of the whole, of where do we fit in? What further strangeness would be, in this already strange place?

The question that was posed was much simpler, in the elegant of Strongbow’s open sending.

*When does this nonsense begin?* With it was an undercurrent of how, once started, it would finish. And it would finish well, one way or the other.

*Dawn*

Cutter’s sending rippled through the gathering. He smiled without essence; it was lost in his silhouette, then lost altogether as he disappeared for his den, determined to sleep this night if none other.

Why?

If it were Recognition, why had the healer not simply mended the flaw? She who held sway over life and death, was such not in her power?

Perhaps, Rayek considered, she considered him too persistent of late. Why else need she disparage him so?

The Hunter lifted his face from his hands. If she wanted him to prove himself in such a way, then he would have to show her, once and for all, that he was worthy beyond compare. And everyone would see what a fool the Wolfrider Chief was.

The Wolfrider Chief... There were no words strong enough to describe how Rayek loathed the barbarian. As he climbed down from his perch, into the predawn light, he decided that he would do without.