“What are you doing?” Orin barely had time to question before Shawchert let the howl sound, calling for Skye. Of course, as a co-leader of the pack, Skye should be in on the decision making, but she hardly thought the woman would need to be bothered for this. Orin had been a member before, and was the father of Shawchert's pups, of course Skye would agree to Shawchert's decision. Or perhaps he was talking about Sky. Maybe the woman had told him about discovering Orin in the woods near the Court, and perhaps they both had been eagerly awaiting her imminent return with the pups. Skye Collins arrived before she could puzzle it out.
An ear twitched beneath the heavy, hooded cloak that draped her frame, causing the slightest shift of the material. Orin turned to the woman as she approached and was a bit surprised to see that it was in fact the Collins woman Shawchert had called. It was strange how the months had changed her. Orin rarely had to look at her own reflection and see the differences in herself, Shawchert bore new scars and the hardship of pain in his eyes, but Skye was the most outwardly transformed. She had come a long way from the woman Orin met in the vegetable garden, the day she had tripped and crunched so many of the precious plants. She came towards them cautiously, and at first Orin did not know if the same paranoia that infected her now afflicted the Collins woman as well, or if it was just surprise that caused her to move this way.
Orin let Skye come near, and did not bolt in the other direction not dissipate into mist. Instead, she smiled warmly at her old friend, even if she did not run to her with hugs and kisses like she once would have. “Yes,” her smile shifted slightly, from happy greeting to slight awkwardness, “the one and only. Sorry I took off on you all...”
She glanced down for a moment, not sure what else to say, and by some miracle Orin was not forced to fidget in her guilt for very long, for the pups, who had been digging for vermin under the porch, finally noticed Skye and raced over to her in greeting. Many, hi's and hey's and who’s that's were barked as they sniffed at the woman's legs and nipped for her fingers. There was something extra special about the woman that excited the girls any more. Another scent in her fur... one the girls were happy to identify. Playmates!
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