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She had been in the opposite situation as Shandom - her adopted mother Iskata had nearly tried to kill her. She would have completed the job had Naniko not miraculously shifted and ran away on two legs. Then the insane mother had come back with memory loss and a new name...a new family. Naniko had heard rumors that she'd gotten together with a male named Phoenix, who had led the Storm pack, and had confirmed it later when she'd come face to face with Iskata's second litter. Ember Phoenix had been nothing but polite to her, honestly, and she'd been unable to find a reason to dislike her despite Iskata. Ember'd had some of the same issues with her...the mother had been a madwoman, surely.
"Yes. I grew up with a strong sense of family. Also, a strong sense of grief and loss. She abandoned me with her own litter when I was but five or six months old. I had to care for them...no one else in the pack had much interest in a crazy wolf's pups. They've grown and one of them has kids of his own now..pretty crazy. But Iskata, my adopted mom..she was always kind of nuts. I didn't find a real mother figure I could look up to until I met Soran, my friend Conri's mother. She helped make up for everything that Iskata caused." The she-wolf had been kind, gentle, and fierce when she had to be. They'd all been so much younger then, so innocent and naive. She had been a protector and provider for the two young canines.
His attempt at smoking was far better than the first time she'd ever tried to do it. That time she had thought she was dying - her throat had swollen up and she'd coughed until she'd vomited. This was good, that he seemed to be OK other than the coughing. She'd been smoking for a year or so now, ever since she had kicked a few other addictions...she rarely coughed any more no matter how long she held the smoke in. She reached up to try to pat him on the back a little. "That was actually a good first try. Sorry, I should have warned you about the coughing. I lost my lunch the first time I tried it...It's best to do this near something that you can drink just in case you do start really coughing. I've got a bottle of something in my bag, but I'm not sure if it's the best on a sore throat. It's some wine. This was part of the gift that I had intended for your leaders...but what's say I deliver something better sometime soon instead" She pulled that out carefully, unwrapping it. She had rolled the bottle up in leather so that her things would not make noise as she traveled.