With a yip of happiness Inanna bounded forward, trying to put her moments of sullenness behind her, praying to the gods she was named after they would not come back to haunt her. They moved down the tails and she subconsciously made their way slow. Any new spring plant she saw she raced forward to sniff and lick. Many of them brought back memories of herbs she had sampled in her mother’s medicine den. Seeing them bright and young in a new light brought a smile to the young girl’s face. Coming out of her ordeal it was as though the world had been reborn. Each step she took it was in a new, hopeful, direction.

Each time Abel gave her direction or told her something about some place of Moladion she would stop, listen, and store it in her mind as thoroughly as possible. Even if she did not get lost it would be nice to know the land. She would be able to explore on her own, show her friends or her children the interesting things to see. She trotted merrily be his side, eying the crags warily. She had spent much of the winter there and was not excited to jump back into the twisting trails mazing through the rocks.

He said her name so hesitantly it made her pause. Blinking, she sat and took a breath to tell the tale. “I had some help. A wolf, big and white, rescued me from a crazy lady! He watched over me for a while, but didn’t come back one day… Since then I just ate what I could find. Nothing special… I just tried to find what I could.

Her ears flattened slightly. She did not want him to be thinking there was something special or different about her. There was nothing too great about getting trapped by a wolf who claimed someone was eating her, saved by another, and then getting lost in caves. She had survived by chance and by luck, rescued by skill and perseverance. Nothing she had going for her was what saved her life. Mere instinctive will to live and a curiosity about strange plants.