© 2002-2024 Ruth and Heidi
Part 5

**Why did you and Wren--and Darkrider--High Ones, Darkrider must have known it, too.. Why did the three of you keep this from me? Better I know then when I was on my back in my bedfurs than now... By Crimson's blade, I've been chasing shadows for a moon's dance now. I've been snapping at the shadows of my tribe and I didn't know why.**

Frustrated, he turned away, trying to sort out his thoughts. No, he didn't feel like snapping at the eldest elder any more. He was wise enough, coud hear the truth clearly in Snapjaw's send. They'd felt it was necessary.

**Why did you feel you had to use strength over reason?**

Snapjaw was forced to consciously stop himself from rolling his eyes. Endless questions. Why did everything have to be chewed over like an old bone? How many different ways did he have to explain this before Wildlight would let up? **You could not be reasoned with. I tried.** Wren tried, too, but he did not add that. Snapjaw wanted the songshaper out of the conversation. **Your own wolf was going to collapse beneath you, paws ripped raw, and you did not notice it until I told you. And you were in the same shape as Blackjaw. He would have run until you killed him if you had not set him loose, the same as you, like rider like wolf.** The elder avoided the question about Wren. Better to set the chief on a trail that didn't have his sister's tracks. The air between the twins had been strained enough already. The chief had bombarded him with enough questions that skipping one was only natural. **I told you nothing because I hoped you would remember nothing. No one has ever caught me at it before. I did not want to lose your trust, but...** The old elf shrugged his shoulders, unfolding his arms and raising a hand to scratch behind a pointed ear. "...but better that than lose you. I hate new chiefs.**

Despite his irritation and the slight confusion he felt at the moment, Wildlight grunted in something akin to realization. Regardless of the tone the eldest elder had used, Snapjaw had paid him a compliment of sorts. Of course, a compliment from Snapjaw wasn't as rare as one from Traildust, but it could be rare, all the same. And, despite the fact that Snapjaw could be irritable and opinionated, he was wise, so the compliment made Wildlight feel a little better, at the least.