It was no use; Valeska despaired. It would be the very first thing anyone noticed about her for a long time to come, and she felt a heaviness in her heart as she further realized the words that were about to part from her lips would be spoken until they became a well-practiced phrase.

Best make it succinct.

My wife chewed it off and pushed me into a magic blue fire?

But that made Amaranth sound unwell. She was unwell, clearly, but it wasn't fair to paint her that way to anyone else.

I am told it was infected, she said carefully, still not entirely certain of the truth surrounding its departure herself. Everyone had told her it was infected, damaged beyond saving, but - well, who's really to say? It hadn't felt bad. In fact, she thought serenely, she hadn't felt it at all toward the end.

(It was really, really bad.)

There were very obvious scabs where someone's fangs had worked very diligently to remove the offending tail, but she didn't think it worth mentioning.

Now, tell me about you! Valeska said, mustering up every ounce of cheer she could to try and distract from the obvious. It is not every day a wolf of Northfall ventures out this way.