The sound she made brought a sudden, warm longing, low in his belly, that he thought he had forgotten. I want to see when you remember. His own pulse quickened. He heard Elk Charm's racing heart, and knew that she felt it too. He nodded wordlessly, grateful and eager. When he remembered how to be a man, it would be for Elk Charm. I will show you, he answered quietly. He would show her Samo of the Aedui—as he had never been, taken too soon from his own people, but as he would become.

He might never be who he once was, but perhaps he could become someone new, Samo realized at last.

The path forward was as shadowy as the shelter. Yet for the first time, he thought he saw shafts of light. And he did not have to walk it alone. Elk Charm's paw upon his told him this, clear as day.

Yes, many long time, Samo chuckled. As the burden of fear and worry dissipated from his shoulders, the exhaustion in his limbs returned. He had slept poorly in the past few freezing weeks, wary of the drowsiness that permeated his body. He had heard too many stories of men lulled to sleep in the snow, only for that sleep to become the final silence of death. In the warm quick-lodge with Elk Charm, however, neither of them needed to fear that. He laid his head down between his paws. We should both rest. There will be more walking to do, tomorrow.

As much as he did not want the moment of reunion to end, drowsiness began to pull hazel eyes shut.

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