It's Time

She listened as Warja spoke, hearing her out to the end. The girl seemed genuinely agitated, and Katja could sympathize - when she had been in Ebony, had she wished to seek out her missing family, would Raisa have demanded she stay? Or would she have allowed her to leave, knowing that as a woman of honor she would return in time to give her support to the pack once more? "Dreams can have great power," she said gravely. "My own elder sister could speak with the norns through her dreams, receive unearthly knowledge from them. Past, present and future they could, if they wished, share with her. It will be difficult to do without your experience as a healer, but it is my experience that repetitive dreams tend to have meaning, and I would be cruel to keep you from a task that the gods wish you to take up." She shook her head. "Go then in peace, Warja. We will watch for your return. And..." she fixed the girl with a cool stare. She did not know how Warja felt about having been abandoned by her friend, the boy who had deserted during a raid, but she knew that allowing anyone to abandon the pack on a whim without repercussions would only lead to more of the same. "If you happen to find the boy Kismet... we have great interest in having him returned to us. Whole is not a requirement."