Come Over Red Rover

Red shook his bristles, then squinted at her eye. "Might just be dirty," he agreed. "Red clay, maybe. I was concerned it was bruising, around your eye like that." He shook his bristles again, then grinned at her. "Oh, if I hadn't been concerned that you were one of Valhalla's wolves who didn't recognize me, I might have bitten down to discourage any more attacks. I'm afraid I'm used to sleeping rough, and seeing danger behind every bush. My first instinct was that you were an intruder." He went quiet a moment, watching her white hair shimmering in the sun, caught by the wind, and smiled pensively. "I imagine my brother has his heirs by now. I wish I could have stayed to be there for them. I think I'd have made a good uncle."" He shook his head and turned his attention back to her. "Have your healers said there was something wrong?" he asked, faintly concerned now that he'd focused once more on what she'd said. The family he'd left behind was, by necessity, in the past. Valhalla was his now, and his future. He needed to focus on that. "To cause out of season shedding? Or is it simply an anomoly?"