fine china and cloth napkins

Fable crouched beside the embers as the other girls began to eat, her eyes sparkling with glee. Everyone in Abaven indulged her desire to elevate their food, but she'd never had someone appreciate a meal quite like Ophie did. It was enough to make her giddy. Unable to container herself, she hopped back and forth from paw to paw as she waited for the verdict on the meal. Ophie's praise came first in one great flood. It was like a dam had broken inside of her and the dam was mostly holding back drool. "Omigosh," Fable breathed, her eyes wide, "thank you! That's so nice!" Her parents and Theory were encouraging, and the rest of the pack certainly appreciated her efforts, but to hear it from an almost-stranger made her almost bashful with pride. "This is my sixth version of fire salmon. Um, I'm still working on the name," Fable added, this time feeling a real heat creep up her neck and flush her face. The name definitely could use some additional tweaking, but really, all that mattered was the taste.

"Are you guys friends?" she asked bluntly, her tail wagging slowly. There was a hidden kernel of hope beneath the question - can we all be friends? Theory told her Abaven had the most territories of any pack, but when it was all you'd ever known through one long, endless winter... it still felt pretty small. Now that the weather had cleared up, the whole wide world had begun to open up. Fable couldn't stop thinking about all of the new dishes that were out there, just waiting to be discovered. "Oh, yes! Hunting! I've been practicing. Well, I gotta, so I can get supplies." She peered over her shoulder, as if the perfect prey was waiting right behind her. "We can start that after Kaija tells me what she thought of the fish," Fable grinned.