In the Wide Valley, a wolf who seeks welcome into a new pack might bring a gift of meat to the pack’s leaderwolves. Doing so not only shows that the wolf respects the pack leaders, but also proves she can hunt well, and thus would be a valuable addition to the pack. We would bring such gifts to the humans. The three Greatwolves had listened silently as Ázzuen spoke and agreed to let us try. I was to go to Frandra and Jandru in a quarter moon’s time to tell them if it was working. They would tell NiaLi of the plan. The old woman, I hoped, would tell TaLi. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get everyone to agree on the plan. Agreeing how to go about it proved to be less simple. Ázzuen, Marra, and I wanted to take our three humans hunting and bring a whole prey to the human homesite. We also assumed that the three of us would be the wolves who went to stay with the humans. Ruuqo and Rissa rejected both plans. They watched silently as Zorindru, Jandru, and Frandra left the gathering place, then huddled together with Trevegg, whispering for several moments.
