Sabine paused for a moment before nodding quickly. "I will take your advice, both of you," she said. "Thank you."

Fendros cranes his head up to look at Sabine properly. "Another thing. Don't feel under pressure to make a pack as big as ours or bigger. You've seen packs of four before. Nothing wrong with that, necessarily."

"Mm," Sabine agreed. "I must be honest. With how close I still am to all of you, I fear growing my pack too much may cause me to drift away from you."

Janius was happy to see at least one person coming to the water, even if his face expressed it less in his current form. "Persuaded? Well, I dare not need to overstate how refreshing it is to get all the drying gore off. Indeed, Kaleeth is so enjoying it that she hasn't yet surfaced-"

He caught her wake out of the corner of his eye.