Autumn had finally hit the headland by the time they made it.
Getting the whole thing organized had taken months of back-and-forth. You can’t just walk away from a kingdom without leaving someone to run the show. Vael had stuck it out until the rebuilding efforts were on solid ground and moving along, waiting until the first stray packs were tracked down and brought back home. The pack lands actually had new families settling in for the first time in five centuries. Once Ashenveil could manage without its regent for four weeks without the whole place collapsing into chaos, she turned the daily grind over to Tarn and the older mate of Maren. After that, she took a small column and started riding south.
Helsa came with her.
So did Cale. He had specifically asked for a spot on the trip bec
