"Not yet, but that's on account of Alene here's part of the first litter born to a tame momma," says Shephard. "These're mostly wild critters back home. I been workin' on taming'n training Alene'n her brothers'n sisters, since we ain't really got proper dogs these days."

He nods soberly to Liranan; as far as he's concerned the apology is accepted. Alene, for her part, gets up and shakes herself off before grabbing the frisbee again.