Most certainly, the more time I spent in his company, the more inclined I was to talk and perhaps bring myself forth from the walls I had created. Though they might have been short walls, they were still there, restraining me from being who I still believed I was. My years before this world had been spent telling stories, healing those in need and tending to those that truly needed kindness and love. That was who I was and who I wanted to be once more - I am glad that I have come here, that I have found another who is so seemingly at peace with it all. I admire him already, the serenity I find with him a comfort that I find myself indulging in. Still, sadness is a plague that must be purged. I believe Juno taught me that for she had lived a life of sadness, one that she had never truly shaken free of. Jaylah, too, had been consumed with misery and anger. I loved them but even I know that I cannot be like them. I cannot survive living beneath the same sadness - my shoulders are simply not strong enough to carry it forever.

I did not expect him to speak as he did, his words a strange combination of comforting and yet, they hurt. They dug into me deep, bringing a stabbing pain forth from my chest. Before I knew it, I could feel the corners of my lips pull down, my ears and tail drooping as I began to cry, silently and tear-less as it were. Even through the quiver of my lips and the trembling of my body, I manage to find words. They are quiet, but they are there, finally.

"I have never been a fighter but today, I think it is time I must be."

Maybe I am wrong, maybe I will never be able to fight through everything as well as others but so long as I try, that is enough. It would have been easy for me to drown in that sadness, to collapse in the river and yet, it is his name that pulls me to the surface, that makes me quiet myself. I nod, sniffling away my sadness before I try to smile again - you always said my smile could bring happiness to any other, so perhaps it will bring happiness to myself, Faol'an. His words are a welcome distraction, and I move forward slowly to better hear them, my ears slowly rising to attention. He speaks of so much that I familiar with - Trenus, Isola, the great end to it all. I know these things and I find some kind of comfort there, knowing that he somehow must understand.

"I remember Trenus as I remember Isola. I was of Litherum, then of Paracon come the end of Soldat's rule. Litherum, the ocean, it was always home and yet, there is nothing of it now. Perhaps it is best that I cannot live by the sea - perhaps it means I cannot dwell so much as I do."

I muse mostly to myself, staring off passed him momentarily before returning my attention as he speaks once more. As he speaks, I bow briefly before I begin to move from the water, slow as always so as to enjoy the waters as much as I can. Eventually I find the bank, motioning for him to follow - I hope he does, for I believe I have so much to learn from him. His truths are gentle, easy for me to digest in this time.

"You are a wise wolf, Yojimbo. It is my honor to have met you this day, and I am indeed glad I did. I believe... I believe you are the wake up call I have been so desperately awaiting. Please, may I repay you? May I hunt along side you or accompany you wherever you might have been going before I kept you busy?"

There is seldom I can do, really, to repay one who has lessened the wounds of a life I cannot forget but... one must try.