How he said her name, with such enjoyment in his tone and clearly expressed on his face, made Dock pause curiously. No one said Dock’s name like that and no one ever had. Maybe Dickere, more rarely Hickere, but never anyone that wasn’t one of the two sisters her life was spent with. The way he smiled as his ears turned toward her made her want to smile too, but Dock was more confused and wary which made her smile only last a brief second before it fell slowly from the edges of her mouth. The look that came across her face next was both pleasantly intrigued and inadvertently wary, as though it was second nature for her to behave in such a way (and in truth, it was). Both ears turned toward him and her eyes focused on him, saw Valentine in the forest rather than just a blur of life as her days had been since the conception of the whelp in her womb.
Though she did not miss the way his gaze faltered at the obvious outward curve of her belly, even if it wasn’t as cumbersome as it would grow to be. A swell of emotions rushed inside her in that brief flicker of time, crawling up tight into her throat. Dock’s ears turned back and then forward again when his eyes at last crawled to meet hers. She waited for it, for him to ask. A part of her begged to tell him the truth, how much she loathed what she was forced to carry and a part of her begged the right to stay silent.
She blinked her surprise at his first words. “I did?” She asked, a frown crossing her features as she tried to reach back to what conversation they’d had. However, it was his first statement that had her more confused than the second. No one was happy to see Dock. Dock was the one you groaned and rolled your eyes at when you had to spend time with her. “Is it?” She asked, looking around them for a moment at the forest, the green-lit shadows and the gray sky peaking through the gaps as little raindrops pattered insistently downward.
Realizing she had thus far not been the pinnacle of a conversational partner (and not for the first time, nor would it be the last), Dock swung her gaze back to Valentine and her ears pointed at him. “Ah, sorry. Yes, it’s… It’s good to see you again too.” It was, truthfully. Dock didn’t know why but she was happy to see Valentine. For a brief moment after she spoke, as she watched him and realized how it felt good to see him again, a soft smile started to curl across her pink lips. As though Dock had suddenly become aware of this she seemed to “snap out of it” and licked her lips, putting the smile away. “Is… Is Lyden going to be angry that you’re here?” Her heartbeat increased slightly and Dock sent a wary gaze out to the area around them. It wasn’t that she feared Lyden… In truth, she hardly knew him. He’d been strangely kind not to banish her from the herd when she’d returned from Crossing and Dock knew most stallions wouldn’t be as understanding.
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