The way he practically jumped to his feet when the coldness of the water against my abdomen had elicited a gasp from my maw drew my eyes to him in a snap. But still a grin spread across my features, showing him I had merely been taken by surprise, and that I rather enjoyed it. He seemed confused for a moment, but when it dawned upon him what must have happened, his tail gave a slow wave and his demeanor relaxed slightly. I could hardly deny that I was slightly flattered by his concern about the matter, though I was almost marginally amused at the same time. The wide grin that had been a result of the rise of the water quieted to a coy smile as I finally greeted him.

My invitation seemed to take him by surprise, and his exasperated response almost made me feel a bit guilty. I’d not meant to cajole him into something he’d not wanted to do, and I stepped towards him through the water, about to tell him it was ok if he didn’t want to. But then a shy smile trembled onto his face and I stopped, instead redirecting my attention to the coming storm. I glanced over my shoulder at the coming storm, gauging within my mind just how far away it might be. How long it might take to reach Moladion’s mainland. I looked back to him then, this nervous fellow that I had stumbled upon this day, and spoke of the inevitability of our mutual future dampness. A strangled laugh escapes him then, and my tail waved back and forth over the water, pleased with the amusement he had found in the situation. Finally he moves forward into the water, and the river almost seems to explode around him. He is a smaller wolf than I, but he manages to make quite the commotion of entering the river. Even as he looks embarrassed about his movements, my gaze remains warm and uncritical, refusing to judge him.

Out of the corner of my eye I catch the flash of another bolt of lightning, and I count the seconds until the thunder’s rumble. When it did, it was a louder sound, growing closer with every passing moment. But there is time; time to enjoy whatever it was I had invited him into the river to do. He’d stopped at the sound of the thunder, leaving a fair bit of space between us. Once more that unknown sense of flattery rose within me as he mentioned my safety in the coming storm. “We’ve got time,” I said, pointedly including him in my statement. But time for what? I glanced upstream, thinking about how I’d really just come here to enjoy the movement of the water around me, and the seclusion of this place. My eyes returned to him then, and found him lifting his gaze to meet my own. At this closer distance the scars that littered his features were much more prominent, and for a moment I thought that perhaps that was a face more deserving of a title than my own. The only scars I bore were along my neck, ruff, and tail, and were generally only noticed by those who went looking for them.

Once more my dial was given to tilt slightly as he rushed his introduction, the words an indecipherable blur as they ejected from his mouth. But in the correction there was the slight stammer that seemed to accompany his words when he tried to convey some important. His name is spoken slowly, a softness seeming to caress each syllable. Jericho. I held his gaze, studying those orange eyes for a moment before stepping forward, not bothering to look down. I felt my way across the slick underwater surface with an assumed grace, but silently praying I would not slip. Never did my eyes leave his, finding myself becoming more and more intrigued with him as the moments passed. It only took a couple of strides to close the gap between us, but when I was mere inches away from him I turned my bodice upstream, but kept my dais trained upon him. That small smirk played at my lips once more and I said, “Daenerys.” The simplest of introductions.