There were so many dangers out there, having no where to go but to hide in the dense forests, in the grotto, the caves. She had nearly run into the beasts of the night a few times in her years. She’d learned her small size made her a lot faster than most wolves especially her age. She had dodged them all over the years. And thankfully had never been injured, not really. Not by other predators, other wolves, yes. The silence she knew as home was deafening at times, she missed the steady noise of children, young ones, older, the happy sounds of a pack. She remembered them vividly from Litherum. It had felt more of a home, even though it’d been over 14 years. She missed it.

His words brought her attention back, and she felt the words combined with his presence begin to elicit feelings from her, ones she’d never felt, not in a long, long time. Though she was unsure where the feelings were falling, so she’d keep them hidden away under lock and key until she could figure out what it meant. “Lonely, yes. You begin to miss the sounds of a pack. Of the young pups playing, the older ones sparring and wrestling. More lonely than you’d believe.” She turned her head to watch him.

His words came again, and she paused to think. “You’d think the silence would be a comfort, but it becomes so hard to find peace to even sleep a wink. I’ve begun to accept that this may be where I stay for my days left.” She did not want him to take it in a morbid way, no, she wasn’t dying, not right now, even if it came to her dying her spirit was too headstrong to die without a fight. She listened as he brought up Asteraia. She paused again, her mind reeling. He was asking her to come to his pack. Boy, she didn’t remember the last time that had ever happened, maybe it never really had.

“I…I think that would be truly wonderful, Panzer.” her head dipped, unsure of what she was feeling, but the company was better than she would have ever hoped for, and that, made it all worth while.