His voice was so soft, the first words he stuttered were lost into the wind. The rest of what occurred,however, was not. He was in front of her while she was approaching. Mismatched eyes took in everything, even though the sounds were still too far to hear. Her concern was evident on her face and she picked up her pace without seeming to rush to a rescue. When as last she was by his side, she did not recognize him as the lost prince of Iromar, nor Lady Aster’s brother. He was clearly scared, and she wanted to help.
At last his pleas of fear stopped her in her tracks. Her tail was low, but still wagging, a warm and encouraging smile on her face. ‘Care’ might have been considered a rank, but it was one where she lowered herself to the smallest of members of the pack. Carefully, she mirrored him, sinking low to the ground, head places on her paws and her body flat. Clearly there would be very little way she could leap into any sort of action. Her head tilted invitingly at him, but she kept her distance from the boy. You don’t have to leave. I would never hurt you. To prove her promise, she seemed to try to lower herself even further, ears airplaning to the side and body stilling, though still relaxed. If you want, I can come to you. Or you can come to me. She grinned. Or we can go home and I will make sure no one else can hurt you, if you wish. All of the power and all of the choice was put into the boy’s flailing paws. His fear had her wondering if he had ever been given the power to dictate his own life, let alone choose the actions of another. Little did he know, she was at his command, very nearly his beck and call.