He was too excited. He learned about the ball and how Zelda was hosting it. He had spent all the day before gathering all types of flowers he could find. Pink ones, blue ones, yellow ones, and white ones. He gathered a few long greens to go along with it. He spent the morning putting them all together, arranging them in a pile that he could easily grab. It took him...much too long, perhaps, but he could not help it. The flowers had her so happy before, and he wanted to see that happiness on her face again. It made his heart swell with joy and made him worries seem to fade away, if just for this little while.

It was the day of the ball and he was thrilled. He wanted to follow Aster and her family, but his mind was...too distracted by thinking of Zelda. He ran ahead of the family with flowers full in his mouth. His eyes were wide and beaming. His tail was up and wagging. He was on cloud nine and he barely understood why. He knew she meant more to him than anyone, which did give him a bit of guilt. He had only met her once, but already she had taken his breath away. Aster was his sister but she didn’t come close to what Zelda made him feel. He would never say such a thing though, but it was true. He was Zelda’s if he liked it or not, and his mind was incapable of considering any other possibility.

When he arrived to Taviora he found himself hesitating a bit. It was the first time he felt the hesitation in the past few days. He paused, and found himself frozen at the border for a good couple of minutes. The odd thing was, he stood with a hopeful face full of flowers and wagging tail, but as if he was frozen in time as his mind attempted to get over his fear. He does though, and eventually enters to the meeting point. As wolves come in, finds himself near the back as he normally would do. He does not drop his flowers for a moment as he waits, not really sure what to expect. He sits on his haunches, tail thumping on the ground as his ears fall back in a bit of nervousness.

Then he sees her and he freezes once again, simply taken by her beauty. He does not move other than his wide eyes blinking as she clears her throat and begins speaking, her words like music to his ears. Night was coming upon them, and usually that makes him extra nervous, but Zelda was here, and he felt like he was melting into his paws. He held onto every word until her speech ended, and tried to think of how he could make this a good night to remember. His mind mulled over the words he might say to her and how he may present her the flowers as she finished her speech, and his mind mulled over this for a few minutes after, ignoring anyone else around him.

After his mind came up with something, he suddenly sprung up and looked for Zelda again. He was a decent distance away when he spots her, but his tail wags like mad when he does again. He begins to trot towards her when another comes to her side shoulder by shoulder. He finds himself pausing immediately mid-step. His heart begins to beat fast and his nerves immediately sting as they normally do. He then ducks down, figuring she had not seen him yet, and he slinks to a nearby bunch of foliage. He peeks around to see the male speaking with her closely. He does not hear any words due to how far he was, but his mind begins to churn. What...what if she has a mate like Aster does? What if he was intruding? What if she didn’t want him around? Suddenly, his excitement and bliss was eaten by the monster of his own traumatized mind. It was not his place to insert himself into anyone else’s situation. He was wrong to feel so excited. He was wrong to bring these flowers as his head slowly lowers.

He should have known. He feels his own demons in his mind controlling him once more. He then takes one more look towards Zelda from around the foliage, before dashing off towards a grouping of trees not too far off to hide and perhaps gather himself again. He lowers his muzzle and drops the flowers, and curls into a ball, suddenly wishing he had not ran ahead of Aster and knew where she was, wishing for her comfort in these moments.