Whatever he’d been expecting when the woman opened her mouth, it wasn’t the hoarse, scratchy voice that found his ears. Blinking, his expression became a little more severe. He’d heard that a few of the pack had been caught in smoke clouds and that it left their voices rough but this wolf sounded as though she’d nearly lost her voice entirely. It made him wonder what had happened to her exactly. Had he not been patrolling enough? Perhaps he shouldn’t have taken a half day, even if he had filled his spot with another wolf. It felt a bit like shirking his duty now that he was face to face with what might happen if he wasn’t vigilant. Once he was certain that the girl was alright, he’d escort her back and settle back into his rotation. There were pups in the pack and if an adult could find themselves in trouble without warning, he could only imagine the sort of danger the pups could get into.

”Well, I dinnae hear it before so I cannae rightly say. Did the wee flowers soothe yer throat?” It was an odd question but he supposed if the flowers did what she said they were supposed to do then it would make them the right ones. As far as her voice. Well, considering his own was naturally just as deep and rough as her was now, he wasn’t the best judge. She sounded fine to him, a little uncomfortable perhaps, but time would heal what her wee flowers wouldn’t. His bright eyes caught the movement of her tail and a bit of the tension he hadn’t realized had been settled between his shoulders eased. Females always made him a bit nervous. He was always worried he was going to either scare them with his size and manner or just say exactly the wrong thing and send them into hysterics. He was beginning to question his peculiar anxieties, especially since coming to Moladion, he’d not really encountered any females that were so easily startled or offended. Just another lingering bruise from his past.

”’ave you tried cool water?” The suggestion sounded lame even to his own ears but he was trying! Trying not to be the emotionally awkward brute that couldn’t relate to his own mate. There were so many things that he was trying to make up for. Leaving his clan. Failing his mate, despite her seeming determination to hate him no matter what he did. Being a big burly brute of a warrior. Sometimes it felt that he was trying to make up for just existing on the days that he got stuck with his head in the past. But the fact remained that he was trying. Trying to be better than he was.