Okay, so maybe I was a little nervous. Could you blame me? Here I was, just a lowly wolfess from nowhere standing before a king! But he smiles at me and shakes his head, noticing my nerves and telling me to let them go. I didn't understand what he had called me (please don't let it be pungent) but it seemed to be an endearing word. A broad smile spread across my face and my tail wagged like a silly child's, but I couldn't help it. A friend of the flowers, a guardian, is what he said. It made me so happy to know that he didn't find my weird kinship to fauna off-putting.

I was still confused as to why he wanted to see me (I'm sure it wasn't to discuss flowers though I would have been all over that). Eden, who had momentarily been lost in thought, returned his attention to me and bowed his head. Yes! I did blush. No! I did not lose it… at least not on the outside. Inside, my brain was doing flips all over the place. Finally he spoke and like a splash of cold water I knew why he had summoned me. I could have kicked myself.

How could I have totally forgotten to report to him! He had sent me on a task and I had returned days ago and yet didn't even bother to let him know what I had discovered! I smiled, a vain attempt to hide my sudden embarrassment, and sat on my haunches (to hide my trembling limbs) and cleared my throat. "Before I get into the festival, I'd like to report that Spirane has a new leader, though technically there are two alphas. Queen Nymeria has assumed control of the pack alongside Queen Kalseru. As for the festival, there's not much to report other than a wolfess named Avery attended and claimed to have taken Iromar as her own." I wasn't sure if Eden knew this, but it was best to give him a full report.

I paused then and realized that I had missed a prime opportunity to speak with Avery! I could have established a relationship with the swamplands but had been distracted by Shem. I felt the blood drain from my face as I realized I might have made a terrible mistake. For a moment, I thought about hiding this knowledge from my alpha, but waived the idea aside. How could Eden trust me as his ambassador if I couldn't even tell him the whole truth.

"I should have approached Avery, but, I regret to say that I was… distracted. See, while I was attending the festival I imprinted with a boy there. I'm afraid I spent the whole time with him and didn't manage to speak with Avery at all. I'm so sorry."