It did sound nice, didn’t it? The forest, that was. She smiles when he says it, nodding and conjuring up the images in her mind of shadow and light playing on the canopy floor. She thinks of the fireflies that made home in the forests that rested at the foot of Spirane, and she wonders if she will find them flittering through Taviora too. Quietly, she hopes so. They’ll be a small piece of Samus with her, a little piece of Spirane.
His answer catches her off guard though, enough to bring her out of her thoughts with a small shake of her head. Even her stride hitches for a second, truly stunned by the swiftness and certainty of his response. Sila, too, cannot help but give him an apologetic look too, embarrassed over having been shocked by the response at all. After all, she knew not everybody had such a fondness for the place – or wolves – of their origin. Perhaps it was just odd hearing it from a wolf like Arkin – a wolf who seemed surprisingly sure of himself and his place in the world. She feels her cheeks flush at the thought. She’d misread that about him, hadn’t she?
She cannot think of anything to say – not immediately at least, but she thinks hard on his answer. Besides, it was pleasant enough to just walk and enjoy the sounds of the river and skies above. If there was nothing left for him there...She wonders, and she searches his face for a silent answer, if that means he sees a world of possibilities ahead of him. If one has nothing to go back to, she thinks, then it only means anything they find out in the world is a good thing, right? There is sadness in that thought, her mind instinctively roaming to Samus as she watches Arkin in the water. If she knew Samus was going to leave, she should have made it so she did not leave anything behind – no, she would not have gone with her, not yet she thinks, but she should have...said something, done something, to break the connection between them. Was she, Sila, a heavy rock weighing Samus down to the past now, or was she a guidepost? Which was better? Leaving something behind at the risk of never finding it again, or...having nothing to return to? She can only sigh to expel the thought like a little ghost, hoping the wind and water will take it far, far away.
How strange it was to then see something in Arkin she hadn’t seen before. He flatters her, something that makes her immediately return to the presence and hide her face from embarrassment, but he speaks with the sudden hint of Sila’s own little ghost. It makes her look right back at him, despite being amid trying to accept his compliment, and her look is harder than usual, a small frown marring her brow. "Someday, I think, I would like to learn more about the wolves of Moon,” she begins, "for if your traits are not highly valued, then I cannot help but wonder what it is your kin see as ‘the best’ qualities.” She huffs, her voice surprisingly knife-like despite the obvious nervousness that makes her practically wiggle on the spot. She knows it might have been rude to say...but, for once, she feels almost good having said something like it. Of course, her tone is quick to change, trying to pass over her...well, directness. "In any case, perhaps you're your own breed just like your sister.” Raegan. She keeps the name close. Now, at least, she’ll be able to find her if she too is in Moladion. Arkin had said he had nothing to return to...which meant, and she frowns again at the thought, that his sister must not be on their island too. Of course, she does not bring it up.
"It’s both,” she answers, almost as quick as Arkin had answered in the past. She pauses, taking a moment to drink from the river’s cool water, stretching both legs into the water with a small grin. "Taviora, it’s called. It has also been a peaceful place, built on the foundations of a strong family. I suppose I have faith that even if things were to change, it could only ever be peaceful there beneath the shade of the trees,” she says with a small chuckle. It was a bit of a foolish though, no? If Zelda and her family left, nobody could promise it’d stay the same, right? Yet, Sila cannot help but feel it. "Every pack here has their strengths and beauty, but I can’t help but feel something towards it. Besides, it’s close to my former home. If I wish to visit my memories, I need only look up at the mountain – far easier than a few days walking!”
She tilts her head, watching the water coil around her legs and Arkin. "There’s a certain charm to being out here too, though,” she says then with a small shrug and a toothy grin up at him. "Sometimes – and I feel a little guilty about it! - but sometimes it feels nice to not have to worry about...ranks, politics, that kind of stuff. Do you that’s a little wrong to say?” She wonders how long he was alone for before their meeting – how long ago had he left his home? She dare not ask directly how he’d ended up in the sea but, well, she was dancing around the topic well enough, she thinks.