He heard the warning growl, and for a moment he thinks she's done it because she's made about what's wrong with him, and he feels worse. Except then she was speaking and he felt confused on it. She did not want to hear it, and she was saying he was right about not being right... He wasn't quite following. His confusion must have been felt by her, because she had moved her head from that spot it had fit so well to look at him. Again he was awed by her eyes and rendered unable to look away. But he still heard her. Those words she spoke that made the entire world still to him. She thought he was perfect, his 'medical mystery' and all. Fairy tales did not exist, fairy tales did not exist... but she had said the words.. and the connection told him it wasn't a lie. This was a veritable feeling.

She was tucked back at his throat a moment later and Mockingbird was so flustered at how wonderful she was that he couldn't manage a word in reply to any of it. But he felt warm all over and he was sure she could feel the rapid beat of his pulse at his throat. Mockingbird felt a rush of protectiveness as the connection gave him hints of discord mixed with better things, and he aimed to tuck his foreleg over her in that need to be close and know she'd be safe. Mockingbird wanted her to know it, too. The words she had spoken had started to chase away all the darker emotions that had been clouding him, the sorrow and sense of loss was fading.

There were no plans that Mockingbird had or needed that would get in the way of what he now had. He aimed tender, comforting-meant licks to her ears, knowing that she was thinking of things that bothered her. Mockingbird wanted to wipe all that away from her and allow her to see happier things. He could be her shadow, there whenever she needed him. Would she mind that, if he so often lingered close? There had already been nothing left for him when he had arrived, and he wasn't specifically clear as to why he had come back... maybe something within him had known she needed him? Did that draw him back from the furthest reaches to find her? There had been subtle changes in him until it got to that point, before his paws had finally lead him here.

He had felt the need for companionship, after all. And here it was, an imprint, a female that not only did not mind his oddity, but seemed to think he was perfect, somehow. Mockingbird wasn't going to argue the matter with her, of course, because he was too thrilled that she would want him around at all after knowing he wasn't quite right. He didn't hold a male scent, after all. He had gotten strange looks and questions all his life for it, or others simply shunned what they did not understand. Riopat had done none of these things, not for that fact. And when she spoke again, Mockingbird smiled warmly. How could he resist such an offer? "Just tell me the direction, my dove, and I will go." He responded softly, wanting to wash away the fear she was feeling, the sorrow.