Wild Rye Fields water's sweet but blood is thicker

And smile in return he did. In fact, he laughed quietly, and returned the silly grin himself, toothy and wide.

After the moment’s laughter faded, Risaela sucker punched Aleksei with a question he wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to. Was he happy? He hummed, thoughtfully, as he scrabbled to sort through his thoughts and feelings. He had a lot of conflicting emotions, and some of them were a little more tricky to identify, but happiness …

“I think so,” he said finally, brows knitting together in thought. “I’m happy I got to meet you. And I’m happy with how things are in the fields.” That was true. There wasn’t as much stress and pain here as there was back in Kingsfall. It was open, and there was constant sunlight that warmed him to his bones. The breeze was cool, and the grasses a constant white noise that soothed him at night. Yeah. Things were pretty good here.

“But, I’m sad, too. I’m sad I won’t get to see you grow up, and I’m sad that things got so bad at home.” He had been pushed away by them, without them even realising what they were doing (or maybe they did—how could he possibly know for sure?) and no doubt he was the one being blamed. He forced up a weak smile. “Regardless, I’ll come visit you. No matter what, okay? I promise.” And that was a promise he would keep. Inna hadn’t been worth the promise he had made, not when she acted so carelessly and high and mighty. She’d proven herself to be a particular kind of wolf, and, family or not, Aleksei wanted nothing to do with her, or her lies, or her children.

She had made her bed with her eldest brother. Now she could lay in it.

Let the roots & soil drink of me
Whispering leaves & pointing branches will tell them where I'm lying

I'm sorry I left this for so long! I'm anxiously running through my old threads for stuff to reply to

Ris smiled, her cheeks puffing up lightly when he told her he was happy. That was good. Even if he had left, she hoped he was happy. Because, in her mind, everyone in her family (everyone in the world, actually) deserved to be happy. It was the best feeling, and she was enjoying being able to bask in it for a while after being so sad when Kisla died. But what was even better was that part of the reason Aleksei was happy was because of her! And she loved making other wolves happy. The fact that she was able to do so for her own brother was simply the greatest thing on earth.

"M-me too!" she chirped, tail wagging. She fully expected him to understand that she meant that she was happy to get to meet him, of course. Not the stuff about the Rye and all that - even though everyone here was pretty great. "Happy to me-meet you t-too!"

She hurried over to bump her nose against his, tail wagging behind her. "Lexi v-visit! All the time!" she squeaked, dropping to her belly in a sort of play bow, completely forgetting the fact that she was so sad only moments before. The perks of being such a little puppy.