The anxiety melted away further the more the pale woman spoke. She reminded Raela quite a bit of Cessair upon their first meeting; and therefore of herself. The emergence of Kino and his siblings seemed to catch them all off guard. She beamed her usual warm smile as each one arrived. Understandingly, they were all completely taken with the newcomer, and paid little attention to their own father figure let alone Raela. She couldn't feel bad in this situation. Watching the great black wolf adorn each tiny head with a kiss, however, had her chest practically glowing with warmth. What a good “dad” he was turning out to be. Someday she would have to thank him for what he was doing for the little ones, but right now their happiness seemed thanks enough. 

She listened intently as the strange woman answered Kino's inquiry. Soon enough the attention shifted back to herself, and she was being issued an apology. A reassuring smile broke out onto the subordinate's face in response. “You too. And don't worry about it; I'm just... jumpy,” she added sheepishly. She could have mentioned Vitani but there was no need to bring it up and worry the girl further. Ari's sudden, energetic babbling had the older woman giggling as she trounced right up to Calanthe. At least this was a stranger that was safe. Heaven forbid the little girl did this when meeting real strangers. There was always a little something to worry about with the Crest's youngest daughter. 

Impressively, the sharp witted silver boy answered his siblings before anyone else had to. Raela's eyebrows lifted with bemusement. Just how intelligent was this little guy going to get? She couldn't wait to see it as he grew. Calanthe seemed to have her hands full with the children, and she felt the same natural pull as Gent did to recline and let them converse. Her sunshine eyes drifted down to his lazily flapping tail, and a slow smirk carved its way onto her lips. He was shining with fatherly pride. Her ears cupped forward to drink in his quiet speech, and she nodded slowly. “I'm really glad you brought her here. She seems perfectly nice and who knows how long she would have lasted,” she responded in hushed tones. 

Draven frowned at Ari; that was rude, making Calanthe apologize like that! Couldn't Ari tell this pale wolf was skinny and probably tired? Draven thought it was pretty impressive somebody who looked so raggedy was able to keep up at all. Shouldn't she be napping, or something? Surely she would feel better if she laid down and slept for a little while - Draven always did whenever he was tired or sore. Maybe this stranger hadn't been told that when she was growing up, and so now maybe she didn't know any better.

The darkest Crest prince felt himself glow a little bit, though, when Calanthe mentioned that she was honored to meet him... and his siblings, too. Like Kino, he didn't really understand what was so special about being a prince yet. For all Draven knew, that was as good as another word for wolves as young as they were - which he guessed meant 'prince' was a boy pup and 'princess' was a girl pup. But how many times did they get to hear someone be honored to meet them?

Although it would have been nice if the next compliment wasn't directed at Kino. Draven deflated just a tiny bit, jealous of his brother. He could have guessed that about her name, too, if he'd gotten here first! It was all that dumb lizard's fault - if he'd been able to catch it right away, maybe he could have beaten Kino here. It was Draven's turn to stick his tongue out when Kino looked at him and smiled smugly. Show off!

Kino stole the question Draven wanted to ask, too, after Calanthe guessed their ages. How did she know just by looking at them? Maybe she knew a lot more than she looked like she did. Not to be outdone by his brother, Draven was quick to offer his own idea about the woman's good guess: “Were there any pups where you come from? Is that how you can tell?”