RABBIT LYALL

Do you have anything to say?

It all seemed to happen so fast; one moment she was still trying to rein in her hopes from flying too high, too fast, after Mirren had given her a heartening nudge and the next thing she knew, both Nina and Hollow had manifested before her very eyes. As much as she regretted thinking it, she had to admit it to herself that she rather thought the pair of Leaders were rather peculiar. By first impression, she looked the part of a warrior with only one eye as he seemed to be just a little bit younger than she was. Stop staring, her conscience scolded in both Kade and Mapplethorpe's voices. Look away. Now. She reserved her judgement, willing the heroic and noble images born of Mirren's stories to remain unchanged, and let her eyes drop down to the place where both the Leaders' shoulders had touched. They both regarded the young Tainn with such reverence that Rabbit could not help but don another smile as she turned to him.

She took one step back as she her gaze temporarily swept over Nina and Hollow's faces, nodding warmly to each in turn as she granted the Leaders their space and lent to them the idea that she was the docile sort of personality. Her ears lowered a fraction and, again, she let her tail wag twice from left to right and back again. Eagerly she sat, knowing from her mentors' etiquette drills that she was not to speak out of turn without being spoken to, look her superiors squarely in the eye, or move in any way as to threaten the sovereigns present. She settled her bashful gaze upon her agemate, allowing him to take the floor.

It reminds me of the night that we first met

A blustery wind was the only sound to be heard for a time, whistling past between his russet ears. Maybe he should have been nervous─he had been gone for a number of days and had returned with a girl, after all─but all he felt was calm. They'd made it back safely, and by the time night would fall upon Secret Woodlands he would be nestled away in the familiar comfort of his own den, hopefully against Rabbit's warmth. Shifting his weight in the snow and silence as they waited, his eyes glanced over his grey-stroked companion. Did she feel as relieved as he did? Would she be happy here? He found the curve of her chin and the dry shine of her dark lips, the slow and steady thumping of his young heart skipping the tiniest beat.

His attention was drawn abruptly from the girl as the crunch of footsteps sounded just off in the distance. Mirren straightened up immediately, squaring his shoulders and holding his head proudly for the approaching alpha, who turned out to be Nina. The boy's tail swayed for a moment at his hocks as he made sure to show her all the signs of submission and affection she might desire. Not far behind the queen was Hollow, to whom the Tainn showed an equal regard. "Who is your friend, dear Mirren?" "What are your intentions>" He leaned a hair closer to Rabbit, enough so that his fur brushed against hers in a gesture of support.

"Nina, Hollow," he regarded the pair, his eyes casting from them to the friend at his side, "this is Rabbit..." He breathed an easy breath as his chest swelled with pride for the girl. His gaze cast back to the alphas."...She is strong and brave, and she is my friend. She wants to be one of us." And in his own mind, she already was. "Strong" and "brave" were only a fraction of the words he could use to describe the grey-stroked she wolf, many of them meant only for her ears, but he knew them to be true even if he still didn't know too much about her in the grand scheme of things.

Intentions.

A word he hadn't yet considered to much depth, and Hollow's question rung in his ears long after he'd answered Nina's inquiry. Mirren had many intentions─to return to Copper Rock Creek, to start anew with his dark brother, to serve Secret Woodlands, and to one day resurrect his father's forgotten empire, one that in Mirren's eyes was never really lost. He intended to keep Nios safe and fed throughout the winter, but as it was he'd failed where most of his intentions were concerned. He searched Hollow's face quietly, his stoical mask shadowing the flurry of thought. As for Rabbit, well...he intended to keep her safe, to keep her warm, to make sure she recovered and to ensure that she would flourish. He intended to share with her all the things he thought were beautiful and special, and to show her through his own actions that she didn't ever have to be alone, starving, scared, or abandoned ever again. He intended to help her find her family and to make sure her wants and dreams never passed her by, if he could. Most of all, he intended to nurture the unexpected gift of friendship and companionship she'd given him the fateful night when their lonely paths so perfectly crossed. Mirren intended to give Rabbit the life she might have otherwise lost that night at Bramble Falls. "My intentions are to serve Secret Woodlands to the best of my abilities, and to strengthen our numbers by requesting the addition of an able body," he replied, knowing full and well that his statement was a reflection of some things he intended.

RABBIT LYALL

Do you have anything to say?

At the very least the couple seemed genuinely interested in her. She kept silent as both Nina and Hollow were introduced to her and she tried her best to momentarily let her eyes gaze at them then quickly look away. She even tried to smile just enough to purvey that she was grateful for them to be there, with Mirren... with her... If they were anything like her previous superiors, then she knew very well that their time was precious. While Mirren truthfully gave his answers to Hollow, Rabbit sat idly by, studying the black nails at the tips of Nina's paws while her age mate spoke.

”Rabbit,” Nina called for her attention now. Though Taima had only had her "new name" for a few days, she had already gotten used to properly responding to it. Her ears came up and she shyly regarded the Woodlands Leader two blinking eyes which, no matter how hard she attempt to keep them away, kept fluttering up to the woman's face. "Yes, ma'am?" she hummed, the tip of her tail lifting only to fall back into the snow. The Lyall could just feel her gaze upon her face like a sunbeam warming the darkest parts of her pelt, ”What skills is it that you possess?”

"I," she faltered, rather unsure in how to answer such a question. What skills did she posses? Surely no Leader - apart from her father, Uncle Angier, and maybe Kade - would want to hear that she had the gall to supervise and oversee fellow pack members, like a future Leader would. Her father, for however short of time that she had him for, had taught her to be good, to have faith and, most importantly, follow the rules. Kade had taught her to behave and to respect her elders for the most part. Mapplethorpe had drilled nothing but manners and etiquette into her head: how to address a Leader and behave like one, how to be the most perfect mate for Datura Aquila. Angier... Angier!

The girl's face lit up after several seconds of thinking had passed. "I'm very good at caching," she smiled, thinking back to when she had always detested her uncle's fondness for taking walks along the borders and making her help him carry bits of carrion back home. "My uncle taught me how when I was younger. I know how important it is to keep the pack's caches full." Her voice trailed off at the end of her sentence and her ears came back along her neck again as she remembered one of the reasons why she had left. In Hollowheart Keep there had been very little to go around; every scrap was primarily given to Naira or her daughters, the bones were reserved for Mapplethorpe, who only presented them to pack members who had proven themselves capable time and time again of pulling their own weight.

When she spoke up again her voice was quieter and only hints of her smile remained. "Maybe when the herds come back and Spring makes the land green again, I can help keep your pack and family well-fed..."

And we could be fine. We could be fine, fine, fine

There was an intensity in the way Nina's emerald eye looked over Rabbit, upon whom the spotlight was surely shining now. Mirren was mindful to be quiet after speaking his small piece and he watched the dynamic between each of the gathered wolves with eyes like a hawk. Inside of his chest, his heart was thumping slowly and steadily, and as anticipation precipitated the flow of adrenaline through his body he took in a silent breath. Nina knew him as well as anyone─she wasn't Aeylen, but she was as much a mother figure─and the tawny boy knew that the queen of the woodlands could see his hope for what it was, written subtly across his stoical features. He'd left his family and in turn had lost his only brother, and she knew what a hard blow it had been to him. Just like she had to know now that he wouldn't have brought someone home who didn't mean something to him, even if he wasn't sure what the girl's meaning was exactly. All the same, he knew he was walking a tight rope, and that Rabbit could be viewed as another hungry mouth to feed in a season where food was as scarce as hope was.

His gaze cast from the alpha to his friend when the customary inquiry was posed regarding what skills the girl could bring to their table. Grey-streaked and scrawny, with eyes trained upon the snow where Nina stood, Rabbit might not have looked like much to those who didn't know her. Hell, he hardly knew her himself, but he'd spent enough time watching the way she moved through the snow, the way she buried her nose in her tail when she slept, how she spoke about things she was passionate about (namely her family)...He had seen that look in her tired eyes. One of a distant, dormant, flickering fire not willing to be extinguished. Yes, Mirren knew just how special Rabbit was, but would his Leaders see the same in her? The wind rustled the collar of thick winter fur along his shoulders as he traced her lips, waiting, too, for her answer.

The girl fumbled over a single syllable before collecting her thoughts and replying. Caching. He'd never given it much thought, but filling the caches was pretty important. The remainder of her explanation whisked his thoughts about caching as a skill far away, and he couldn't help but to be a bit impressed by her choice of words and the gentle way in which she spoke them. A small half grin pulled at a single corner of his lips before fading, his eyes lingering on her face for a moment before casting back to Nina.

RABBIT LYALL

Do you have anything to say?

Just when she was starting to believe that her answer had not been enough, Nina's verdict came: she was sure that her family would be very happy to meet her. Tabbit's tail wriggled and waved even more. She would thrive under their care, she decided, get healthy again and prove herself as a capable member of a pack. Nina came forward then and Rabbit held still, all too familiar with the gesture in acknowledging herself as a Leader's subordinate. When the woman released her, she kindly smoothed out the bits of fur that stuck up from where her lips had closed over the bridge of the girl's snout. The Lyall gave an eager whine, glancing over to Mirren when Nina mentioned that she would allow Mirren to show her around.

"Thank you, Nina, and I look forward to meeting them," was the only other thing she could say and as she recovered herself, she looked to and fro for a place to start. Her eyes eventually came back to Mirren with a girlish smile on her face as an off-white forepaw lifted to signal that she was ready to go...