A gentle chuckle escaped her maw as Rook shimmied his way into the space. For a few moments, while she knew he was situating himself, all she could see of the tawny male was his tale poking out like a lizard from the foliage. It was quite an amusing sight to see, and she was very tempted to pull a little friendly trick on him. However, his tail was pulled from her sights before she could do so which was probably for the best. She took this moment to make her way in herself, pushing past the greenery and into the shallow indention in the ground. Taking a look around she blinked at the simplicity but beauty of the area. The light seemed to filter perfectly through the trees to allow beams to settle directly on them, allowing them shade but to still feel the warmth of the sun. The smell of earth and the feel of the warm dirt beneath her body was soothing and peaceful, and she could understand why he favored the area so much.

Squeezing her way in she tiptoed around, careful to not step on the yearling as she tried to find the best place to settle down. Settling on lying next to him, head to head as usual, she laid down and proceeded to tuck her forepaws beneath her chest. Her tail stuck out behind her, gently wagging before it came close to hitting him which caused her to tuck it around her hind legs. There wasn’t much room at all between the two, possibly only 2-4 inches at the maximum but it didn’t bother her. She just hoped that Rook wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. As she gave one last shift then went still, Rook began to speak. She turned her heterochromatic gaze on his and tilting her head at an angle she provided her complete attention.

His words brought a stronger thumping of her beating heart in her chest, her cheeks heating up again. It took a quite a bit to get the pale she-wolf to blush, but her companion always seemed to be to do it with ease. She completely agreed with him, as her feelings were rather the same. Even with her family, she had never quite felt the same way with them as she did with Rook. With them she had been partially herself, but also felt the need to conform to their expectations. Only two wolves in the world knew her as herself, her real self, and they would be her father and Rook. It made him special to her, and at that moment she knew that she wanted to be with him as much as possible. If he left her, it would be like losing her family all over again.

“Life has funny ways in bringing wolves together, it seems. I certainly am glad it brought us together for whatever reason it may be. Before I met you, I had been alone for a long time. I was not sure I would have anyone again, and I was not sure I did want to be in the presence of another. But, now…I do not think that I could be away from you. Somehow, you have become important to me. You know more of me than anyone, and the way you draw me from myself baffles me.” She replied, her voice quiet and thoughtful. And it was true, because even in that moment he was drawing words from her that she just couldn’t seem to keep inside. Normally, when speaking to others, she picked and chose her words in her mind and didn’t fully say what she thought. But with him, her thoughts were out in the open before she could sort them. How strange it was indeed.

Namid watched his face as he thought, not in a strange way but because his expressions when he thought always intrigued her. She often liked to try and think of what he could be thinking of at that moment with each of his expressions. Some of them showed hurt or worry sometimes, other times excitement and joy. They were some of the things that made her so interested in him, because he was so open but at the same time so hard to figure out. His mind was a maze, which she was slowly learning to traverse. What she would find in the center was unknown, but she knew that it would be fine in the end. No matter what happened, she didn’t think that she leave him to deal with it on his own.

His question startled her. Would you come with me? This was something she hadn’t considered. She’d just thought that he would just stay in Relic Lore, that they all would. Travel to another place seemed foreign to her now, but…if she needed to leave she could. Traveling had been a part of her life-style for 5 whole months. 5 months she’d been alone, nearly half a year she’d spent without a word to another soul. Or, rather very little words to one besides herself or to the empty air around her. Just settling down in Whisper Caverns she had no real roots there, and leaving would make her feel guilty but she would get over it. She could do it, she knew, for him. “I would,” She stated. It was a simple reply, but it held a lot of meaning. The words were out and there was no going back, if he left she left too.

Her response, she thought, would make him happy. That she would see his eyes so like her own light up with excitement as they so usually did. However, it seemed that quite the opposite happened. His gaze saddened, as if her words has formed a battering ram that had broken down a wall he had kept up in front of her. This Rook was a different Rook, a different boy who was afraid and hurt. She’d known that he was in there, somewhere as it was in every mortal soul. The depth of anguish she saw in his eyes, the amount of anxiety and sorrow that was held there made her want to weep.

Before she hadn’t known what had been going on in his life, only fractions of what had happened such as he’d left his home to help his father. At first she’d thought he’d just come to Relic Lore to see his old pack land, but now she knew the truth. Her companion and his sister were there looking for a cure, a cure that would fix his father’s memory deterioration. Whether such a thing even existed was unknown to her, but he had to have some inkling, some knowledge that it did or he wouldn’t have come this far for nothing.

Looking at her broken friend, at the emotion he held so deeply inside, she threw all caution to the wind and gently laid her head over his shoulders. This was a sort of canine hug, a show of support from deep within her. It broke her to see him like this, but at the same time she felt so enthralled to know that he trusted her enough to open himself up like this. “Family holds a bond that will make one go to great lengths to save it. I could not save my own family, but Rook. I will do all I can to help you save yours, to help you mend what is broken and restore what needs to be. Whatever you need, just ask and I will do what I can.” She murmured, her voice gentle like a breeze.

The relaxation of his body made her coiled muscles relax as well. She found relief in his slowly clearing mood, which, while still somber, was no longer as heavy as it had been. The pale woman waited patiently for a response, all the while wondering what could be going through that beautifully brilliant head of his. Her own aching heart for the boy was, in turn and likewise, soothed by his acceptance of her approach by physical contact. Namid had been afraid that he’d pull away, that she’d ruin the moment of truth he was sharing with her that she cherished so much. It had been the final test, in her mind, of how much he did trust her and now she had no doubt of their relationship and its limits.

A stirring of his head and the loss of warmth where it had been left her feeling cold, but attentive. All signs of focus were on him as he spoke, soaking in a processing each word in her mind carefully and stowing it away. What he said had been what she’d feared, that he’d come here on blind faith. He really had no inkling of what he was looking for, which made his job all the harder. She’d had no idea of his true position, how much of a wedge he’d been in until that moment. It was as if she could feel the pressure he felt inside to do the right thing, while not knowing exactly what the right thing was. The dilemma he faced was apparent in her mind, and her thoughts raced for a solution. What she came up with made her mentally cringe, and she rolled it around on her tongue debating whether it should be said. The worst that could happen was that they would find another way, and with that in mind her opened her maw to speak her thoughts.

“I…do not know if this is a good idea or not, and it may not be. I do not have full comprehension of the situation, but perhaps…” She paused, hesitant to go on because she was afraid of offense to him or seeming ignorant. Taking a breath she continued with a nervous frame, “You do not know what you are looking for, and you came here because the herbs here are different from where you are from, yes? Perhaps the answer is here, but…in my mind the only way to find which one may be the key ingredient would be to test it. And…we cannot do that when your father is not here. My proposition…” She swallowed and fidgeted, “Is that perhaps we, or you and your sister if that is the more appropriate idea, return to Renegades Reach and retrieve your father and bring him here to Relic Lore. I apologize if it is a completely absurd idea; it was something that just floated in my mind’s eye.” She half mumbled, looking away in bashfulness. Maybe she’d just make the situation worse by suggesting it, oh how she hoped she hadn’t just made a tactical error.

With his coaxing she had been able to expel her idea into the open air, and the way his expression turned frightened her. Then, his gaze fogged over and his facial features became far away. Anyone who didn’t know Rook would think that they had offended him, that he was deeply upset. But this face she knew well, it was one of thought. It was much similar to her own expression in times of deep thinking, and though she knew the process well she still couldn’t help but worry about what he could be thinking about. Namid felt completely comfortable with Rook in a way she hadn’t before, in a way that she’d expressed she hadn’t even felt with her own family besides her father. Just as she’d started to worry, his expression came to and he turned to look at her. Then gave her a great big smile.

A mental sigh of relief went through her body and she listened intently as usual to his words. He looked a little hopeful now, maybe even a little excited and this made her feel much the same. Her tail began to wag, and a small chuckle came from her maw, cutting slightly at the end when he’d mentioned Bishop and herself fighting over him. How right he was with that statement, and he didn’t even know it.

Pressing his nose to hers, which caused her mind to go a little fuzzy and her brow to crease in confusion because of it, he’d gotten up and said he’d lead her elsewhere. Shaking her head gently to relieve it of the feeling she got up and made to follow him, feeling the loss of his presence. Moving to his side as she’d grown accustomed to doing, she smiled with dancing heterochromatic eyes settled only on him. “Lead the way!” She encouraged happily.
(Fade.)