The tension in the air since their little shouting match followed them like their own personal rainclouds. It was only fitting, with the girl's name translating to something like "a peal of thunder" in her grandmother's native tongue, for every time she and Datura spoke, a low growl, like the distant rumbling of a storm, laced her words. She was not the helpless girl the heir thought her to be, and she was going out of her way to make certain that he understood just as much. She still liked the boy but he, above all others, would not treat her like her father and brothers had. No, he was going to treat her in only the ways she saw fit; and if he was going to continue wielding his anger against her, she was ready to give him a taste of his own medicine.

In the lengthy bouts of silence, she kept mainly to herself, only speaking clipped words when Datura spoke to the back or side of her lofty skull. As the ground became more pulpy underfoot, she kept true to her path, only revising it when she thought it would be best to navigate around a cluster of saplings or the roots of a large, gnarly tree. A part of her fought hard to keep a knowing grin off her mug, if the boy had not yet figured out what a marsh was, with 'reeds' and all sorts of sunken things, now was his chance...

Sure-footed steps brought her closer along the brink of the murky water swelling up all around them now, but before she could even bolding stride further into the marsh, the golden boy's enervated voice pulled at her skyward ears. She stopped and rounded on him, sighing quietly as he told her that he did not want to be lost forever. They had been traveling for ages and stopped on various occasions without fully resting, and it was apparent on her face now that her anger had dissipated, even the cold shoulder she had been brandishing had melted away. Her tail lowered into the marsh and she looked at him quite sadly, all traces of her devious smile absent beneath her masked eyes, "I don't either, Datura." She pushed her breath through her nose, relaxing her ears so that they stood at their usual positions atop her crown. She wasn't quite yet ready to apologize for bursting his bubble or yelling childishly in his face but she hope he realized that she was not mad at him anymore. "I think you're better at navigating; wanna lead for a while?"

She waited for him to make his move, and when he stepped past her she took up her previous position, walking with her shoulder alongside his flank. "I dont' either," she repeated with an airy sigh. "And, I'd rather not know or find out, buuuuut," she emphasized the last word as a signal that she was intending to change the subject from their captors to the subject of their exploration. "This place is whatcha call a marsh." She purposefully spread her toes on all of her paws so that the mud noisily squished beneath and between her paw pads for a few steps, smiling cheerfully instead of loudly giggling at the memory of that fateful day in the marsh near her home.

Her footfalls quieted again, reduced to the muffled squelching of their strides. "It's not like my marsh," she noted quietly, her grin just a little less noticeable now. "But it's quite close." Her tail wagged, "And you said you don't have one where you're from. Here it is, and you've never been here before, hmm?" She wasn't sure if he'd blow up in her face with her lightly teasing him, but she meant no harm behind her words. Now that they were talking, she realized how much she had missed it, the way his voice lilted about to form words and place meaning behind them. She let the silence overcome her again before she started again.

"Datura?" she sweetly called to him in a hushed tone, his name seemingly honeyed on her tongue. "Do you think they're out there looking for us? Them... and your family?" She had to swallow the whimper that was building in her throat, to blink back and smooth out the longing that was starting to form on her face. "I came a long way from where I'm from; it took us days to come to this side of Relic Lore. My dad... He's not as young as he used to be; and my mom... she has my brothers and sister to take care of. Datura, I... I don't... I don't know if anyone will be out looking for me."

The way she had called to him worked. He stopped and fully looked at her, the look on his face even looked genuinely concerned. Her bat-like ears fell back, gaping at him as he let her know straight up what he thought about what she had just told him. "Taima, they're your family they have to look for you. That's... that's just the rules," he said. "B-bu--" she tried to interject with a . "You don't let your family down. You don't let them go. And when they leave you go looking for them because otherwise there's nothing left to live for."

Though the growl was not directed at her, it made her draw a half-step back. What did he know about her family? About how she felt? How she believed that Borden would have had enough of her by now... with her defiant, renegade ways... With how she continually acted in front of her father and how he often succumbed to his frustration and exasperation with her, she was convinced that her family was better off forgetting about her, thinking that they would have felt relieved with her out of their fur.

"Do you understand me?" he asked. The Lyall heiress fought hard to cast away her pride, to consider that he might have been right. If Borden had always gone out of his way to make sure she did not disobey him again, he could have been looking for her as they spoke. "Y-yeah," she nodded, though her tone of voice was not as sure sounding as she hoped it would be. She sniffed quietly, the sound bridging the gap between her words. "It's just... Never mind," she shook her head, shifting slightly as to suggest that she was ready to start walking again.

Taima stared at the damp fur on his chest, her brows still touching one another as she scowled. Of course, her family was probably out looking for her... she managed to convince herself. Borden Lyall, as much as she knew, was a force to reckoned with; and there was no doubt that as much as there would be relief if she was successfully retrieved, she was prone to be the subject of the most harshest of lectures regarding her delinquent decision in playing in the thicket so many months ago. "I don't want to be found," she blurted, gazing up to Datura. "Sure, I miss them, but... I'd rather be with you.... wherever we're going."

A gasp sought refuge in her lungs and she stared at him incredulously. "What?" she wanted to question him, just to be sure he had said what she had heard. Her eyes widened in surprise, unsure for a second what had brought him so such an ultimatum until it came to her. If she didn't want to go with them (if and when her family found her), it only made sense for her to hope against hope that he wanted her to go with him.

Her heart fluttered about in her chest like a restless bird in its cage and her tail lifted in a partial wag. "Are you serious?" she questioned, her tone still soft but wrought with shock. It was clear by how she looked at him now that she was rather taken with the idea, that she did not want to ridicule him or cause any more wounds to his equally proud ego. But, there was a gleam across her abyssal pupils that suggested she was looking him over for any sign of mockery. @Renier and @Ryvet, she was sure, would have had quite a laugh if they were with them now, egging Datura on to lead her on, let her down, and break her heart.

"I..." Taima had to keep herself from stumbling over her words and making herself look like a bumbling idiot. "Really?" She peered into his face, that handsome mug that she had grown to memorize in a matter of days after not seeing him for months since they had first met. "You'd... You want to be with me?"

Her mind went back to that winter filled day when he had rescued her from a skunk, and she found that the wish she had made that very evening had finally come to fruition. Again, her mind had to take into consideration what they had survived together. Perhaps this was how it was meant to be... The opportunity, once granted, was to be seized without question; Taima Lyall was not going to lose this prince to the wilds again.

This boy, a young man beneath what she thought of as a mighty title, had never uttered anything close to "I love you" or even returned the sentiment of "liking" her back but she had already sunken back, much further than anticipated, into her childhood dream... into all the promises her mother and father had once filled her head with. The term "delusional" might have been appropriate for describing what was going on through Taima's mind but what Datura said next helped ground her in the reality that was presented before her.

That's right, she remembered, he had given her a lake... And now he was reinforcing that he was still going to give her Relic Lore for as long as she stayed with him. Yes, she was an heiress of Grizzly Hollow but it dawned on her that maybe she did not have to be a ruler of cedar trees, evergreens, and bears. She could be Datura's heiress, as well as her family's, regardless of whether or not they were with her.

She smiled widely at him then, swept away by his words. "Right," she bashfully said, knowing very well that what he said was true. If she was to receive his gifts, then she would stay with him. That was that...

Suddenly, his face lit up and a pinprick of light dimly shone over him for a brief moment. His surprised expression made her cant her head to one side, wondering what he had seen until a little spark caught her attention just over the dome of skull. His large paw lifted and she closed her eyes tight, expecting him to 'boop' her on the nose but he didn't.

When she opened her eyes again, her vision went cross-eyed and one of those curious, blinking balls of light had landed on her nose! A soft note sounded from her vocal chords, more musing than worried as her newfound mate snickered. She noted how his tongue poked out and braced herself for a Ryvet-like, slobber-encrusted lick, and as he drew closer and she held still, the little "light-ball" floated away...

What happened next made her reel again: Datura leaned in until his tongue met her lips and their noses touched! "Oh!" she exclaimed under her breath, shrinking back shyly as her ears flicked back. She had to stifle a giggle of her own, her girlish knowledge about what a "kiss" was in essence setting her soul ablaze, "You... You missed."