Dragoncrest Cliffs You had other plans

Reuniting with Portia was an entirely different experienced, compared to how things had played out with Heda. She seemed happy to see him, talking immediately with the same kindness that he remembered, and had always loved, her for—his Poor-shah. He quieted down when she began speaking, not wanting to miss a single word that left her mouth. Though, as she commented on his size, he couldn’t help but let out a few extra whines, embarrassed and happy. As the questions came, however, it was easier to quiet down, though his tail never stopped wagging—it even sped up when she said that he didn’t have to answer her. She remembered. She remembered his appreciation of the silence; Portia had always respected his decision to communicate without words, which was just one of the many reasons why he liked her so much.

Which is why he had to tell her.

“Wanna tell you,” he whispered, almost always uncertain of his voice. “Had t’leave with Freyja—had to protect her.” When she had left, he had needed to follow. Leaving her to go alone had never once been an option for him back then—it still wasn’t, as his only reason for giving up his search for her was because she had someone new to protect her. Someone that loved her just as much as Hvitserk did, someone that would never leave her all alone and unprotected. “She lemme come back but…” he trailed off, brows scrunching together. “Only as a Branwoda—like the giant.” He had accepted his place within the pack but that didn’t make it sting any less. The fact that he was in the same position as the man he hated—the man he had once told his father that he wanted dead—hurt him. With a shake of his head, he forced the memory from his mind and focused back on Portia, smiling up at her with the same fondness in his eyes that he had looked at her with as a child.