He crouched under a rocky overhang, staring at the drops of rain. A familiar sight. 

He knew that too much rain was bad. Every child learned that. Too much rain drowned the plants and flooded the valleys. Not enough burns the land alive. Things needed balance. But sometimes tipping the scales was required. There was not much he could do — lacking the powers to change the world.

So he accepted it.

After some time of staring at the sky, he began to sing to himself, quietly, joining the rhythms of the rain on the leaves and branches and the rumbles of the sky. A simple song for one, but singing wasn't the same alone. He missed the melodies and harmonies that others brought — his family brought, for no one here could do the same.

It wasn't the first time that his thoughts flickered back home, to his clan, his tribe, his family. The song that exited his lips heightened such thoughts, making them bright and clear in his mind. Was it raining there too? Did they have to move up to higher ground? How were his siblings and cousins?

He finished his part of the song, finding no more words to sing, as the melody of the rain around him had shifted. Perhaps another would come to mind soon. He wasn't much of a singer, let alone a malenga. He looks up, seeing a dark-furred woman peering at him. It wasn't Lenny, but she was quite similar looking. Her sister! Lo! Samahani. Vallkyrie? Correct? he pronounced the name hesitantly, unsure if he had said it right.

He nodded. I fear I don't speak much to others, he explained. I too busy. he drowned himself in work sometimes it seemed, so busy on protecting and feeding the idea of a pack rather than the members themselves. He didn't know too many of them, only meeting them in fleeting moments. It felt wrong to do, but he wasn't sure why he did so. What does your sister say of me? he smiled cheekily, though he had no doubt that Lenny was a true friend and said nothing bad, just playfully insulting.

He snorts, trying to hide his laughter. That was one of the few terms he had learned — he understood what she was getting at, or at least he thought so. Of course Lenny would say something like that. He wants to smile at the praise, but he was afraid of seeming too arrogant. Surely Vallkyrie wouldn't think so, since she's telling him. Ah, I am glad to hear. he finds himself smiling a bit, the corners of his lips fluttering upwards. His heart was fluttering too. Catch? he didn't understand the colloquialism and took Vallkyrie literally. I'm not that easy to catch. She exaggerates. he pouts half-heartedly.

He furrowed his brow, confused. He thought himself fluent in the common tongue, but it was idioms and turns of phrase that still barred his understanding. Yes? I figured she had to like me, to spend so much time with me. he said, bemused. She wouldn't invite me here to join if she didn't like me. What was Vallkyrie getting at?It seemed painfully obvious that the two of them were friends.

Lo! Yao's eyes went wide as he finally understood what Vallkyrie was saying. Lo... he looked away from her, flustered. What that all that was? She found him attractive? When? When they first met or later? "Sexy beast", he had never heard such a thing. He had to assume it was in a good way.

Wait. Did he think the same? Of her, that is. No one...had ever said such a thing about him before. Not in a real way. He had gotten the playful teasing from his bibi and shangazi, same as all of his male cousins and brothers, but nothing more, nothing from the girls back home, the ones that he presumed his whole life that he would be married to at some point. Ndyio... I am...getting it.

He nodded, understanding the sibling defensiveness Kyr was feeling. He was the same with his younger siblings and cousins. I wouldn't want to hurt her, he said. Regardless of the nature of his feelings, that held true. He liked Lenny, as a friend and as a packmate if nothing else. Whatever he decided to do, he would have to do it in the best way possible. Whatever...that was. He'd never been in this situation before, never even prepared for it. This is just, he let out a sigh. Didn't expect that. he chuckled awkwardly.