Blacktail Deer Plateau Atlas hands

He would never have presumed that any of the pack would have followed should he have been forced to leave, and so his surprise at her statement likely showed.  A good surprise, and an innocent one.  It wasn't as though he didn't think he meant much to them... he knew that wasn't true. The thought just hadn't crossed his mind, so convinced was he, in that instant his muzzle was pressed into the ground, that he had lost everything he'd tried to build. 

At a loss for what to say, since thank you hardly seemed appropriate or enough, he simply remained quiet and continued to listen.  Her words, they were his own, were they not?  But it a sentiment that was easy to forget when the going got tough.  It was so much easier to shoulder everything yourself rather than to burden others with your own personal baggage.  Everyone had their own problems, right?  Another example of advice that he gave freely, but was unwilling to take himself.  To have his own words turned on him was an odd experience, but they were words that he very much needed to hear right now.

A slow realization was creeping upon him, ignited by her admission that she and others would be there to stand beside him so that he did not have to fight alone.  Perhaps what was important here was not that Koda could have claimed the Plateau, but that he did not.  Despite his victory, he still left, and Dante had been so wrapped up in his own shame that he hadn't stopped to consider why that was.  Now that he did, he began to see and understand what Koda had likely seen days ago... Lasher, Blue Willow, Osprey, Mordecai, Finn, even Harlyn... could he really imagine any of them accepting his exile?  He couldn't.

No matter that it might not feel that way all the time, he'd made this place his own, and surrounded himself with wolves who he loved with a fierce and protective surety.  This conversation had made it clear to him that perhaps those feelings weren't completely one sided.  It was something that should have been clear from the beginning, and it filled him with a sense of peace he hadn't felt since the ordeal had gone down.  And, really, long before that.

Overcome for a moment, he didn't trust himself to speak.  He did let out a soft chuckle at her words, and though it came out a bit haltingly, it was genuine.  "I hope not either.  I like my face too."  Finally he looked at her.  "I think that wise guy could still learn a thing or two from you.  Thank you."  In a few simple phrases she'd sent a precision shot into the heart of his worries, effectively destroying them from the inside out.  There was still some cleanup he would need to do, but for the moment, he finally knew where he stood.