Blacktail Deer Plateau lost in the backwood

Had he known of her thoughts, Mordecai would have sought to dispel them. But he didn't and went on blissfully unaware of them, instead warmed by her affection. Or instigation, whichever or however someone wanted to take them. His eyes closed briefly as her tongue ran across his cheek, a smile spreading between her passage. He knew deep down inside how much worse things could have been, and in a way having someone to at least shoulder a piece of that burden came in handy.

And as he drew in the world again and saw past her to the splay of her ears, he couldn't help but think that she was just as equally comforting him as she was being coy. He pushed his snout against hers in a crude nose-bump, sweeping his broad tongue over her face. It was silly, but he couldn't help it. But the affection was all there, as well as the relief that she had stayed safe and sound midst all that had been ravaged and burned by flame. What an immeasurable amount of guilt it would have been for him to carry, had she come all that way to stick by him only to be eaten alive by fire.