Neverwinter Forest and he's stolen the strands of sunlight

I am not sure if @Astra’s body is still lowered to be down to the boys’ level, but if not, please let me know and I can change this! Also, I used “paw” about a billion times in this thread. @_@ Sorry!

Cypress had emerged from the den moments after Scimitar had spoken Astra’s name, but as smart as the puppy was, he might not have been able to pick up on the social cue anyway — names for Cypress and Rannoch were generally spoken slowly, with great emphasis on the ownership of them. He felt no shame as he padded up to her, his tiny paws aiming to clamber unhindered over her outstretched forelegs, but her sudden frown of confusion stilled him completely. Was he in trouble? Had he done a Bad Thing? He stood with three paws on the ground and one just short of touching hers. He was wholly and utterly sure now that she wasn’t Allure, and informed Rannoch of this in a voice that shook. Too nervous to move from his crouched position, “N-Nah,” he squeaked out. “No Wooah, no Wooah.”

With exquisite slowness that would have been an animator’s nightmare, Cypress inched his paw away from Astra’s in a careful rewind and placed it on the ground. He was quite near to her, his muzzle only centimeters from her white-tipped paw; all four of his little feet clustered together beneath him as he made his small form even smaller and bent his head. In truth, he resembled little more than a shrub of obsidian fur — a brooding black robin.