Fox's Glade Naive thinking.

It seemed as though out of no where a male jumped in between this female and Howl. He had two reactions. One was to take a few steps back and assume a defensive stance to this aggressive male. His second reaction was to be conserned for the female. Her first reaction seemed to also be a defensive one and with the scent of her heat other males may choose to make rather aggressive advances towards her. Howl was about to go to the females side so it was more of a two vs. one situation but once she spoke Howl was the situation differently.

The two knew eachother and right after this male asked who Howl was, the female yelled the males name and told him to calm down. Howl has still in a defensive stance but he rose to somewhat of a normal standing position. The female was apologetic to Howl and he replied to her first, "That's all right ma'am. In your current state others may choose to be protective of you or make advances." at the end of his statement he looked at the male and said to him "Luckily as you have seen ma'am I'm not one to make unwanted advances towards females, even if they are in their almost irresistible state." he said as though he was still speaking to her but the message was to both of them.

He then want on to answer the males question. "My name is Howl, and as I explained to this lovely lady, I mean no harm to either of you. Do you have the same intention?"  he asked the male. Wondering if he would instigate a fight Howl really didn't want to have.