Dawnlark Plains come back down to my knees

the male who splintered the crushing boredom with his mere presence was unfamiliar and yet most definitely a packmate. he reminded her at first, sharply, of the polar wolves. his starkly white pelt was as odd as theirs had been, yet he was not shaped as they had been. 

muzzle tilted upward, forelimbs stiffening a moment as if they sought to push her up to her haunches, and then relaxing. the gash across her haunch made sitting near impossible without near-nauseating pain as the wound stretched and tore. "no,"  she offered simply, regarding him with usual hawkish intensity.  "it would be preferred, actually." far better company was he than the heaviness settled somewhere in his chest.

the woman shifted, pushing herself onto her haunches with a slight tightening of her jaw as she allowed her right haunch to jut out awkwardly.  "I'm dawn. you must have met my - comrade, aditya, already."  the word mate was still reflexive, and while her use of it was fading, her almost-slip was proof enough that it had not faded from its attachment to the sentinel, yet.

they spoke for a time, until the male ultimately found reason to leave. content for now, she returned to her den.