Qeya River I think you should know you don't have to stay

For a split second, the boy thought that maybe she hadn't noticed. She wasn't acting in a way that suggested she disapproved of his antics, and yet... no, she definitely knew. He ducked his head, embarrassed, when she asked about his wellbeing and lifted a foreleg to swipe his wrist awkwardly across his stinging nose. "I'm fine!" he answered as he quickly shuffled through his mind for a suitable excuse for his foolishness. He didn't find one.

In a last ditch effort to preserve some semblance of respectability, he trotted back up the hill and stopped short just in front of the commander, as always averting his gaze and ears to show respect. And she commanded a lot of it from him. She'd gone to war for her allies, after all, and though he hadn't seen anything that happened, she'd come back in one piece and they had won. What wasn't to respect about Thuringwethil, knowing what he knew?

Licking his dry lips and trying to squash down his humiliation, the boy asked, "we'll be home soon?"