Phantom Hollow lovesong is playing

Eventually he left the coast and headed south. Loamy shores gave way to rolling plains underfoot, and they reminded Kaito of the meadow back home. They reminded him of company, and of the warmth of kin; of wrestling with Nikola, exploring with Padi, or dreaming with Chise. He thought of his family every day, and saw their reflection in many wolves he met. He missed them so, so much. But, he was here now, and he closed his eyes and drew in a breath. And he would be okay. The One was still with him, and every prayer he cried brought a calm assurance that though he felt alone, he was not alone. Not really.

But today he longed for someone tangible to meet , be they a stranger or a familiar face, and this morning, he had flip flopped his thoughts around until he finally just decided to ask the One to provide him with that. With someone good, and preferably his age - though he made sure to mention he would be okay with someone good and old also. Age didn’t matter a whole lot to him. He just wanted someone good, refreshing. Someone he didn’t have to worry about. He just wanted company, if even for five minutes.

Needless to say, he was still surprised when he heard a youthful voice rise from the edge of the woods; he had been curled in the shade of the trees, seeking respite from the hot summer sun, when he heard her, and his heart rushed with a startled burn. He heard her, of course - registered her attempt to reassure herself, and wished, in that moment, that he could have been smooth with introductions and weave some seamless way into her verbal musings like he had heard other boys do it before.

But every option seemed creepy at best, so he simply stayed tucked beneath the base of his tree and flicked his eyes left and right, as if the words would show up etched across the dirt. They didn’t, of course. What to say, what to say! Well, oh well, and he settled on the safest thing he could think of. “Hello,” and Kaito lifted his head from the shadowy nook, until the sunlight touched him with a dapple of gold and illuminated the bits of debris that cling to his flyaway fur, and he could see her silhoutte through a blinding squint, standing some couple of tail lengths away.