Hushed Willows Would I run off the world someday?

It was time. Dante had been adopted in so readily by the nymph; she had given him home, a family, prospects for the furture, and even better yet, her heart. The least he could do was eagerly accept her invitation when the ceremony came up in conversation. He had mused over the idea of it all since he'd agreed, feeling curious more than anything. Well, curious and joyful. The notion of being united together with his fellow faes officially was something that made the boy's heart leap. Though he'd been ready to accept each as kin as soon as he'd met them, there was something very profound about having a shared experience that really, truly bound them.

For most of his young life, Dante had felt like he was floating- or falling, perhaps, in open air, nothing tying him down to reality. When he had resided in Innisfree, sure, there were friends and distant family and handsome young men who would go make him fall in love and then die, but there was never any place or pack that had given him a real sense of being needed, or useful, or just simply grounded. In the court, he felt grounded. He felt as though each member of their family was equally as essential as any other. It reminded him slightly of the boughs of the willows- all individual, but at their core connected to one system that they each and every one thrived upon. 

It was with these dawdling thoughts that Dante approached Lumiya, having come at her call with a quail already prepared (he'd gotten quite good at fetching them since their last trip). His eyes lit up when he saw the wisp, step picking up a little quicker as he reached her, dropping the feathered body at her feet before reaching forward to brush his face lightly against her neck. With a fond grin, Dante padded into the cave, awaiting all that was to come with a brilliant excitement fizzing within him.