Firefly Ravine when i was alone, you promised the stone from your heart

Dante has begun to understand family. It's not that he hadn't had a family before Seelie, not technically. He had. Yet, he's not sure he ever experienced family with them, always floating somewhere outside of the inner circle, meandering along the outskirts. He's right in the thick of it in Seelie. It's the little things, he thinks (and feels horribly cliche for thinking so). It's sharing a meal with Lumiya or an unexpected cuddle with Valiant and talking about the wolves he's met along the borders, or hearing one of Eleuthera's songs as he does his hunting for the day. It's actually missing Orlaith's fire or seeing Fionn high off his arse under the willow boughs. It's family. He's horrified that he might love it.

It's not that he's not proud to be a part of the court, in fact, most days he reflects on just how lucky he is to have a home there. But it chokes him a little, to love something so much. It kills him to care so deeply for his packmates, and even more so because the threat they've been facing has put each one at risk. Dante never thought of himself as someone afraid to love, and yet he fears he's become such a person too late, when his walls have already been knocked down and the faeries have paraded their way into his heart. It's not fair. Dante has to get away sometimes, from the love, just so he can breathe. Today is one of those days.

He finds himself surrounded by fireflies once he finally comes out of his mind. He's not sure when he got here, he figures it can't have been so long, or he would've noticed the flickering luminance by now. He also would have noticed the scent of another that's now startlingly clear as his paws carry him aimlessly through the glen. The fur on his neck prickles slightly and the mouse takes it upon himself to observe his surroundings thoroughly for once, his eyes settling on the sylph-like silhouette of a shadow-cloaked stranger. He observes them, their stillness in the quiet evening, carefully. Eventually, the young man chuffs quietly, offering no further greeting as he awaits their reaction.