Redtail Rise whistles and cricket song

The chocolate male thanked him and Ratio blinked slowly back, a quiet acknowledgment. He understood the sentiment but there was no need to thank him for stating simple facts. Did Ashlar not know how valuable he was? How special? They were all the same brutish, bullish standard - Avicus clearly had a type when it came to packmates. Ratio didn't dislike or feel any criticism in his heart when it came to his pack. They were his people, he thrived here, but Ashlar was made differently. He was everything they were not and he was in short supply. If anyone should be valued it was the earthy male before him. He was exceptional. 

And he did not know that. 

Ratio would have to show him. He felt himself turn away from that idea - it felt like a need to hide away. That was not in his nature and he didn't enjoy the squirming self-consciousness. It felt almost like fear and made him flighty and nervous. He shoved it down. It did not go willingly. But the alternative - silence - meant that Ashlar would not know...he couldn't let him believe he was less than the rest of them when the opposite was true. It simply wasn't fair.

He told Ratio about pups and his feelings about being a father. Pups were the result of this heat, maybe, and they were easier to focus on. "I wish there were going to be children like you." he said, feeling almost light-headed with the urge to shut his mouth and turn away. "But I understand." Ratio didn't think much of raising babies. It was necessary but it had nothing to do with him. He wouldn't be a father to children of his own but the idea of protecting a child as sensitive and good as Ashlar, of raising it to be what all it could be and not what may have been expected of it in this sea of warriors, made him feel both anxious and warm.