Neverwinter Forest lxxii. i'm a stone's throw from the mill

Aiwëndil felt emotion of her own choking up in the fallow swathe of her throat: relief, happiness, and love for the gray-tipped she-wolf. She pressed her cheek against Keyni's with gratitude and warmth, a sign of affection amongst close relatives in her homeland. 

"I think the right man would," the dove mused aloud, her gaze dipping to the side as she thought for once of her own situation. It was not often she pondered on her own lack of romantic interests and how she'd yet to meet such a male herself. For a moment, the familiar loneliness that permeated much of her waking moments pressed in -- until the herd-stalker pushed it away again firmly. "I have learned that motherhood does not always require a lover. Neither does a family," her lips quirked crookedly as pale gems of jadeite returned to Keyni's own verdant gaze. While it was true that she longed to meet a man who would make a suitable husband and father (and for Keyni to as well), it was not necessarily needed for happiness to abound in her life.

Her eyes softened at the hint of Keyni having left home young. "We have that in common, my friend. I, too, fled home when I was little older than my first litter." It was an opening, an invitation for the willow-branch woman to speak to the cloudberry if she wished to discuss it. 

"I'm glad you're here," she murmured, hugging her rabbitskin sister again. "And I'm glad you will be Âjatsuk to my children."