Redtail Rise etude

well. it isn't quite the groveling, drooling profession of adoration that she perhaps desired, but that's just as well. the lines in her face eased at his words, her stiffened shoulders gradually lowering. tail lowering. eyes not lowering, but fixed on his own gaze, direct.

i wan' you here, Avicus replies simply. i alway'hh have.

then, without warning, she steps forward and arcs her neck over his own, pressing her muzzle into his shoulder. an embrace, but a tight one, as if she were trying to catch water between her paws and terrified of its slipping out.

but water would, eventually, depart.

Ashlar, she thinks, will not.

and she's glad of it.