Redtail Rise But She’s Always a Woman to Me.

there was something off with the entire conversation now, but ancelin had neither words nor emotions enough to decipher the atmosphere and ask. so he pulled his eyes away, not wanting to stare. "course i —"
but his words were ended as lilia came forward, sinking against his heartbeat as she had never done before. or maybe anyone, for that matter. his pulse immediately quickened, and for a few stupid seconds he didn't know what to do.
and then his foreleg rose; he gingerly lay it over her withers. "hey, it's okay," he tried to assure her even as his own voice shook and his gut clenched with nerves and surprise and delight. "i'm home. this is just a — mission. a quest."
sometimes when knights came back from quests, they married princesses.
sometimes they came back to queens.
but this wasn't that sort of journey, was it?