Hushed Willows Kindle the fire before it snuffs out

This was the first moment that Reina has truly enjoyed herself since leaving her home above the Wilds. There was a freedom in her laughter, her lungs filling with the crisp air, and it settled into her bones. She felt connected to her home, to Tuft, to the others. It finally dawned on the female of fire that she had found what she had been searching for: home.

Reina had felt that she had died the day she returned home to find it desolated by heavy snow, her family and her pack crushed as they slept. But, here at the lake, with Tuft, she felt reborn again. From the ashes she rose again. 

This was the life she chose.

She sat on her haunches to catch her breath and took a moment to answer the male’s question. “Growing up I used to race my younger siblings around a lake similar to this. My father also saw to my training for—reasons.” Suddenly, and with tail wagging, she stood and padded next to Tuft, leaning under his chin in an embrace of thanks. 

And then she froze there. The moment was intimate for just meeting Tuft, but it felt right, it felt…comforting. But, her nerves shot through her again, and she heard her father this time. Reina, my girl, you’re testing waters too rough for you. But she ignored the voice and closed her eyes, sitting in the comfort, but also allowing Tuft to make his own decision: to pull away or to stay. She wouldn’t mind either choice he made, he had given her a sense of contentment that she was grateful to have experienced after what she had endured in her short life.