Whitebark Stream And maybe my story can have a happy end

@Surya

She lead him to the river, giggles bubbling over from her stomach as she darted through the blooming clover. 
She loved the spring more than any other season, so much life. So much beauty. 
"Come on. This way!" She danced playfully around him, licking his cheek and then dancing away again. "Race you!" 

surya, too, liked the spring. he was a child of the new season, after all, as many wolves were. his earliest memories had been filled with blooms and bees and butterflies, a bright young sun and an endless blue sky. aromatic rain, fledgling robins. . .

all right, he replied slyly to her challenge, eyes narrowing to amused slits. he took off running, aware that he had a great deal of speed (he always had outpaced his siblings, and any challengers along the coast). deftly navigating the open field, he heard the stream ahead and picked up the pace—

and promptly tumbled out of the weeds and onto the shoreline, getting a mouthful of damp earth in the process.

pah! surya spat, shaking his head to clear the sudden wave of surprised embarrassment. he cast his eyes to aphrodite, wherever she may be, looking sheepish. ah. . .can we call it a draw? he asked, layering plenty of sarcasm over his wounded pride.

She took off as soon as he agreed. 
She was small and slight, and it doesn't take her long to outpace him as he fights his way through the weeds, both of them laughing. 
Her paws just touch the pebbles of the bank when he comes flying out, nearly colliding with her and causing her to have to take a few steps back. 
"Oh, alright." She concedes, her Sapphire eyes shimmering with laughter. "But only a very close draw. I nearly had you!" She gave him a playful nudge and stepped towards the stream, casting a coy look over her shoulder.

it was best to be gentle with a young wolf's ego; aphrodite did well at taking his suggestion in stride. he smiled, genuinely, laughing as he rose to his paws and shook the earth from his pelt. he followed her, eyes intrigued at the coquettish look she gave.

are you a good fisher? surya asked, approaching the water. cautiously, he reached out and dipped a paw in a faster-moving bit of the creek. it was ice-cold; he wriggled his leg and droplets went flying. calmer water was close by, though, and he figured that would be a better place to find fish.

he'd done some fishing on his travels, though he wouldn't call himself an expert. the slippery creatures seemed even more challenging to catch than game on land—slipping, literally, through one's jaws. surya just hoped he didn't make too much of an ass of himself in front of a pretty woman.

well. not more of an ass than he already looked, anyway.

She giggled softly as he followed her, stopping at the bank of the fast moving water. An inexperienced wolf would choose the calmer water downstream, but she knew the chances of that working weren't exact- well unless she wanted to bring up the contents of her stomach. 
At his question she nodded. "Before I came here, fishing was how I fed myself unless I was near humans and could steal food. I'm lousy at hunting- never was taught."  He was handsome, and so sweet and eager- for a moment she wondered if he liked her, or any female for that matter. 
"Watch. It's fun." She waded into the water, sinking to her belly and hanging her jaw halfway open. She sat perfectly still, breathing through her nose, and after a few minutes, a large trout, swollen with eggs, bumped into her jaws. She lunged, cocking her head sideways and closing her jaws on the head of the fish. She sloshed out of the water triumphant, the flopping fish slapping about. She dropped it on the bank and it started to flap across the ground, before she pounced on it again, causing a spray of eggs to squirt her in the face. "Mm. Squishy!" She giggled before dispatching it.

he was intrigued, though one thing she said perplexed him—humans? he asked, face scrunching up. was that some kind of scavenger, or another predator? maybe they only lived where she came from. surya was still curious but let it go for now, watching as she demonstrated her skill.

and skill it was! aphrodite captured a fish on the first try, and surya let out a bark of laughter as she remarked upon the eggs spilling from the trout. what a lucky catch, he remarked warmly, stooping to sniff at the little roundlets that had settled upon the ground. he lapped at one, and it popped in his mouth in a fishy burst. oh my— he remarked, shaking his head, taken aback.

apparently, surya had never had the pleasure of dining on the teekon's finest caviar.

okay, i'll try, he said, straightening again and heading to the water. his eyes narrowed in immense concentration as he tried to recall and mimic what aphrodite had done. waded into the water, kept still, opened his mouth—god it was cold—and then full!—and he lunged backward, jaws snapping shut, a wriggling trout in his jaws. success!

rolled a successful catch in discord tabletop

She cocked her head at his question. Had he never heard of them before? It was odd- especially for a wolf who had spent her entire life around them- to suddenly live in a place where they don't seem to exist. But he didn't press her further so she continues fishing, grinning as he laps at the roe. "It's good for growing pups, and nursing mothers. But even if you aren't it tastes delicious. Pity it's only available once a year." She took another bite out of the belly and licked up the rest of the eggs before grinning as he caught his own fish. 
"You did it! See, I told you it was easy! Now, if you're ever sick or injured you can still feed yourself. You can do the same thing with rats too- wait by their burrows and then snap them up." 

They sat in comfortable silence eating their fish for a bit, and she caught herself staring at him.

surya basked in the glow of the healer's praise, grinning from ear to ear. i'll never be hungry again, he remarked, beginning to feast upon his catch. he caught her gaze upon him and stopped, licking the flesh from his chops and turning his own verdant eyes in her direction.

yes? he inquired slyly, raising a brow. attention from a woman, and an older woman, at that! not that aphrodite was a crone. . .but surya might very well have his paws full with this one. the casanova was not fully fledged as of yet; he needed to soar and fall, first.

She giggled at his remark, and happily went back to eating. 
when he caught her staring she blushed and looked away. 
"Sorry, it's just, you're quite handsome, and I-" she stopped, pinning her ears. 
"Oh I'm probably too old for you anyway." 
 

Ooof this reply is both late and crappy...so sorry

the brow arched higher at her praise. you're not that old, surya teased, shaking his head. if you were older than my mother, it would be strange. . .but you're not. or so i'd guess. wolves didn't age like trees; you couldn't cut them open and count the rings. aphrodite looked young enough, anyway.

but thanks. you're quite beautiful, yourself, he rejoined, smiling. and then was stuck. what to say next? what to do next? he ducked his head, continuing to eat his fish—finishing it much too quickly in the process. left with an empty, fishy mouth, surya licked his chops, looking down at the bits of bones.

He compliments her and she smiles, her eyes lighting up. She's never felt this way about a male before and it confuses her. 
Shes not racing to prove herself, not worrying over fixing him or making him like her. 
"I like you. You're sweet. " 
She answers softly, and how exactly could she form the words "I want you to court me, Please like me too, I want to get to know you, and you to know me?" Without sounding like a moron or worse a needy child. 
"So what brought you to the stream?"  
her heart hammers in her chest and her tail gives the signature tell of flopping around enthusiastically.

his eyes creased to slits in an almost fox-like grin. i'm sweet? he chuckled, returning his gaze to aphrodite's. you are sweet for saying that. i like you, too. but to what extent? surya knew as much about courting as he knew about plants. he talked a big game, but he'd had more failures than successes.

oh, well. we've discussed this already, and we'll see how he does now.

artyom, surya replied, expression growing warm. i met him out on the plains. he seemed very nice—you might say 'sweet,' he teased once more, winking. when i was looking for a place to stay, he was really the only wolf i could think of to ask.

he owed the alpha male, big-time. he probably would have frozen to death out on his own, or at the very least perished from boredom. whitebark stream had given him a home, a purpose. . .and myriad possibilities. what about you? surya queried, idly chewing along the fish's curved skull.

He liked her too. He liked her too! She wanted to sing. But her excitement shuddered to a halt. 
Did he merely like her as a friend? Or something more? If she made a move and he rejected her she would be heartbroken. And there was the question of how to proceed. Sure, she knew how to flirt, and make eyes, but that was child play.
He asked her origin and she giggled, licking away a fish bone buried in her gums. 
"I ran Artyom over, tripped, and fell headfirst into a snowdrift." She burst out laughing at herself. "I was near the coast, and was trying to find my place in the world....I'd lost my family, my pack, my home...I had been wandering for months. The sea reminded me of where I'm from. I might go visit it again this summer." 

his eyes widened in amused surprise, and he laughed along with her, their chuckles gurgling like the stream nearby. it was fate, then, he remarked, then smiled at her remarks on the sea. i like the coast, too. the sea is so beautiful. i wish our territory was closer to it.

a summer trip to the sea sounded quite nice, actually. he would allow himself to get closer to aphrodite before he invited himself along.

so you've been here longer than i have, surya said. he rose to his paws, gently shaking any remaining water from his pelt. he cocked his head, looking down on her with an intrigued glint in his eyes. you should give me a tour—show me the prettiest places in the territory.

it would be a nice way to while away an already lovely afternoon.

do you want to fade this out here?