Blacktail Deer Plateau stardust

confusion and annoyance had given way to sympathy as the girl spoke. she was clearly not in a good place--who could be, after what happened to her?--and thus, had no solid check on her emotions. while he couldn't quite identify with it, himself being fairly even-keeled, he still had no idea how he would react if he walked in her pawsteps. would he be prickly and silent, too?

"yes, we can start over," adi said, smiling. "looks like we just needed a practice run." he returned to her side, once again keeping his distance, though not with the same wariness as before.

"you did a fine job, taking care of grayday and lavender after the incident at the border," he continued, throwing a substantive compliment her way. "i was quite worried when i first found out about what happened, seeing as pema was gone, but i heard you stepped in well. marvelous." at the thought of the intruder, he lifted his leg, spraying down a sapling evergreen before continuing to walk on beside her, waiting for her to add her thoughts. . .on that, or on anything she liked, really.