Hideaway Strath Confined in mountain halls, we got too close to the flame.

There was little time for the brutish wolfess to respond to him with words, for a far stronger presence appeared at her rear. Sundance, hugely intimidated by the presence of one behemoth, felt it more so at the arrival of a second. Though by no means a petite wolf himself, the druid lacked the brawn of this pair. He was an athletic creature, long-legged and neatly muscled, a yearling yet to reach his prime. Regardless of his potential, he knew at the heart of him that he could be no match to these warmongerers.

Sundance dared not lift his gaze beyond the exposed breast of the newcomer, unwilling to insult him by seeking eye contact. He quietly studied him from that angle, noting the unusual shade he wore as well as the strange dark markings that accompanied. The comment of his "cuteness" was met with silence.

The palefur shifted toward him, and Sundance's muscles tensed in preparation to flee. His tongue snaked past his lips to sweep anxiously over a Winterwhite jowl and his heart leapt within the cage of his chest. Don't touch me! Fear willed him to bark this command, but logic kept him rooted, wordless. Instead, he let the shieldmaiden test his fur, and he swallowed at her observation.

@Teya, was his first, desperate thought. He gritted his teeth together to keep them from chattering.

He thought about lying to them, of providing  a false moniker to prevent any mocking that was sure to arise should he share the calling his parents had gifted him at birth, but such a nature had not been bred into him. Sundance was as honest as they came; he felt the grip of terror within him that he might put Teya and the faeries in danger, and it heightened when Nyra mentioned their former neighbours at the edge of the Sunspire range.

He would need to tread carefully.

"Sundance," he told the tiger at his request for such information, but shared nothing of the court from which he hailed. "My name is Sundance."