The Heartwood Don't fuck with me, I have the power of god AND anime on my side! HYAAAAA!!

AW! Set for uuuhhhh today 2/1/23, + trying to be vague for the thread w/ @Alduin and @Ithax! also i hope the thread title made at least 1 person laugh ;w;

Sovereign felt more alone now than she thought she ever had.
Mom was gone, dad was different... 
She wasn't sure what to think, or what direction her life would take now that she had run away from Hildibrandr...
Was anyone back there still alive?
Sov felt a strong longing, a pull that temped her to want to go back, investigate maybe, see who was still around...
But, would it matter?
Shaking her head sharply as she prowled with heavy steps through the Wood, Sovereign supposed it wouldn't do much good to go back home...if home was still in one piece...

Angrily, the child cried out in a snarl and slashed her claws across the loose, dry bark of a tree, sending some small bits flying from the trunk and scoring the tree where her claws dragged across, even if it wasn't as deep as a cat or even a bear, it didn't matter...
All she wanted was to take her emotions out on something, and the tree was a target that wouldn't fight back.

On the move, Ensio was scouring the forest for any sign of prey. Suddenly, a stray chunk of bark came flying at him. Right at his head. Eyes wide, he ducked down, feeling the graze of the bark along the tips of his fur. Were he any slower, he would have had one hell of a headache.

Angry yelling followed. It hurt his ears, but he knew that voice. Knew the emotion behind those screams much too well. Righting himself, he calmly stepped forward until he found Sovereign's massive white form. He did not approach any further. Just sat a healthy distance away, watching with a stone cold face as she hurled herself against the tree.

He rumbled lowly. Here they were again. Just two kids who had lost far too much in their young lives.

Sovereign was too caught up in her emotional outburst to notice Ensio at first, but eventually the tingle of eyes watching drew her to pause, glaring his direction with tear-filled eyes as her forelimbs gripped the tree in her hesitance. 
Hackles rising at first, she raised her lips to reveal the tips of her teeth, only to realize she recognized him, vaguely, but still...
Her fur smoothened and she dropped back to all four paws to face the somewhat-older male, eyes inquisitive...
She didn't remember if he had given his name or if they had even spoken, but she did very, very faintly remember a game of tug-o-war with a corpse. 
Her tail swayed softly at the memory, but stilled quickly after as she remembered that she wasn't the same girl from back then...
She had killed someone, nearly died, and nearly died again, all in the span of almost a year...
And lost both her parents in one way or another in the same span of time....
Tears began rolling down her cheeks again.

All she felt was lost and hurt and alone.

But even as her body trembled as she fought to keep control of herself (this time), she did not move for Ensio, instead letting out a whistle-whine of sadness while she sniffed the air his direction to try and find certainty that she had met him before.

She chuffed softly after a minute, a rough and broken sound from the crying, tilting her head slightly and swaying her tail again a few times....

Friend???? Her body language asked, in place of her words.

Oh, what had happened to her? What fate had befallen her to have made her into the anguished creature she was before him? 

He saw the tears. Watched them fall. Recognized them as his on, yet one's he had never shed once in his life. Sharp glacial eyes narrowed, rapt with great understanding. He knew her pain. Against the pull he felt, he did not move to her. Just sat, watching calmly.

Let her take the time to process his sudden re-appearance. To wrestle with whether or not he was the same wolf she had met so long ago. Dark ears shifted back at the broken pieced whine she uttered for him. He replied with a slight lift of his chin and his characteristic, gravelly rumble.

A sound of reassurance. He stood, crooning low then. Padding forward with steps far too soft for his heavy paws.  

You are not alone anymore.

Note for those reading: Mai and I decided in PM that Ensio and Sovereign shared names in their first thread, so it can be assumed to have happened BTS!

Sov watched him as she cried silently, finding, eventually, the recognition of who he was way back when.
Ensio. 
Yes, they had shared names that day, she recalled distantly. 
His ears had shifted back at the gravelly whine she emitted, her amber gaze watching him stand and pad softly closer, a noise that offered comfort. 
The teenager too came closer, though hesitant as to be respectful.
She could not push others like she might have been able to in the past when she had the protection of numbers.

Even though he was friend, that could change if she made the wrong choices, and she needed friends, allyship, more than anything else right now, or so she was certain of. 

A gentle huff from her, swaying her tail to say;
Thank you 
And dually presented as a show of gratitude for his presence.

In that single moment between them, they re-affirmed their friendship. He was not going anywhere, if she would let him remain at her side. He would urge her to follow him, to stay close. 

Glacial eyes softened just a touch, fixed on the tears on her cheeks. Closing the last of the space between them, he inched his nose close. Keeping a watchful eye out for a flash of teeth just in case. A nudge to a white cheek. An offering of a solid shoulder to rest on. Then a gentle flick of his tongue, to wipe away her hurt.

The girl was at once relieved to see the re-affirming of their friendship as Ensio closed the rest of the gap between them. 
Her posture softened some as nose brushed cheek, shoulder offered and tongue came rasping.

Sovereign hesitantly curved her neck and muzzle to rest over his shoulders (if he would allow it of course) as she gave a long exhale tailed by a gentle croon of gratitude.

She was unsure when her fire would return, but for now she was tired, and content to rest and/or follow someone else...
Learn a thing or two before she ever tried to lead a pack again, as she still thought herself destined to do by the word of her mother...
Sovereign had not been ready then.
She had been thrust into it by the paranoid actions of her parent only to have everything crumble so soon after. 

Frustrated at these reminiscent thoughts, Sov would grit her teeth and shake her head in a sharp, brief movement to push the memories back down into the dark.

Part of her wanted a spar, the other part of her knew she was too emotional to do so with a clear mind.

A soft sway of her plume as she would move the top of her head for his shoulder, intending to press into it 

I will follow where you go