Rhythm felt an excitement in her breast that hadn’t been there in years. Shaye had told her about her sister’s wedding, and she felt honored they’d asked her to marry them. If she could purr she would have. She was feeling so high off the elation she had made up her mind to get Valentine to be her date at the party. Rhythm traced her way back to the Range, the place most likely to turn up her mate. She found her way to his old rusty tractor, the bump on her head to prove it, but didn’t find a fresh scent. She ‘hmm’d’ softly not sure what her next move was. Letting her haunches fall into the tall grass she debated about waiting here. The wind wasn’t as strong here and the quiet was good. She’d also wanted to find some fallen apples or grapes for her niece’s wedding. Curious about what fruit might still remain here she snipped around for the sweet aroma of over ripe fruit. Chocolate paws carried her through the grass and closer to where a house once stood. She succeeded in stepping right in an old peach. The squelch was offending to her ears but the texture of it under paw made her skin crawl. ""

With one final snap that earned hi ma mouthful of blue fur Valentine broke off pursuit of one of his grandsons. That damned Jupiter just didn't know when to quit. The old king made a note to ambush him later and finish kicking his ass. Noticeably aggravated, he snorted derisively, kicked a few clods in the retreating youth's direction, and then began to jog haughtily back towards the tractor and the pig carcass that had started the kerfuffle. He hadn't gotten very far when Rhythm's sweet scent on the breeze gave him pause. Valentine shot a scowl in the direction Jupiter had gone. The boy was now out of sight and if he was wise he'd keep on running, because if Valentine got back to the tractor and any part of the pig was missing he'd pull those pieces off the boy next time he saw him. Thinking the boy was smarter than he looked, Valentine went after Rhythm confident in the pig's safety while he was gone. He spied her just in time to see her smash some kind of rotting fruit under her foot. "Well," he mused as he approached. "There are worse things to step in out here." The wild cows, horses and donkeys made the range a veritable minefield. "Gonna have to see about you getting a sighted pet one of these days."

A familiar voice washed over her as she wiggled with a shiver down her spine. She lifted her foot and shook the decaying fruit from her paw. Secretly hoping she might splatter a speck onto Valentine’s nose for witnessing her disgusting folly. He was right though, there were much worse things to be stepped in, and she knew from experience. Then he mentioned a pet. Her mostly blind niece had an owl that helped steer her around. Though Rhythm thought herself rather talented with her mobility she still had issues with running her head into different things and stepping on less than pleasant substances. Rhythm turned around, careful to avoid where her foot had just been to look towards Valentine. ”I think it would be helpful sometimes.” She mentioned. ”Though to be honest I’m partially hoping to steal a grand niece or nephew,” She tried to approach Valentine, looking to aim an affectionate nuzzle in his neck. ”My youngest niece is getting married soon, she and Shaye want me to preside over the ceremony. I thought I might ask if you’d come as my date.” Rhythm found herself shooting right to the point of her quick visit. That and talking to him about something less stressful than the slavers. ""

Her statement about stealing a grand niece or nephew puzzled him for a moment and then it occurred to him that he knew next to nothing about what her family had been up to in recent years. For all he knew the Abaven mice had been reproducing like, well, mice and she had a gazillion more relatives than she'd had before she'd been taken. Oh, wait, what? A wedding? Rhythm's affectionate touch almost made him gloss over the 'married' statement. Valentine had to reevaluate the conclusion he'd jumped to. Perhaps she was talking about a future grand niece or nephew. At any rate he was getting distracted from the much more pressing matter at hand: she wanted him at the wedding. He frowned, clueless as to who exactly earned the title of "youngest niece". As far as he could recall he'd only ever met the one niece, Shaye, and by Rhythm's statements it was clear she wasn't the niece in question. Perhaps he'd once upon a time known of others, but his memory was failing him. It was certainly possible. What could he say besides yes? Valentine was doing everything in his power to reintegrate Rhythm into his life while giving her whatever space she needed to reclaim the identity that had been taken from her by the slavers. He sought her out often and was actively trying to coax her closer, so even if he wanted to skip out on the ceremony, how could he? She wanted to invite him to something that no doubt meant a great deal to her and he would be a fool to refuse. Even if he thought marriage was silly (and he did). "I would be honored." He would - but probably not for the reason she would assume. He was honored she wanted him there. As for the wedding itself, he couldn't care any less about lovebirds gazing all cow-eyed at each other and pledging whatever it was one pledged at a wedding. Oh, who was he kidding, it sounded like it would be good for a laugh. He'd have fun with it. He reached down to gently nuzzle her crown and reveled in her sweet scent. Really, he didn't think he'd ever get used to it. Valentine hadn't realized how much he loved it until it was gone. "When is it? And is there anything I have to do for this ah...happy day?" ""

Rhythm kept her relations vague, figuring that Valentine wouldn’t know who she was talking about anyway. Not that what she had said was completely accurate anyway, she didn’t know about Harmony’s child and how she was actually the youngest niece. Not that Valentine would have cared anyway. He was never quiet about his relative displeasure with his relatives. She was readying up to fight him on his decision, he took a moment to give her his decision. When he did finally answer she almost blurt out her first argument. Though the surprise only showed on her features for a moment she melted into his chest with pleasure at the answer. An unmistakable smile took over her features, their relationship was mending despite the many years apart. She leaned into his touch, reminded again how much she missed the gentle affections. Rhyme was one of her only pillars of support in the slaver’s pack and his few affections were not the same as Valentine’s. And she was loathe to think about the touch of the slaver that had brought about her bastard children. ”Soon, around the time the fall leaves peak in their color. All you need to do is be on your best behavior.” She teased him, nipping at his chest fur playfully. She grew a bit more serious, ”I’m glad you’ll be with me.” Her words were soft as she kissed the places she had just lightly bit. ""

His best behavior? While she couldn't appreciate the horrified look on his face, Valentine pretended to be aghast anyway. He'd found that if he put his whole body into it his performances went better. "My best behavior?" he repeated in mock horror. "You may as well have asked for the moon. However will I manage that?" No really, how because there lurked a bit of truth under his teasing. He sighed dramatically, pretending to be resigned to his fate although really wondering how he was actually going to pull it off, then said, "For you, my dear, I'll try my best. But I can make no promises! If the groom passes out while waiting for his bride you can't expect me to keep a straight face." Or not bust a gut laughing because that shit would be funny. ""

She might have giggled if she hadn’t been so good at keeping a straight face. His theatrics did not go unnoticed, mostly because Rhythm had no doubt there was some truth to his act. Valentine went on to even offer a rather amusing example, though she couldn’t imagine Solor making the thought a reality it would be hard to keep composure. ”I’ll be happy to let you laugh for me in that situation,”She finally gave way to her amusement and let it show in a grin as she teased. ”Laugh all you want, just no starting brawls. I wouldn’t say anything if you finished any though.” She added half seriously. She didn’t see the event being too rowdy to begin with. ”Just be my dashing knight.” Rhythm smiled at the thought and fond memories rushed to the forefront of her mind. ""

"Me?" he asked in a cheekily indignant voice. "Starting brawls?" She was determined to suck all the fun out of this ceremony, wasn't she? He couldn't start fights, he had to have manners. However would he entertain himself? Wait, she'd said not to start brawls. That didn't mean he couldn't slyly instigate and let the oter officially start it. It was a wedding - there had to be some slaphappy fool there eager to take offense and impress the maidens. Right? He didn't know; he'd never been to a wedding before and he had no idea what kind of wolf attended them. But he could hope it would be more than watching two cow-eyed lovers stare at each other. "I'll do my best," he promised again. ""