Even admitting to loving her she could still get the fun reaction of his ears twitching back in irritation.  ‘Sap’ wasn’t a word that he cared to have applied to himself.  However, he was tired with little energy to burn on staying irritated.  Besides, he was being pretty sappy in comparison to his normal personality.  Leaving not only meant having to walk again but leaving the warmth of the springs.  The suggestion to spend more time there came to mind but he knew the reality.  Did he intend they stay there until the next day?  The longer they waited the later it would get and the temperatures go down as the sun got lower in the sky.  Best to go now.  Naiche looked back up at where they had come from.  Moons and stars had he really climbed down that with her on his back?  Shaking his head at their foolishness he moved to follow Asla on the path home. Teasing reply comments to his being a sap came to mind but no matter how light-hearted he might try to make them Naiche imagined there could be a harsher sting.  He could blame her for being a sap but that would be blaming her for what happened and he had no wish to put that on her.  He had decided the path, he had gone along with it despite his hesitations, it had been his idea to leave the pack land to chase the bear she’d found, to begin with.  Pointing out he was being a sap because she almost died also could put a sour spin on things.  It appeared she got to win in the teasing this round. More words came to mind of things they shouldn’t do that also felt they could come off wrong.  Really, was there anything he could say that wouldn't either be sappy or come with a stinging bite?  “You asked me if I was going to patrol when we got home.  I’m changing my answer.  I’m going to sleep,” right now he felt like he could just sleep the next day also.  The more they walked the more he started to realize how sore he was all over.  “Only reason I plan to do anything is to rip anyone up who plans to interrupt us from said sleep.”  She would most certainly need the sleep also.There, something safe to say and completely accurate.  He wanted to physically recover and emotionally.  The ghostly reminder of his terror from the whole scenario needed time to fade. "Speech"

"Aslatiel Fatalis" Naiche's turning of the ears wasn't lost on the young lady and she couldn't help but grin. And why not grin? They were alive. Alive enough for her to tease him. And why shouldn't she do that too? Naiche always gave the best reactions to her teasing. If he had been capable of hiding his displeasure, maybe she wouldn't have done it as much. It was his own fault, really. The pair walked in relative silence for a time, though Asla's mind was going a mile a minute. She still couldn't address the issue. He'd said it. Naiche, who hated her, had said that he loved her. She still wasn't sure if it had been because they were about to die or not, but he was making it really hard to think that way with all of the affection he was lavishing upon her. Okay, so it wasn't a ton, but for Naiche it was monumental. He was kissing her. He kept giving her looks. He'd saved her bloody life. Was she worthy of his love? Probably not. She couldn't return it in the same way and he deserved more than that. Should she just cut him loose now? Reject his affection with an, 'i love you like a bro, bro' sort of reaction? No... that would be cowardly. Aslatiel Fatalis was no coward. The man's voice broke her from her thoughts and she cast a sidelong glance at him. He'd changed his mind about patrolling. Well no kidding! It would be a miracle if they made it all the way back without collapsing. He went further to say that he'd tear anyone to pieces that disturbed him. Aslatiel laughed aloud, her muzzle tilting upwards before she shook her head. "I don't think anyone will be disturbing us." She'd put a big old 'do not disturb' leopard at the door. Slowly her pawsteps came to a stop. Asla reached out one paw and touched Naiche's leg lightly. It was hard to look him in the eye since she was rarely serious, so she looked at their paws, her white and grey toes beside his golden ones. "Thanks, Golden Boy." She inched her toes closer to his until they were touching. "For saving my life. For not giving up on me. For being there." Finally looking up, Asla closed the distance, placing a soft lick on his muzzle before pulling away and beginning to walk once more. After a few steps, the familiar, sarcastic humor entered her voice again. "You're like... my hero." She said it jokingly, but she meant it. He'd risked his life for hers. They both could have died. If that wasn't the definition of a hero, she didn't know what was.

Naiche had always been comfortable with silent companions.  That was why he had a silent pangolin companion waiting for him at home after all.  Questions and concerns in his mind faded away as he put his mind simply in the ‘now’ which was just walking along with goal of making it home hopefully, if not as far as they could manage.  No, home, they could make it home.  They had easily made it out there in the day and had plenty of sleep so there was no reason not to easily make the trip back. Not counting how tired and sore he was and likely Asla even more so.  For all he was content in the quiet that didn’t mean he didn’t prefer it still having someone next to him during the walk.  Asla’s company was noticed even if they weren’t interacting.  When Asla came to a stop Naiche did so also, glancing at her with his first thought concern if something was wrong or if she just needed to rest.   The tap of his paw and her looking down had the gold-coated wolf perplexed.  It just wasn’t very Asla-like at the moment.  The sincerity in her thanks had Naiche silent in a somewhat different way.  He had both no response and too many in his head.  The too many included things like saying it was nothing or shoving it off with a laugh, telling her to be more careful next time, a smirk, and say it was about time he did the saving.  All went through and tossed aside in the same beat of a heart.  He didn’t need the thanks, but it was also too sincere to be flippant over. Something had to be said!  He couldn’t just ignore a statement like that.  A more formal response came to mind and was cast aside.  Oh, Naiche just gave up on the best answer!  “Anytime, though,” a ghost of a smile flickered, “lets aim for both of us not needing our lives saved too often.”  Fun and games and close to life-risking scenarios were great but, maybe there was a line they shouldn’t cross.  Admittedly maybe he had been a bit of a sap today already.  So he kept the thought to himself ‘I’ll always come for you Asla.’  He could mention that another day when he hadn’t been so happy. "Speech"