Two seasons. She had been sneaking across to see her secret friend for two seasons and hadn't gotten caught yet. Either, her parents already knew and were allowing her transgression, or she had the makings of some sort of super-spy. The girl had grown slowly over those two months. Going from a speck under his paw, to a very mighty dust bunny under his belly. Honestly, it was completely unfair that her siblings stole all the height.

She yawned as she carted the rabbit across the borders, and towards his little home. Each time she came out here, she expected him to have vanished, yet each time, she found him. Sometimes it took a little time because he had wandered off a little, but he kept his promise. He always came back. “Iho?”


"Speech"

When he had washed up on the shores of Boreas, Kumiho had been prepared to stay for as long as it took for his leg to heal, not a minute more. The yearling had wanted to get out and explore, see the world, discover new places and new people and new things! After Kitsune had saved his life, he intended to stay for as long as it took for her to grow bored with him or for her parents to catch her sneaking out and put a stop to her rebellion. But after two seasons without being caught and without Kit missing a day to come find him, Iho was realizing that this little wolf was probably going to be a permanent fixture in his life.

As they progressed through the seasons, Iho's leg had healed splendidly, and not long after he was able to walk again. It took a little bit longer to build the muscle back up, but by the time spring had rolled into summer and summer into autumn, Iho was fully operational again, and then some! The exploring the boy did in the interim helped grow his young body, and as Iho filled out with masculine muscle, so too did the little fire fox of a pup grow as well. He watched as Kitsune grew taller, her antlers taking a little more shape, her body lost a little of the chub all puppies carried, though she was still notably small enough to fit underneath him when he stood up. Together they were filling out into the wolves they would become: Iho a strapping young man and Kit a fair young lady albeit she had a ways to go still.

Today, Iho had been out on the beach, doing some tai chi as the morning sun broke over the horizon. He knew Kit would be here soon, as she always liked to arrive early on days they planned for her to sneak out. She was such a headstrong little rebel it made him giggle. He had set up a small home for himself near where he'd washed up on the shore, a cozy den dug into the earth in the copse of trees Kit and Dalila had dragged him to after finding him. It seemed like a fitting place to stay, given he hadn't known the lands any better at the time. He'd outfitted the den with the furs Kitsune brought him, and even though he hadn't planned to stay permanently, he was quite proud of the makeshift home he'd built for himself.

While he stretched and focused on deep breathing, he heard Kit's voice call out to him. "Over here!" he called out to her from the beach, still mid-stretch as he got his body ready for the day. He waited until he heard her paws on the sand to address her further with a smile. "Good morning, Princess! Sleep well?"

"Kumiho"

She ducked her head into his little den. It smelled of Iho - of wild mint, and a sort of fragrant wood. And salt, of course! With a hint of cured hides and spiced meat. She took a deep breath, associating the smell with adventure and rebellion. She opened her eyes again as his voice summoned her, turning her attention to the beach.

She backed out and trotted down to him. His pleasant greeting was warm as he continued his funny stretches on the sand. “And good morning to you, my duteous vassal!” she teased as she came to a stop beside him. “Seen any pirates this morning?” she asked, ever keen for a good story as she followed his movements with her eyes.


"Speech"

Kitsune's greeting back to him elicited a barking laugh from the young wolf as he slid smoothly from one stretch into another slow, limber pose. If there was one thing she had taken from their initial meeting, it was his agreement to be her subject. The little princess never missed an opportunity to remind him of his subjugation to her sovereignty, as humorous as it seemed to consider the wandering outsider a vassal of the juvenile monarch. He supposed he could have ended up in worse situations—like drowned or bled out on the beach, or found by Kitsune's murderous father.

"No pirates today, I'm afraid. But I did see a few dolphins way out in the surf," he replied with a grin, motioning out across the waters that danced with the light of the rising sun. He noticed her watching his tai chi, giving her a curious tilt of his head. "Wanna join me for some morning aerobics?" He waited to see if she would join him or simply content herself to watch his display of early morning exercise from his homeland.

"Oh, I met your father." He cast a curious glance over his shoulder to Kit, glacial eyes shimmering mischievously. "Reeeeally big wolf, black and orange all over, white eyebrows, doesn't really talk much?" He wondered what Kit's reaction would be to find this out.

"Kumiho"

No pirates - but he had seen dolphins. She had seen them in the distance before, but she had never seen them up close. Perhaps she could convince her Knight to swim her out there and play with them.... “Were you close enough to see an eye patch? They might have been pirate dolphins for all you knew. You know? We should check it out, for the safety of the Empire.”

He tilted her head at her, and she mimicked the motion. “That depends, “ she pretended to scoff. Amusement dancing in her eyes. “Will any of these stretching techniques pull some height into stubby legs?” She did however prance a little on the spot, loosening her muscles as she eyed his motions, wondering if she could mimic them.

…. And then she startled, arching her back like a feral cat. “You. What?! ” she barked out, eyes wide. “Does he know?” oh man. And here she had spent the morning patting herself on the back for a subterfuge well done.

"Speech"

Iho almost laughed out loud again—almost—but refrained from doing so just so he didn't hurt his little liege's feelings. The mind of a child was so creative and vivid, it was hard not to be amazed by the things she thought of! The suggestion of pirate dolphins was radical and wild, but he loved the dots she was attempting to connect in a bit of humor. If she just wanted to go swimming with dolphins, he would have made it happen for her, with or without the crazy story. "Hmm, you make a good point. We might have to go wrangle a dolphin for interrogation, see if it has a hook on its flipper too." He didn't laugh, but he did snicker, the smile seeming like it would never leave his face when she was hanging around him.

Kit asked if any of his tai chi stretches would help make her short legs grow faster. He turned a smirk towards her and looked the little princess over. "Well, I dunno about that, but it's worth a shot, right?" he suggested, then gave her a softer look and held her sapphire gaze. "Besides, you're beautiful the way you are, Kit. A breathtaking princess of a mighty empire." He knew how much her lack of height bothered her. It was one of the many topics they'd discussed during his downtime healing. He slowed down his practiced motions to allow Kit to follow and mimic him if she wished, stretching out leg and paw, then repeating with his other appendages, bending his body down in arcs and bows to stretch his back, shoulders, and hips.

Kit's visceral reaction to his revelation that he'd met her father got the most hilarious outburst from the little princess. Iho snorted and laughed when he saw the reaction she had, giving her an easy smile to hopefully try and calm her down. "Yeah, I saw him down on the southern continent when I was exploring. He and I fought a grizzly bear." He paused, reeling his story back in a bit. "Weeeeeell okay, it was more he was fighting the bear and I helped. I definitely see where you got your stunning fur from though." He gave the girl a teasing wink, then got a little more serious at her second question, but maintained his calmness throughout her freakout. "No, he doesn't know. I don't think he suspects either. He seemed pretty keen on not focusing too much on me. So don't worry your pretty little head off, Princess, your subject is still safe for now."

"Kumiho"

Ha! She grinned at Iho, a brilliant, happy expression as he returned her humor. If there was one thing she loved most, it was stories. Even if they were radical and wild. The ease in which he took her up on her wild tales was definitely a part of his charm. “I think another good thing to look for would be any parrots flying about.” She mused.

In regards to her being beautiful with or without height - she made a soft ‘hmpf’ noise to that. Hiding what the compliment meant to her behind her disgruntlement. All the same, she did take careful note of his movements as he slowed them down. With cautious grace she began to mimic the motions, stretching out leg and paw, and following along to the rising and bows of the motions.

And then of course he had unleashed upon her the news of meeting her father. She blinked without comment, but plain surprise, as he mentioned fighting a grizzly bear. Sounded like a mighty adventure he had taken without her - and what if the bear had killed him? He risked taking himself away from her, had he considered that?

“Yeah…. That's dad, he’s pretty disinterested in the people around him.” she admitted, not letting the sting of her own words show. “So how do I do this silly stretch, anyway?” she prompted him, trying to change the subject - now that she knew their little secret wasn’t out.


"Speech"

Iho took a pause to pretend to think, as if recalling something lost deep within the labyrinth of his memory. "Hmm... I don't remember seeing any parrots, but now that I think about it, they might have been singing some sea shanties," he quipped back, enjoying the banter he and Kitsune seemed to share with such ease. It was fun being around the wild princess, and as much as she tried to be prim and proper at times, Iho saw the wily nature behind those vibrant blue eyes. The girl shared a similar spirit as he did; a desire to wander and explore and learn and play. Perhaps it was rare circumstance that she had been the one to find him washed up on the shore and saved his life—perhaps it was something more akin to fate. Either way, Iho was enjoying the hand he'd been dealt so far. All earlier thoughts of sneaking off to continue his exploration had been put on indefinite hold. Boreas and Auster were too interesting to abandon now—as was the flameborn little wolf!

He snickered when Kit grumbled about him complimenting her. If there was one thing he'd learned in his time with her, it was how easy it was to push her buttons. He glanced at her again to see her mimicking his motions with more fluid grace, beaming with a wide smile at his young companion. "Yeah, just like that!" he said, bringing himself back to a regular stand, then bowing his front half down to the sand, then slowly pushing his front upright while his back dipped and bowed to stretch his hind legs. "Try to follow the rhythm of the ocean. Listen to the waves, let it be your tempo." He had never shared tai chi with anyone else before, but it felt amazing and intimate with a friend like Kitsune.

The story he told her about how he had met her father was met with frustration and sourness, surprising him a little bit. Her comment about her father was not missed, though Iho did not know the full extent of its impact or meaning. Hattori had been intense and aloof, that was for sure, but surely that was only because Iho had been a stranger to him, right? It couldn't have been the way he was with his own family, right? "Just do as I do. Try to shift your weight and feel the tension pull away from your muscles. Alternate one side, then the next, focusing on breathing as you go." He demonstrated again with another long stretch and deep breath. "Tai chi is as much an exercise for the mind and spirit as it is the body. Just relax, breathe, and follow my lead."

"Kumiho"

Kitsune gave an unlady-like snicker at that. “I hope you memorised at least one of them” she advised him, because she was definitely going to be needling him about hearing it later. “The rhythm of the ocean?” she mused, then tilted her head, sliding her eyes to half-mast as she listened to the familiar rustle of the waves lapping against the sand.

She listened to his words, his instructions, and tried to follow through with them. Maybe she would have done better if her heart was in it, but she was still a little pent up from the adrenaline that had shot through her when Iho had said her fathers name.

She gave it a good shot - if just for his sake - and then shook herself a few moments later. “So, did you want to go find these dolphins?”

"Speech"