as propriety demands

Kiyo might not have called out to him so suddenly if she’d realized that he’d been meditating, but as it was she could see she had startled him by the jump in his body. A pang of guilt flooded her chest. Luckily it didn’t seem like he was angry with her, though she didn’t think she could remember any time she’d ever seen the boy angry. He’d always been good-natured when getting his cuts and bruises treated by her, the very many that there were, and she suspected he truly didn’t have an angry bone in his pale body.

He greeted her with a dip of his head and she offered a soft smile and a nod in return. Old habits did die hard she supposed, and while she was no longer the matriarch anywhere and didn’t feel she deserved such respect, she would allow it anyhow. The pale woman continued forward to press her nose affectionately to his cheek before stepping back, her ghostly gaze skimming over his body to check for signs of maltreatment. She was pleased to find none. “It’s good to see you too, Hikaru! I was so worried when I had learned you’d disappeared as well, but I’m glad to see you’re alive and well,” she replied. After all the conversations they’d had together and the time spent, he felt very much like another son to her, one that she wanted to protect just as much as her own flesh-and-blood. It really had been a shock to find him gone as well, but fate seemed to pull them together once more. “I don’t scent Ashen on you, I assume you’ve joined the neighboring pack that Hanzo has mentioned we’re allied with?” she questioned. Though the two shared borders and their scents were similar, there were differences that couldn’t be ignored.