Douse This Fire

He stopped in his tracks when Syanna called out to him, his ears perking with surprise. He looked back toward her, genuinely shocked that she was stopping him. She still stayed with the pool of water situated between them, but she still stopped him. He slowly turned back around to face her, his gaze uncertain as he watched her and listened to her apologize for being stand offish with him and emphasize that it wasn't him that was the cause, it was her. He didn't really understand how it could be her fault and refused to believe that was the case. There had to be something that happened to cause her to act this way, but if it wasn't his fault then... what was it? He had automatically assumed that he must be the cause since he had been the cause for her coming to The Hallows and he had asked her to stay, but he was willing to accept that it wasn't his fault if she insisted that it wasn't. "I'm only better thanks to you," he replied truthfully, returning her smile. If she hadn't been there and if she hadn't had such quick thinking when he got injured he may not have made it back to The Hallows. When he first got hurt he didn't really understand how badly hurt he had been, but as the recovered stretched on for weeks he finally started to understand.

He wasn't entirely sure he believed that she hadn't been trying to avoid him while she was gathering supplies for Gwynevere, but he nodded in response anyway. The way she acted to him when he showed up wasn't just surprise or even confusion about why he had been trying to find her, it had felt more like she didn't want him to be here or that she didn't trust him. Either way, she seemed to have calmed down at least slightly so he'd stay as long as she wanted him to. She asked if he'd stay and help her and keep away any saber cats that might try to eat her and he gave her a grin. "Sure, I'd like that." He took a step to go around the pool toward her, but stopped, hesitating. She still didn't seem like her usual relaxed, confident self and even if she had invited him to stick around he still didn't want to push her or make her even more uncomfortable. He stood there indecisively for a moment longer before taking a few steps closer and then settling on his haunches. There was still some space between them - if the pool was a clock he was sitting at the twelve o'clock while she was sitting at maybe three or four - but at least he was a little closer so they wouldn't have to yell over the waterfall quite as much.

He gave her another bashful grin before letting his gaze shift away to look around at the trees that surrounded this piece of Auster, settling in to act as her guard while she collected her herbs. He was pretty hopeless when it came to identifying herbs so he left all that to her while he focused on just making sure they didn't have a repeat of the last time they were out of the pack lands together. He kept thinking about the fact that there had to have been something to suddenly change her attitude toward him even if it wasn't something he had done, but he didn't like the speculation and guessing he was doing. It was like grasping at air even trying to guess. While he was sitting here he'd glance at her occasionally, watching her as she continued her work, but he didn't let his eyes linger too much - even though he wanted to. Occasionally her scent would drift to him on the breeze and it'd distract his thoughts, making him want to shift his gaze toward her again. He had gotten familiar with her spicy, sweet scent, but there was something else now that he couldn't readily identify, but whatever it was it made it more difficult to just sit here and not go over to join her.

In an effort to keep his thoughts contained he started thinking about things he needed to do when he got back to the castle, about patrols, about checking in with his father and somehow that train of thought brought his thoughts to the conversation he and his father had just a couple days ago. He wasn't sure what had prompted it - whether it was Syanna joining them or something else - but his father had brought up a bunch of stuff about sex and women. All in all it had been a kind of awkward conversation for them both, but he'd sat through it dutifully anyway. Thinking of that conversation and catching another wave of Syanna's scent finally put the pieces together in his oblivious brain. His eyes widened as it dawned on him. She was in heat. That's why her scent was different! He felt like an absolute idiot once he made that connection, but then that sent him back into the spiral of trying to figure out what had happened to make her so untrusting of him.

"Um... Syanna?" he asked after several long minutes of silence while all of this was working through his mind, turning his gaze toward her with a more understanding, but concerned look. "Did, um... Has someone bothered you since..." Gods, what was he even trying to say?! He cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably. "Did someone in the pack bother you or hurt you or anything? Cause if they did you can tell me! Whoever it is I'll take care of it!" A frown pulled at his lips, painting a whole scenario in his mind of one of the males around the pack harassing her while he was laid up in the infirmary, making himself believe that's why she was spending time away from the castle and why she didn't want him around.

Ezra Adravendi