Ride this high

Although Chimera didn't resist her, she could feel the tension in his body, though whether it was from her or whatever pain he was in, she couldn't tell. She got her master settled into bed, and when she returned with his water, she noted the wide-eyed expression he wore as if he were seeing the world for the first time. Why was he behaving in such an odd manner? Surely it wasn't anything serious though, right? If it was, there was no way Siren would have let him come back on his own. She watched him quietly for a few moments while he just looked around the den, blinking, then turning his head and blinking again, repeating these motions for a while. It was like his brain wasn't registering what he was seeing or something. Then, out of nowhere, Chimera giggled. It was such a sudden and unexpected sound that Aliana jumped, watching the two-toned brute with nervous eyes, wondering if he was about to attack her again. The healing bites on the back of her neck ached as a reminder of what he was capable of. If he was losing his mind, he could become very dangerous very fast.

Chimera cleared his throat and seemed to return to normal, but Ali continued to keep some safe space between them. He noticed the water then, and decided to shove his whole muzzle into the bowl. Granted, it wasn't very deep, but it did leave the brute frothing and bubbling in the shallow drink. Ali's eyes widened in stunned disbelief while her master extricated himself from the obstacle and coughed a few times, declaring the water to be "broken". "I'll... be sure to fix it for you, Sir," she said after a moment, each word spoken in slow measure to make sure her shock didn't come through. She carefully removed the bowl and set it off to the side, realizing she would need to change out the soaked bedding.

What took her by the most surprise, however, was when Chimera stated that he could see dead wolves completely unprompted. Ali glanced up at the behemoth of a wolf, trying to scrutinize his face to see if he was fucking with her or being serious. The grave expression on his face told the petite fae that this was no joke. Chimera truly believed he saw dead wolves. He asked if she had any deceased wolves in her life, and oh boy, did she not know how to answer that! The fae's mouth hung open, but no words came out, her jaw moving as if trying to form a sentence but producing silence instead. "I... I'm not sure, Sir," she answered after a moment, her aquamarine eyes turning down to her dainty paws and ears folding to her head. "I never had anyone in my life before you and Lady Siren. My parents, they sold me as soon as I was weaned, and my siblings... I don't know them, or know what happened to them. I suppose any of them could be dead and I'd never know."

Ali had never spent a lot of time dwelling on the thoughts of the family she'd never know. The only other wolves she'd ever seen were the slavers and the other slaves, but they were nameless faces, background characters in a scene that never gave her the time of day or even approached her. Except for the matriarch slave that had raised her, but she was still alive as far as Ali knew.

"Aliana"