I need someone, not just anyone

She surprised herself with how well she was picking up on his silent questions and gestures, reading the emotions on his face and watching him closely for any nods, smiles, or tilts of his head. It was a completely different experience from what she was used to, but it was somehow calming. It gave her something to focus on and kept her from overthinking every motion and word and made her feel so much more free in how she communicated with him. Communicating had never been an easy thing for her - she was too in her head, to worried about what others would think of her. It was something that she felt like they could relate on so much even if maybe Ysmir didn't realize it yet. His challenges were far more noticeable than her own, after all. In her eyes at least he was one of the strongest wolves she had encountered just from seeing his kind heart and the way he went about his life completely silently. It wasn't a brute, physical strength - even though she was sure he was a strong fighter as well if she was just judging by his build and the fact he had been in the tournament - but she appreciated that emotional strength even more than that.

Gwyn gave a pleased smile when Ysmir nodded to her offer of him staying the night, her tail wagging and brushing gently against the bed to show how happy she was at the turn of events. The tilt of his head she assumed was because of the options she gave him for where he could sleep, perhaps wondering if she would be okay with him sleeping close to her or not. Her silver dipped toes fidgeted shyly with the fur under her and she gave him a bashful smile as she told him. "Stay in here... I'd rather not be alone anyway." It was hard to not think about how it had felt when he was holding her by the river and right now all she really wanted was that safety and security his embrace offered. She was too shy and awkward to actually say or ask for that though so she settled for just having him laying here beside her. Just not having to be alone tonight meant the world to her.

Eventually they both settled down, their sides ever so lightly brushing together just from the size of the space that was there for them. Neither of them were small wolves necessarily, though Ysmir was certainly bigger than her. She liked the slight touch though, it just reminded her that he was there and it was comforting as the exhaustion finally took over and she drifted to sleep before she even realized she was falling asleep. At first her sleep was deep and dreamless, her body very obviously needing the rest, but not even an hour or two into their night together a nightmare started to creep up on her.

Visions of the man that claimed to be Resin's son looming over her, the memory of her mother's skin bobbing and waving around on top of his head, feeling the pressure and weight of that brute's body on top of her own. For a moment she wasn't in the bed any more - she was back by the edge of the river, that wolf's scent filling her nose, his voice in her ears. In her sleep she started to twitch and whine, her legs giving little twitches and kicks, only showing a fraction of the fight she was putting up in her dream. In her dream she was kicking and struggling against her attacker, yelling for him to let her go, but he felt even more immovable than he had in real life. She could feel herself being crushed under him and suddenly she couldn't breathe, everything hurt, everything suffocated her and she couldn't find a way to escape.

"Gwynevere Carpathius"