Birthdays come and go

Briar understood, and Lia knew why. Her own first season had recently come and gone. A natural part of adulthood, but Lia hadn’t quite anticipated the strength of the feelings rushing through her. It was a good thing Briar had other thoughts on her mind, or Lia might not have been able to stop herself from brushing a paw lightly across Briar's cheek. Instead, her Lady's words caught her off guard, and she blinked. Wondering what sort of surprise the Queen could have prepared for her.

“A midnight surprise, My Lady?” she asked, amusement and curiosity in her tone as obediently followed after the Queen. Whatever the surprise was, Lia hadn’t expected it to take them to the training fields. She sat, and watched Briar vanish into a shed, her curiosity growing and a touch of bewilderment forming.

Her Lady re-appeared with cloth and the scent of leather, and handed it to Briar. Explaining, as she did so, that it was a present. A birthday present. Lia’s very first. She blinked, stupefied, at the wrapping in her arms. She sat down rather suddenly, and after a moment cradled her arms to her chest. It was lucky that Briar opened it for her, Lia wasn’t sure she would have been able to bring herself to do so. Tears pricked her eyes. She sniffed, and realised they had started to fall. She wiped at them quickly, but they just kept falling. She leapt up suddenly, and wrapped her arms about the Lady. despite the terrible breach of etiquette. She hugged Briar tightly, knowing she was getting salt into the other wolf’s coat. “I love it. I don’t think I’ll ever want to take it off” she admitted, as she regained some composure and released Briar. “Did you… want to help me put it on?” in for a penny, in for a pound. She was breaching all sorts of etiquette tonight.