Coming back around again

Mercury's promise to join her at the falls later brought a warmth to her chest, surprising even herself with how happy the agreement made her. Her face flushed a bit beneath her slate fur as he mentioned how good it was to see her again, making her grin and glance away for just a moment with a little chuckle. "It's really good to see you again too, Mercury." And it was. She had been looking forward to reuniting with him, but she almost felt like the time apart had been surprisingly good for them both. She knew only time would tell if that was really the case, but maybe their dinner later would give her an answer. "See you then," she promised as well, giving him one last grin before she turned to start heading back toward the falls so that he could get back to his patrol and she had to resist the urge to look back at him as she went.

- time skip! -

That evening, as the sun began to set, Athena had a few rabbits that she had skinned laid out across a flat, hot stone next to a camp fire, turning them occasionally and making sure they cooked evenly. It was nothing extravagant, but it was certainly more effort than she tended to put into dinners for just herself. Her jackal, Vounó, brought over another log for the fire and she gave her companion a thankful smile. "Thank you, Vounó. Here-" she said before pulling off the smaller of the three rabbits and handing it over to her fairly new friend. "That's for you. Go enjoy it. I'm sure Mercury will be here soon." They had met during her travels, but he had been a great help with her hunts and they had worked out a bit of an agreement between the two of them as they went. The jackal took the meal without hesitation and went off into the near by trees to enjoy his meal.

Anthea glanced up at the sky at the deepening sunset before looking back at the meal that was cooking in front of her as she shifted nervously and hoped that Mercury would actually get to make it out to the falls. She trusted his word so she fully believed that if he could step away from his work he absolutely would, but she also understood that he had an important role to play in The Hallows so he could't just walk away from it all of the time. The sound of the near by falls and the hum of the evening bugs and birds of the forest at least kept it from being silent while she waited and fidgeted with the grass beneath her paws.

"Anthea Dásos"