My Will Brings Down The Moon

It wasn't exactly a feeling he was comfortable with, being this vulnerable–especially with someone that he had only just met, but he knew that it wouldn't do him any favors to be dishonest or dodgy about the question. He could tell that Aslatiel was one of those wolves that could see right through any of that. Even as he spoke he didn't know how Tira's mom would react, but never in his wildest imagination would he have expected the much smaller woman to step forward and pull him into a hug. He sat stunned for a moment, blinking and reeling as he looked down at Asla with confusion. He had walked into this conversation fully expecting her to grill him, scare the fear of gods into him to protect her daughter. This was nothing like that but she was right about one thing–this was what he had needed.

A little smile eventually tugged at his lips as his expression softened and his foreleg slipped around her shoulders to return her embrace. "I will," he replied with a resolute nod as she instructed him to take care of her girl. Sometimes he doubted his ability to do that and the idea of a real relationship was such a vague and unknown idea to him, but Tira made him want to try and maybe that was all he needed for now. When she hit his shoulder and recommended that he tell Tira how he felt, he chuckled nervously and glanced away uncertainly. "I don't know about that, but I uh... I'll keep that in mind." For once he felt like he actually had a good thing going and the idea of doing something that could either go horribly wrong or make things even better was terrifying, but he also knew that Aslatiel probably knew what she was talking about.

It made him wonder how things might have turned out if his mother had ever been in his life. He knew nothing about her–not her name, not what she looked like, nothing. The way Aslatiel hugged him and encouraged him to tell Tira how he felt... were those things that his mother might have done? He looked down at his paws, his ears flicking back at the thought. "I never knew my mother," he admitted quietly, visibly uncomfortable, but feeling the need to share this part of his history regardless. He had never spoken about that to anyone, not even Tira, but he had to start somewhere. "And honestly I probably would have been better off never knowing my father. So I... I just really appreciate you and your family letting me be here with Tira. It means a lot. So... Thank you."

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