It's never the same

She could barely perceive the motions her body was doing. Instead of the cold rocks surrounding her and her head thrumming with pressure she was suddenly enveloped in soft warmth.

Her tiny body trembled and shook as her panic attack gripped her to the very edge of her being. But the rhythm pressed against her ear began to steady her breaths. As her own heart began to slow and match Basilisks the pressure and pain in her head began to subside. It felt like ages when she finally started to grasp her surroundings properly again. As her breath slowed and the feeling in her face and paws came back she only half realized she was pressed against some dark fur. Her shuddering melted away as she was rocked in his arms and her body became overcome with exhaustion.

She felt something entirely different now. Something she had never known to feel before. She thought she had known what it felt like, but now... now she knew what it felt like.

Comfort. No one had ever held her or comforted her before. Tenderness, no one had treated her this tenderly before. She could almost say safe. She wondered if this felt safe. She had never ever been safe. It wouldn't last long.

She knew where she was fully now, and who was holding her. She was too exhausted, ashamed, defeated, and sad to push him away or try and get back on her own feet. She wanted this to last forever. She knew she might never get this again.

She sighed and tried to nuzzle into him for a traitorous second, trying to absorb all the fatherly love she could before her paws reached solid ground again. He'd make a good father.

"I... Thank you. I don't know what happened... I'm tired." Her eyes were downcast this time in a sorrowful way, "May I go lie down?" She asked dutifully, her glassy tearful eyes full of a grief she didn't know she had lifted barely halfway up his dark height. Too ashamed to meet his gaze.

"Ignita"