Wishful Sinking

His warm smile deepened as he let out a relaxed sigh. She was indeed encouraged by the idea of the festival! She even had an idea of how to procure some of the colors and offered to harvest what they needed! Her eagerness was infectious. The idea of seeing her all ablaze with the bright colors would be a sight indeed.

"Excellent! I'll have to search my memory to remember what the dyes were made of, shouldn't be too hard. I had to foresee the making of them." He stopped himself from continuing, part of his duty was also to bless the vat of dyes in the name of the goddess the festival was for.

He could easily recall the recipes and the qualities of each dye but he was stumped at how they could possibly procure some of the dyes. His mind had wandered when her tone shifted to something more somber and brought his attention back forward. He tilted his head to her as she turned to him and admitted her misgivings.

He sat there, listening intently to every word, his glacial eyes softened with understanding and sympathy. Yes, heavy was the head that wore the crown. And her head was rather young for such responsibility for her species. A young bear leading a wolf pack was rather unheard of. The mantle of leadership had passed from an inexperienced young wolf to an inexperienced young bear. And they had carried the burdens of their family with great care until they could not.

He let her words hang in the air as he thought, a low rumble in his chest of understanding. His prelude to comfort her before he could find the words.

He had a strong feeling about where she was leading this conversation.

He had been born a second son to the High King, the mark of his ancestral line setting him up to be the high priest of the ruling family's religious sect. Their messiah guardian warrior... reborn. Was this his path all along? Or just a set of circumstances that brought him here?

"A dragon sleeping is still a dragon." He remarked softly, implying the Raiders were a dragon. To underestimate them would be a mistake. And the festival of colors could easily bring trouble right to their own doorstep in that regard.

A good reminder.

“Saga, it is not a failure to know your limits, and change directions before you reach beyond them. In fact, it is commendable and a mark of great maturity." He responded sagely, leaning toward her.

"Tell me clearly, what is your wish? There is no shame in it."