When Heavy Wings Grow Lighter

The last Alpine had seen of Twig was when he had left her the ferret, it had been growing late and he knew it had been time to leave her to her sleep and her brother. Since then he had not entered her space for a few days, he had left the occasional kill outside her den but other then that he had left her to rest and recover, simply knowing that she had friends in this pack that she could count on whenever she needed them. He had seen nothing of her within the pack lands and knew that she had remained within the warmth and safety of her home as she recovered, and he longed to see her out against the sun, enjoying the day and the life that came with it.


So when he paced by his favourite lake and caught a sight of her against the soothing reflection of the still water he had stopped him steps in surprise. He had looked out at her for a long moment, noticing the changes in her appearance. He knew she had been eating the kill he left and the kill that others where sure to have brought her. He could see the fulling of her cheek bones and in her side, so that the ribs no longer poked painfully against her stretched skin. He also saw in the reflection her soft violet eyes, he could see the misty distance in them and knew that Fern still dominated her thought. He wasn't surprised, not really, he had seen her pain at its freshest, had seen how keenly she longest for her still-born child to be beside her and knew that it would be a very long time before she would be able to push such thoughts to the back of her mind and live her life without the constant shadow of grief beside her. The grief would never be gone of course, but her ability to deal with it would eventually out weigh its burden.


He let the moments tick by before he realised he had been standing there, staring at her and decided to dive into the coolness of the water, he felt the shock of its cold wash over him, and knew that summer really was leaving them. He stroked easily through the water as through he belonged within its depths and in no time was by her side of the shore. He waded a little closer until he was right before her and hovered there with a few gentle strokes.
?Twig, it's good to see you out and about?
He told her as he pushed himself to the surface and shook out his saturated coat, pelting her with flecks of cool water in the process, and would turn over-innocent eyes upon her as he did so, a friendly cheekiness barely hidden within his eyes.

"Speech"