The stranger, now with the name of Valerius, told her his relation to her mother. Odette's tail began to wag lazily behind her, its tip elegantly ticking to its own rhythm. "You're my uncle then! I had only heard of two brothers belonging to Mother, except for the ones adopted into the family." She perked her head to the left, red and blue eyes shimmering in the sun's light. "I hope to meet all of her siblings some day. Family trees is a small hobby of mine that I intend to pursue once I get older."
Valerius then inquired about her birth parents. The happiness that displayed itself across Odette's face disappeared for a few seconds as she explained their absences. "Actually, I don't know where they are. Ocena and Gargoyle are my birth parents, but they vanished when I was only three months old." There was more tied to the story - heartache, conflicted feelings of a young puppy, and resentment for them not taking her - but she didn't dive into the fish bowl of emotions. "Papa was adopted by Chrysanthe's father, so she was the only one I could turn to aside from my littermates." Oracle and Galahad would always be her favorite set of siblings, despite them being apart for so long. She thought about them for a few seconds, seeing their vivid faces in her mind's eye. Since their last reunion, she hoped they were doing all right.
Her mind then cleared and she cleared her own throat. "Ahem, right, the water source. It's called Wolfpaw Lake and quite frankly, I hope it hasn't been sucked up dry from this unimaginable heat!" Odette then shook all over, ridding her body of the sweat that was slowly building up and slipping down her skin beneath her fur. Paws swiftly walked across the grass, making sure to avoid any bad places as they carried her towards the body of water.
"Speech"
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