The gentle voice drew her in, sweet as honey and just as pure. Colibri took a hesitant step forward, then another, ducking her head slightly as though expecting disapproval because she did not wait for permission to approach. The sunlight cast a beautiful radiance on Anu, highlighting the delicate features of her countenance, illuminating her pale fur in a halo. In the night, she had been ghostly. In the day, she was heavenly. There was simply something fantastical about her, the sylph that had captured her heart so completely. This time, on her own without the help of any outside influences, Coli could try to offer a better impression than she had the evening they met. She certainly would not cry, would not wallow in her sadness in the presence of such an ethereal fae. All she could do was offer her plain, simple self; the shy young woman who could never figure out what she wanted from life, but was always willing to listen to suggestion.
The flowers around them seemed happy, their colourful faces kissed by the sun as they swayed easily in the company of the like-minded wolves that loved them. It was easy to talk about them. To distract her from the bigger topic looming between them, the question on the tip of her tongue that she dared not ask. In fact, the reason her garden had grown so large in such a short time was because she had been so obsessed with finding Anu again. She was not brave enough to make the first move, so instead she through herself into her hobby, carrying home plants from all over their packlands, spending every house of daylight tamping down soil and bringing them water. "I... did a lot of expanding. Th-there were beds along the fence, but I added all of this..." She gestured vaguely at the area Anu was standing, a plot of fresh soil wide enough to warrant a nice stone pathway that she had not gotten around to adding. Originally she just wanted to add some pretty little blossoms to make Deuce smile, and then keep a few out back to please herself until Henratha could complete the promised greenhouse. Now she had graduated to full-blown landscaping, just to keep herself occupied. It was both impressive, and maybe pathetic in her own way, that she waste so much time on something that did not really matter to anyone else...
"You... really find it breathtaking?" Coli asked hesitantly, still standing shyly at the edge of her plantings. There was still so much to be done - it was in its infant stage, no rock borders, no rare plants to treasure, no butterflies or hummingbirds that had marked it as their own. But... Anu liked it? She had never imagined the sandy-blond werewolf would ever see it. No one had told her that the leader liked to wander across their borders, just to see the other side. And she takes my breath away, her mind admitted ruefully, making her swallow nervously. Her wide blue eyes had a tendency to betray her thoughts, if one could look inside them. And she knew the person standing before her could do just that, because one look from her had sent her tremulous heart aflutter, and it had yet to settle.
