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Pleasantly, when the stranger turned to face him, she seemed quite excited. The large smile that blossomed onto her features prompted one of his own to form, and he smiled kindly at her when he stopped a few feet away. Ever the social butterfly, Ehno was always eager to meet new people. It was always encouraging to meet someone who appeared to be just as eager as he was. It seemed his solitary trip to the beach wouldn’t be so solitary after all.
When the girl finally responded with a blunt question of her own, the Dreamer couldn’t help but grin in response. He hadn’t entirely expected her to catch his question as he approached, so while her initial response wasn’t entirely surprising to him, he did find it amusing. She quickly stammered on, trying to save face, and eventually she proved that she had caught his question after all. “Good,” he said, glad to see that all was well. The girl appeared to be quite embarrassed about her little slip up as she slid into a sitting position at stared up at him. The man simply smiled back at her, silently showing her that she had no reason to be embarrassed. His new acquaintance introduced herself and he nodded briefly in response. “It’s a pleasure, Adonia. I’m Ehno Marino.” His smile brightened a bit as he spoke.
He blinked in surprise at her next outburst and the swift motion as she leapt to her feet, not expecting the pair of nervous questions she threw at him. He got over his shock quickly, shaking his head and waving his hands briefly as if to dismiss her fears. “No, no. You’ve done nothing wrong. These are free lands here,” he explained, making a broad sweeping motion with one arm to indicate the shores they stood on. “Though there is a pack called Phoenix Valley not too far west of here that does have a claim on much of this coast.” They were awfully close to some of the Valley’s borders, but the stretch of beach they stood upon was far enough to the east that it was out of the pack’s reach.