“Oh thank god!” she cried as she collapsed with relief. A cloud of dust swirled around her as she fell onto her side and heaved a grateful sigh. She lay still for a moment, sides heaving from her sudden exertion, tongue lolled out of the side of her mouth, though her eyes were awake and aware. After a few seconds of her melodrama, she lifted her head, though didn’t bother to get up. “For a second I thought you’d lost all sense! You know, without me here to look after you the past couple weeks and all…” She snorted, and a wisp of dirt plumed off her nose, which in turn made her sneeze.
She rolled her head to look at Shawchert, “Sorry, false alarm.”
“Ooh, so you and Amaranth, huh?” Her ears flattened again, “…but… what about Liliya?” She cocked her head and raised her eyebrows with concern.
But before she could fret for long, her brother grasped the meaning in what she had asked Shawchert. A look of guilt crossed her features, and she rolled onto her stomach and laid her chin on her paws, using her wolf form to play up the best innocent puppy act she had. “I’m going to accompany Shawchert to his pack lands.” She gave the statement a moment to sink in before she straightened herself up, rising her front half to sit on her haunches, prim and proper and straight.
“His pack is called Cercatori d’Arte. You know what that means? ‘Seekers of Art.’” Her tail twitched as she began to get excited about the idea again, though she managed to keep the rest of her composed. “I… don’t really feel like I fit in here in the Court. It’s a wonderful home but…” she turned her eyes to Shawchert, “but it feels more like I was meant to be with a wolf like… a pack like Shawchert’s. He... they understand.” She paused for a moment, and when she turned back to Niro her demeanor was less somber. “We want to do a show! Shawchert is a musician and I was telling him about the ancient theatre troupes! We want to perform for each other, for pups, and maybe one day for other packs!”
Her ears had perked back up, nose twitched, and her tail patted the ground rhythmically. She was worried about what Niro would think. Would he be angry with her? But she needed to do this! He had to understand! “I thought I should come tell you that I want to go stay there. For a little while, at least…”