[/html]
300+ words.
The collie Apothecary was one of the more devoted members of the Court, the King knew, and he appreciated her formality greatly, though he did not require it. Her presence in the kingdom was very much welcome and enjoyed. He found her pleasant to be around and a lovely woman, both by nature and the less important physical aspect of it, and if the time had permitted, perhaps they would have developed a close friendship long ago, as close as he would have allowed, of course. Friends were not something that the King had many of, and he never had, but Alaine was one of the closer acquaintances he had in the pack. He had been worried by her absence, but he had not been angered by it, even during the storm. Rather, he had been concerned about her safety and had wished her to be found for that reason.
He padded to the fallen log and sat beside it, jade eyes watching the way that she handled the satchel with such obvious care. Away from Noah and the small female puppy, the pair of them exploring each other with interest a short distance away from their respective parents, the King could smell the bag’s living contents more strongly now. The off-white puppy seemed too old to have been born to the collie woman, but this made more sense. He listened to her words and found no fault in them; he certainly would not punish her for doing what she had felt that she had needed to do. She did not have a mate within the pack and she knew her own body better than any possibly could, as they all did. He could not hold that against her simply because she had been absent for a short time.
Admittedly, he had felt ashamed to know that he had not known of her pregnancy, but his attention had been elsewhere. His own puppies were young and the snow storm had taken precedence in his mind. “I could never fault you for doing what you felt was right for yourself and your puppies. Luckily, no one was injured in the storm and there is no harm done by your short absence,” he spoke with a gentle smile offered to the collie woman.
| Messages In This Thread |