With hardly a breath of wind to stir the waters, the lake almost perfectly reflected the cloud-dotted blue sky. It was peaceful, a sharp contrast with the war-torn beginning of her first spring within the clan. She felt no need to dwell on that now, however; any time she wanted, she need only glance into her reflection at the ruin of her ear or feel the shift of beads around her neck to remember the wolves. There was plenty of time for that in the quiet moments of rainy days, however; she wanted to enjoy this gentle peace for as long as she could.
But a Centurion cannot just think about nothing, and she found her mind darting in different directions: the ranks and their occupants, the archery stands which could not be abandoned even though the conflict was over, the puppies that would be coming soon, and the courtship she’d sort of fallen into. That last was the hardest for her to think about; she felt like a clumsy yearling again. She knew how to fight and even how to lead, but not how to woo a girl for longer than a night. Pushing that from her mind, she tried to focus on patrol schedules when she was interrupted.
“Boy being deep in thought,” a croaking voice remarked from above. She smiled and tilted her head back, glancing at the large black bird perched on a low tree branch. This section of the lake was sheltered by vegetation, providing shade to make up for the still air. She stretched her forelegs and let her paws dip into the water as she reclined in her lupus form.
“Stark not asking,” the raven went on, and she knew then that he didn’t need to ask. Shaking her head, she dropped her muzzle to rest her chin in the grass, closing her eyes.
“Is there a purpose to your visit today?” Vesper asked her winged varlet.
He let out an amused kraa and hopped down on her back, which made her flinch before she adjusted to his weight. He was surprisingly heavy for a bird, though she supposed he was a little bit larger than his feathered comrades. “Only if boy wanting,” he said, and she hummed in acknowledgment, taking that as leave to nap.
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