-Oh my love, don't forsake me; Take what the water gave me-
In the silence of these woods, his approach had been anything but quiet. Though never having actually met the apricot stallion, Aten’s scent was nothing new to the little brown wolf so when he arrives (peering curiously into the dark warmth of her den) she doesn’t meet him with teeth bared, scruff risen. Instead, it’s with a mixture of her own curiosity and apprehension that she glides free from the musty shadows; slipping quietly on dainty paws out into the clearing of trodden leaves and beaten earth where he waits with gasping breaths. Whatever it was that had pressed the urgency into his tone and stolen serenity from his eyes must have been important, Circy peers over him now and allows for confusion to settle on the planes of her face.
“Aten?” She questions softly, part prompt and part checking herself that memory served her correct. Briefly, she wags her curled tail and the action is quickly, smoothly, followed by her shift. Upwards, outwards, her limbs re-shape and settle into the form she’d been born into: a striking emerald mare, framed with navy locks. Blinking, tipping her ears forward, the pony-wolf feels a prick of wariness at his coming. She’d seen neither hide nor hair of Jinju or Ruan since Gryffen’s rise to power and though she’d been expecting at least a goodbye, she had hoped it might be in person.
Perhaps Aten’s presence meant no goodbye was necessary, or needed. “Breath easy, friend.” She commands now, knowing that pressing the poor envoy for information might overwhelm him in his present state. “How did you get into Taiga?” The shifter starts, her sense of dread rising with every word.
Circinae
