It was another quiet night. A night that should have been eerie, perhaps, and possibly would be to someone that had not been raised in this forest. The blanket of fog could greet many and give them pause, most especially if they were aware of the fierce beasts of the Taiga the stalked its shadowy depths. They wouldn’t harm her, she knew, not a fellow Taigan, though she couldn’t help but try to keep distant anyway. Always so cautious and quiet.
That was how she’d heard the soft noise lost and tangled in the other sounds of the night. Almost could have imagined it, and for a moment, she thought she might have after all. Just another lap of the water, down, down the river her daddy loved to fish in and near the sea. Just another whispering laugh of the waves greeting the beach and flowing away again.
But then there he was, that scent of water and salt and sea, those dark eyes and that smile that always seemed to tug one to her lips to match it. He came up beside her, and though she startled just a little, it didn’t make her flinch at all. She almost looked like she could have been expecting him, but then she never really expected him. Maybe he was wild in his own way, going wherever as he pleased. And here with her was where he wanted to be just then?
”Boo,” he greeted her, and she laughed quietly. She must have been emboldened by his spontaneous appearance, that he’d come back again to see her, because her muzzle reached out of its own and brushed a tangle of his hair from his face before she pulled back. Not surprisingly, a blush colored her cheeks and she glanced away, looking out across the dark water licked with streaks of moonlight. She was so used to caring for her father. That was all she really knew, in fact. But touching him felt a little different somehow, with a squeeze against her lungs and stealing her breath.
”Hello,” she murmured, still smiling as she peered shyly at him from the corner of her eye. ”It’s nice to see you again.” She shifted just a little, couldn’t help but fidget just for the moment, then resettled herself and studied him curiously. ”Do you like it here? I’ve only ever been in forests, but I know there’s an island out there in the sea. I bet it looks much different.” But that wasn’t really why she’d asked, so she repeated her question.
”Do you like it here?”