This body feels whole and right and with each step, he is amazed that these are not his bones. Not his fur. Not the muscle and flesh. Because it feels so incredibly his and he wishes he had words to tell her just how much joy can be found in stepping into a body that feels like it was designed for you. How relieving it is to know that, somewhere, everything you have been looking for actually exists.
But he has never been a particularly good with his words.
He has never been particularly well-versed with his heart.
Still, he finds that his heart thunders as they come up out of the forest toward the river. Where the colors are so bright that it nearly hurts his eyes, where the scents are so powerful they don’t even feel real.
He angles his wolfish head to her, grey eyes bright against the red of his coat and he gives her the closest thing to a smile that he can manage. He is surprised to find that the ache in his bones has dulled with each moment that they are here. That the pain that feels so visceral when she had first happened up on him does not hurt quite so bad; that he is able to breathe around the pain, that he can nearly ignore it.
His attention is caught by her though, her voice still hers despite the alien mouth she says it with, and he steps forward to convey his interest. “It is beautiful,” he affirms, glancing up and then back toward her. “But I imagine that it can get lonely here when you are by yourself.” He smiles again, just a quirk of his canine mouth at her observation. “I dreamt of being a wolf as a boy. My father’s pack used to run with me and my sister and the only thing I ever wanted was to be one of them—so thank you.”
BRIGADE
when I was a man I thought it ended when I knew love's perfect ache
but my peace has always depended on all the ashes in my wake