Lieschel
She tries to keep it hidden. Something about Nevi was bringing out the softer side of her life. It was bringing up these urges that she had fought to keep down and away, locking it up tight. Probably because whenever she had wandered into a conversation before where it involved families she had turned and walked the other way. But here she was asking him to pour out his family life so she could just pretend if only for a little while.
So while his head rests on her, her eyes close and she imagines it with him. She can see the trees and the mare with kindness in her eyes walking up to a bundle near the roots of the tree. The bundle is her instead of her new friend but details. She imagines the walk it would have taken to get from the Den to the Tundra and how tired her legs would have been. But how grateful she would be to be home.
She imagines Offspring, a big black giant of a horse with eyes equally as kind as Isle's. She can see where others might find him scary but he wasn't really.... And then Maribell, a sister who she could annoy to go with a little brother that she could help protect.
She is almost sorry that he is done telling his story but at the same time glad it is over. Emptiness fills her chest where her heart used to be. "That sounds wonderful." And if her tone is a little flat, she doesn't seem to notice. "I'm so happy for you." This is accompanied by a smile and she touches his forehead with her lips, nostrils flaring as she catches his scent and stores it deep.
An ear flicks towards the cave entrance, her eyes not meeting his own. "I should go. You probably want to get back to your nap and then your family." At that she starts to step away from his body, leaving the warmth of his body and what it offered. She manages a smile again. "Glad to have met you." Her hooves scuffing against the rocks as she all but runs from the cave, leaving him to his own devices.
That awkward moment when you're laughing so hard but no noise comes out so you sit there clapping like a retarded seal.