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As the male rebuked her softly, Elphie's face went blank for a moment, and she blinked once as if coming out of a reverie. Getting better... She smiled when Neka did, a little sheepish. Her smile widened as he spoke again. And better. Her tail began to wag with pleasure, absently, like a pups. It swept gently across the ground behind her as she shifted her weight on her front paws nervously.

"I know it's a little sudden--I guess I just wanted you to know." Elphie gushed, like a proper adolescent. That wasn't the only reason. Journeying down to the pack, Elphie did feel as if she had grown closer to Neka. But she had been harboring emotions she saw as dangerous towards him for a long time. Inside her, they gnawed at her, opening the floodgates for feelings of insecurity and fear. Outside, it was as if the shewolf had sicked up something that had been poisoning her, (charming as that was. rolleyes )

She furrowed her brow playfully at his last comment and shot him a lopsided smile. "I don't see why not."

Elphaba held her breath, stunned by his words. Friends. A family. A family she'd almost.. left. She'd almost lost. Elphie had so much. She'd been so blinded since her first relationship troubles, wallowing so long in self-pity. Her whole life she'd held on to figments of insecurity like a pup clamped on a bone. What had she been missing? Suddenly her heart ached for the brown male even more. Suddenly she did feel unworthy.

"You?" She gave a breathless laugh, caught up in the moment. "You're--I--you know so much. You've seen so much. You're.." Handsome. In a lean, wirey way. Strong face. Such vibrant eyes. And.. "--amazing."

Elphie exhaled with a fleeting smile. She hadn't sounded exactly as she'd planned. "Neka," She leaned towards him, her moist nose meeting his. "I--want you in my family."

4laugh

"So be it." Elphie echoed softly with a grin, leaning into his gentle touch. She licked his cheek tenderly, and similarly poked her nose into a thick clump of fur at his neck. The shewolf let out a hot breath into his soft fur, overcome with relief. Inside twirled a giddy tempest of emotions, all of which Elphie could feel spinning her center back into place. She was whole again.

Elphie closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating on a single fact. It had actually happened. Neka was hers.

Elphie flattened her ears one after the other, nestling deeper into Neka's ruff, fired by his words. She was momentarily nonplussed and gave a tiny murmur through her nose, strikingly like a puppy. Once again, her mind cleared, and there was nothing. Nothing but the embrace.

Elphie stayed that way for a long moment. When she finally pulled back, her eyes were alight. "Come with me," She wuffed and nuzzled him once more for good measure, her tail practically thumping against the ground. "I want to show you something," The other wolves were momentarily forgotten.

Elphie hopped to her feet and smacked at the ground with her paws, her sheer delight taking control. She gave her own chuckle, earthy and melodic.

"It's not too far," The shewolf promised, starting northwards at a brisk pace--though not too strenuous for Neka as she'd grown accustomed to his limits on the trip. Granted, there was an even shorter path to their destination, but it was a steep incline with craggy boulders. Elphie didn't doubt the male could scale it if he put his mind to it, but for both their sakes, the easier route it was.

Elphie glanced back at Neka to make sure he was coming. As the companions went on, their surroundings' pink tint strengthened into a peachy color crisscrossed by the purple shadows the trees were beginning to cast... whee

Elphie worried with her teeth at the fur on Neka's good shoulder as he came into stride beside her, overcome with a full feeling of contentment to walk beside him once again.

Up ahead, the trees began to thin out. Elphie led her new love up the sparse deer path, then turned to wind around an enormous bluff of rock, into a striking view of the setting sun.

The shewolf slowed her pace, and now walked almost meekly to the edge of a large overhang tufted with soft sedge grass. Her eyes focused on the harlequin sky; a brilliant orange cut by fading streaks of blue and swirls of crimson red. The view from the cliff was impressive, though some large foothills in the distance prevented one from seeing the sea. The river was clearly visable though, a sparkling sanguine color in the fading light.

Elphie turned to Neka, and then to the sky once again. He may or may not have been a sunset kind of wolf, but she hoped he would realize the message she was trying to send him via help of nature. This, this color, was how she felt inside.

Elphaba leaned into Neka for another wordless moment, closing her eyes to bathe in the ruddy glow as a satisfied smile crossed her lips. Suddenly the shewolf was exhausted. The traveling from the journey had finally caught up to her. It set in as a sleepy feeling, almost dreamy.

Elphie felt herself slip to the ground beside her mate's feet, sinking into the soft, loamy carpet of grass. Her large head placed on her paws, she contentedly kept her eyes skyward as a gentle breeze whispered through her coat.

It had been a very good day.